ERIN JUSTICE - 16 yo (2004) - Aurora IL

Laurence Lovejoy avoided the death penalty twice. Now he will spend the rest of his life in prison.

On Tuesday, DuPage County Judge Kathryn Creswell
sentenced Lovejoy to life in prison without the possibility of parole
for the 2004 murder of his stepdaughter, 16-year-old Erin Justice of
Aurora. Creswell called Lovejoy’s crime “shockingly evil.”







“I’ve seen a lot of crime scenes in the last 25
years,” she said. “None compare to what is depicted (here). The pain and
terror that Erin suffered is obvious.”






Lovejoy, 44, of Naperville, was convicted of
killing the Waubonsie Valley High School sophomore to keep her from
testifying that he had raped her.

Prosecutors said that on March 27, 2004, Lovejoy
beat Justice with a frying pan, stabbed her with a kitchen knife,
poisoned her with cough medicine and then drowned her in the bathtub of
the townhouse she shared with her mother on Aurora’s far East Side.

Justice’s mother, Valerie, called her daughter
repeatedly that afternoon and left work early when she could not reach
the teen. She discovered her daughter’s body in the second-floor
bathroom.

“He showed up with a purpose: to kill her,” said
DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin. “He went there to make her
suffer and that’s what he did.”

Lovejoy had previously been convicted of the murder
and sentenced to death in 2007, but the appellate court overturned the
verdict because of questions about key blood evidence. When he was tried
for a second time, the jury took less than two hours to convict Lovejoy
— and that included a break for lunch.

But the second jury decided last month that Lovejoy
was not eligible for the death penalty and left the sentencing up to
Creswell. (Lovejoy would not have faced death anyway, because Gov. Pat
Quinn subsequently cleared death row.)

On Tuesday, most of the testimony from the first
sentencing was introduced as evidence, then both Justice’s mother and
father gave emotional statements.

“She (Erin) had so many days where I said: I can’t
wait till she grows up. She’s going to be dynamic,” her father, Ederick
Justice said. “I felt like the luckiest man on Earth to have such a
daughter. I loved that girl.”

Defense attorneys asked for a sentence of less than
life. In a brief argument, they pointed out the crime was not as
horrific as multiple murders or other crimes, and therefore did not
deserve what is now Illinois’ ultimate punishment.

Creswell pointed out that Lovejoy had a criminal
history, including time in prison for burglary and residential burglary.
He also had a poor work ethic, a daughter he didn’t support and
numerous discipline issues in court and prison.

“Even if he’d led the life of Mother Theresa up to
March 27, 2004, it’s nothing compared to the atrocity he committed on a
beautiful 16-year-old who had her whole life ahead of her,” the judge
said.

Before she announced her sentence, Creswell asked Lovejoy if he wanted to make a statement.

“I never raped, I never murdered anyone and yet I have been found guilty,” he told the judge.

In most cases, the prosecution’s case suffers in a
second trial because witnesses move or evidence is lost. Creswell said
this case was the exception.

“The evidence of the defendant’s guilt is overwhelming,” she said. “Twenty-four jurors have said so.”


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