CHICAGO — It took a Cook County, Ill., judge seven minutes
to finish reading aloud all of the jury’s verdicts, her voice ringing out in a
courtroom as still as a crypt.
When she finished, she had pronounced Andre Crawford guilty
21 times: guilty of 11 murders, 9 rapes and an attempted murder.
Crawford now ranks among the area’s most prolific serial
killers since John Wayne Gacy. He preyed on drug-addicted prostitutes from 1993
to 1999, terrorizing residents of Chicago’s New City neighborhood as victim
after victim was found in abandoned buildings, naked and often decomposed
beyond recognition.
The jury will return Friday to the Criminal Courts Building
to hear evidence and then decide whether to impose the death penalty on
Crawford, 47.
As the verdicts were announced, relatives of the victims
cried quietly and hugged, passing tissues among each other. No one was there
for Crawford, who showed no emotion as he sat rigidly at the defense table. A
“gag” order imposed by Circuit Judge Evelyn Clay prohibited the families
or attorneys from commenting.
Jurors deliberated for about 10 hours over parts of two days
before reaching their verdict.
Crawford was convicted of murder and aggravated criminal
sexual assault in the deaths of Shaguanta Langley, Tommie Dennis, Sonji
Brandon, Nicole Townsend, Evandre Harris, Cheryl Cross, Sheryl Johnson and
Constance Bailey. He was also convicted of the murders of Patricia Dunn, Rhonda
King and Angela Shateen but was not charged with their rapes because the
statute of limitations for those crimes had expired by the time of his arrest.
The jury also convicted Crawford of the attempted murder and
sexual assault of a woman who testified that she survived the Thanksgiving 1997
attack by playing dead after Crawford raped her and beat her with a
two-by-four. Her legs were so badly shattered that she spent the next four
months learning to walk again.
Over the course of the nearly month-long trial, jurors heard
that DNA evidence linked him to seven of the dead as well as to the survivor.
The other bodies were so badly decomposed that no DNA could be recovered. They
viewed dozens of grisly photos of the victims as they were found.
The jurors also watched videotaped statements in which
Crawford confessed to all 11 murders and rapes as well as the beating of the
12th victim. He calmly said he offered the women crack cocaine in exchange for
sex. After taking his victims to abandoned buildings, he said he became angered
when the women either backed out of the deal or demanded the drugs first.
Crawford stabbed, beat, or strangled them, then raped them
as they lay dying. After disposing of their clothes, he often smoked cocaine
while taking a “long walk,” only to return to have sex with the
bodies.
The defense tried to raise doubt about the prosecution case
by highlighting that another man was previously convicted and sentenced to
death for the 1994 murder of Rhonda King. That man, Hubert Geralds, had those
charges dropped following Crawford’s arrest in January 2000. Crawford’s defense
team suggested that Crawford was “coached” into confessing to King’s
slaying.
Jurors began deliberating at about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday but
recessed for the night after deliberating about four hours. After resuming
discussions, they twice sent questions to Clay. But the judge met with lawyers
behind closed doors and never revealed the subject of the questions.
When the victims’ family members returned to the courthouse
at about 5:45 p.m. on word of the verdict, many appeared nervous. After the
guilty verdicts, they congratulated each other and thanked prosecutors.
One woman huddled in a corner, a look of disbelief on her
face.
“I’m so surprised,” she said to no one in
particular. “I didn’t think (the guilty verdicts) would be for
everybody.”
Via McClatchy-Tribune News Service.
