SYCAMORE, Ill. _ A judge in DeKalb County, Ill., on Friday morning rejected a request for a special prosecutor to examine the circumstances surrounding the dismissal of charges in the murder of a Sycamore girl nearly six decades ago.
Judge William Brady issued the ruling at a hearing at the courthouse in Sycamore.
Sycamore resident Charles Ridulph, the brother of the dead girl, Maria Ridulph, had been pushing for the appointment of a special prosecutor since spring, when State's Attorney Richard Schmack dropped charges against Jack McCullough.
Maria Ridulph was 7 when she went missing while playing outside near her home late in 1957. Her body was found months later in northwest Illinois. McCullough was convicted of her murder in 2012 in what was believed to be the oldest cold-case murder to be resolved in the U.S. The
Schmack, who was not in office when McCullough was convicted, said in court filings earlier this year that he believed McCullough to be innocent of the murder. He said his decision was based on a review of the evidence and the discovery of some new evidence in response to a post-conviction petition filed by McCullough.
The conviction was vacated in April and Schmack later dropped the charges.
Ridulph, though, said he thought Schmack had "pre-judged" McCullough to be not guilty without a review. The slain girl's brother contended in court filings that a special prosecutor should be appointed to review Schmack's decisions in the case. Ridulph attorney Bruce Brandwein said a special prosecutor would maintain public confidence in the prosecutor's office
Schmack, however, disputed Ridulph's version of events. And he argued in court filings that the special prosecutor law was never intended to be invoked in situations where someone simply disagrees with the finding of the state's attorney. The law is intended to address situations where the chief prosecutor has a conflict of interest, he argued.
Brady said Friday it was his opinion there was no evidence of a conflict of interest.
He said the appointment of a special prosecutor was a serious constitutional issue involving the separation of powers of the different branches of government. He said such an appointment could be a "drastic step" that could disenfranchise the electorate and should not be done unless clearly warranted.
Charles Ridulph said after the hearing he was disappointed but not surprised. He said that state law should be changed to give more leeway to appoint a special prosecutor when there is an appearance of impropriety.
McCullough, a Seattle-area retiree, was not in attendance at Friday's hearing. He returned to Washington after the charges were dropped.
Schmack had filed a 30-page report with the court in March, citing what he said were errors in the prosecution of McCullough. In particular, he said a collect call McCullough made from the Rockford post office on the night when Maria disappeared showed that it would have been impossible for McCullough to have abducted the girl.
In 1957, McCullough was a 17-year-old Sycamore resident whose family lived near the Ridulphs. At the time of conviction in 2012, the McCullough prosecution was believed to be the coldest case in U.S. history to reach trial and result in a guilty verdict.
