[DEC. 28, 2005]
Logan County State's Attorney Tim Huyett announced
that Louis Russo II, age 22, has pleaded guilty to the first-degree
murder of his daughter, Jule Russo. In exchange for the plea, Russo
was sentenced to an agreed term of 40 years in the Illinois
Department of Corrections.
"The plea brings to a close a long investigation on terms that all
can live with," stated Huyett. His comment references an
investigation that concerned not only the death of the child victim,
born Nov. 14, 2002, and murdered March 3, 2003, but also the conduct
of several members of the Illinois State Police.
The facts showed that Jule died of blunt force trauma to her head
and chest on March 3, 2003. She was brought to the Abraham Lincoln
Memorial Hospital on that same date by the defendant, her father,
Louis Russo II.
Russo initially denied his involvement and claimed a sibling
caused the death by being too rough with the infant. In the opinion
of the expert forensic pathologist Violette Hnilica, this was not a
likely source of the injuries that caused the death.
The autopsy revealed that Jule had suffered significant injuries
consistent with child abuse prior to the date of her death,
including brain trauma and a broken and healing clavicle.
Russo later admitted to his then-wife, Miranda Russo, and his
father, Frank Russo, that he killed Jule after becoming upset with
the child. Then, according to court records, he confessed to the
killing on March 8, 2003.
The case was compromised when court proceedings revealed that
Russo had invoked his right to remain silent on numerous occasions
when interviewed by the Illinois State Police on March 8, 2003.
These attempts to remain silent were ignored by investigators
Cynthia Robbins and Rebecca Dewitt-Early and then were not contained
in their official police reports. Russo's subsequent confession was
excluded from evidence following a hearing by Judge David L. Coogan.
An inquiry was conducted by the Illinois State Police Division of
Internal Investigations. The investigators avoided going to criminal
court for failing to accurately report the interview of Russo when
they agreed to administrative sanctions in exchange for a special
prosecutor's agreement not to convene a grand jury.
After finding the investigation tainted, Coogan dismissed the
entire case against Russo, following a hearing in September of 2005.
Huyett's office caused much of the case to be reinvestigated by
the Logan County Sheriff's Department, and the case was refiled by
Huyett on Sept. 6, 2005. It was to Count VI of these new charges
that Russo pleaded guilty.
Russo is not eligible for early release on the count of
first-degree murder.
[News releases from Tim Huyett, Logan
County state's attorney]
