Key developments related to girl's 1983 slaying

[July 29, 2009]  WHEATON (AP) -- A chronology of events leading up to Tuesday's guilty plea by Brian Dugan in the death of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico of Naperville:

• February 1983: Jeanine abducted from her home. Her body is found two days later.

• March 1984: Rolando Cruz, 20; Alejandro Hernandez, 20; and Stephen Buckley, 21, indicted in the killing.

• February 1985: Hernandez and Cruz convicted in joint trial. The jury deadlocks on Buckley.

• March 1985: Hernandez and Cruz sentenced to die.

• November 1985: A lawyer for Brian Dugan, jailed in the murder of a 7-year-old girl, says his client claims to have killed Jeanine. In a plea bargain, Dugan gets life in prison for raping and killing the 7-year-old and a 27-year-old woman.

• March 1987: Judge dismisses charges against Buckley.

• January 1988: Illinois Supreme Court overturns convictions of Cruz and Hernandez, orders separate trials.

• February 1990: Cruz convicted again, sentenced to death.

• May 1990: Hernandez's trial ends in a hung jury.

• May 1991: Hernandez convicted again, sentenced to 80 years in prison.

• December 1992: Illinois Supreme Court upholds Cruz's second conviction.

• May 1993: Illinois Supreme Court agrees to rehear Cruz's case.

• July 1994: Illinois Supreme Court overturns Cruz's second conviction.

• January 1995: Illinois Appellate Court overturns Hernandez's second conviction.

• November 1995: Cruz acquitted after sheriff's lieutenant reverses previous testimony. William Kunkle appointed special state's attorney to investigate sheriff's lieutenant reversal.

• December 1995: Charges against Hernandez dismissed.

• December 1996: Grand jury indicts three former prosecutors and four sheriff's deputies on charges they conspired to railroad Cruz.

• June 1999: Last of seven DuPage County authorities acquitted of charges that they conspired to frame Cruz for Nicarico's slaying.

• September 2000: DuPage County agrees to pay $3.5 million to settle wrongful prosecution lawsuits filed by Cruz, Hernandez and Buckley.

• December 2002: Gov. George Ryan pardons Cruz.

• November 2005: Grand jury indicts Dugan in the abduction, rape and killing of Jeanine.

• July 2009: Dugan pleads guilty to Nicarico's slaying.

[Associated Press]

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