March 02--A man who was found guilty of killing his mother by throwing her down a flight of stairs at her retirement home in Arlington Heights has been granted a new trial.
Appeals judges have reversed the conviction of Wayne Weinke in the death of his mother, Gloria, who authorities have alleged was killed by her son in 2006 over a dispute about her will. Gloria Weinke, 77, died about three months after a security guard found her at the bottom of a staircase in her home. Wayne Weinke was eventually found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
In their ruling granting Weinke, of Park Ridge, a new trial, appeals judges sharply rebuked Cook County prosecutors on the case, saying they gave information about Gloria Weinke's medical condition before her death that was "false, misleading or unsupported."
"While we have no desire to impugn the (assistant state's attorney's) reputation, given the power and autonomy that prosecutors have over a criminal defendant's fate, we cannot ignore what happened. Conduct of this sort is incompatible with the truth-seeking process and harms the integrity of the criminal justice system," the ruling states.
At issue were statements made by the prosecutor when she asked a judge to allow authorities to record Gloria Weinke's testimony on video in the hospital in the days after she was injured. The prosecutor, Karen Crothers, argued that the woman's testimony needed to be preserved because she could be near death.
According to the ruling, Crothers told the judge that Gloria Weinke had suffered a closed-head injury, fractured spine and "extensive abdominal trauma," but that her medical records made no mention of those injuries by the time the statement was made. Crothers also told the judge that Weinke's condition was "unstable" and she "quite possible" might not survive a few more days. But by then -- three days after the injuries occurred -- she was listed in stable condition and "her medical records from that time do not even hint she was in any imminent danger of dying," the ruling states.
The prosecutor also said the information about Weinke's condition came from her doctors, but the appeals judges determined it came "fourth hand" -- from a police report from detective who had interviewed Weinke's daughter and an unnamed hospital nurse.
Defense attorneys argued that the hastiness of the videotaped deposition gave them insufficient time to effectively cross-examine Gloria Weinke and that the recording should not have been allowed at her son's trial. During the trial, the defense presented testimony from doctors who said that Weinke died of cancer, not from the injuries, and might have had Alzheimer's disease, according to the ruling.
Medical experts who testified for the prosecution said she died of the injuries, not cancer.
Neither Crothers nor a spokesman for the state's attorney's office could immediately be reached.
Freelance reporter George Houde contributed.
