IL Jury finds Hanson eligible for death penalty
Indigo Ace
Jury finds Hanson eligible for death penalty
By Art Barnum | Tribune reporter
12:46 PM CST, February 21, 2008
After deliberating for only 30 minutes Thursday, a DuPage County jury
found Eric C. Hanson eligible to receive the death penalty for
murdering his parents, sister and brother-in-law in 2005.
On Friday, the jury will begin deliberating whether Hanson should be
executed. That third and final phase is expected to last until Tuesday
or Wednesday, Judge Robert Anderson said.
After the verdict was read, Hanson, 31, hung his head and appeared
despondent. He said nothing, and family members in the Wheaton
courtroom had no visible reaction.
Hanson's surviving sister, Jennifer Williams, has said she does not
want her brother put to death.
The 12-member jury began deliberating about 11:15 a.m. and returned
the verdict after a half-hour. The decision came about an hour after
arguments from prosecutors and the defense.
During those arguments, Assistant State's Atty. Nancy Wolfe told the
jury that Hanson, of Naperville, qualifies for the death penalty under
four existing state statutes: that he murdered two or more people,
committed the murder during the felony crime of armed robbery,
committed the murders during the felony crime of aggravated
kidnapping, and that the murders were carried out in a cold,
calculated, premeditated manner.
"This is more than a technicality, but an integral part of the death
penalty hearing," Wolfe said. "He knew what he was doing."
Public Defender Robert Miller argued that Hanson shouldn't be eligible
for death because the thefts of a ring and a watch during the murders
of his sister, Kate Hanson-Tsao, and her husband, Jimmy Tsao, at their
Aurora home, "were an afterthought." He also argued that Eric Hanson's
parents, Terrance and Mary Hanson, were both "at least brain dead"
when he moved them from their Naperville home, so the aggravated
kidnapping statute should not apply.
Miller also denied that the crimes were premeditated. "This was more
impulsive and based on emotion," he said.
Assistant State's Atty. Robert Berlin disagreed, saying Hanson hatched
the murder plot on the morning of Sept. 28, 2005, when he cashed a
$13,800 check he stole from his father's credit union and transferred
$3,000 from his parents' checking account into his own. The four
victims were killed between 10 p.m. and midnight, prosecutors said.
abarnum @tribune.com
Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune
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Indigo Ace
Eric Hanson eligible for death penalty, jury rules in quadruple-murder
case
Surviving sister may address panel
By Art Barnum | Tribune reporter
February 22, 2008
The sole surviving member of Eric C. Hanson's immediate family has
said she doesn't want her brother put to death for killing their
parents, sister and brother-in-law.
But it's unclear if Jennifer Williams will say that to jurors who will
begin hearing evidence Friday on whether Hanson should be executed for
the crimes.
The same DuPage County jury that convicted Hanson on Wednesday night
ruled him eligible for the death penalty Thursday morning. A sullen
Hanson hung his head as the verdict was read after a half-hour of
deliberations.
Hanson, 31, bludgeoned to death his sister, Kate Hanson-Tsao, and her
husband, Jimmy Tsao, in their Aurora home Sept. 28, 2005, then drove
to the Naperville home he shared with his parents, Terrance and Mary
Hanson, and shot them to death as they slept.
Prosecutors said he committed the murders after Hanson-Tsao discovered
her brother had stolen tens of thousands of dollars from their parents
and threatened to tell them. On the stand, Hanson admitted stealing
from his parents but denied a role in the deaths.
The final phase of the death-penalty proceeding is set to begin at 10
a.m. Friday before Judge Robert Anderson. Evidence presented will
include additional details of the crimes and of Hanson's felony
conviction for breaking into a garage in 1995, when he was 18.
Illinois law also allows surviving family members to give victim
impact statements.
Williams, who was at her brother's trial every day, has not spoken
publicly outside court since 2006 and declined to comment during the
trial. In an interview with the Tribune in February 2006, she said her
brother shouldn't be executed because her parents would not have
wanted their son to die.
Under state law, if Williams makes a victim impact statement, she
cannot be cross-examined, but if she testifies for the state, she
could face questioning by the defense.
DuPage State's Atty. Joseph Birkett, a death penalty proponent, said
he has discussed the issue with Williams but would not comment on
their private conversations.
Last week, Birkett spoke at a news conference at which several DuPage
legislators endorsed a resolution urging Gov. Rod Blagojevich to end
his moratorium on carrying out the death penalty.
Although there are 13 men now on Death Row in Illinois, Blagojevich
has said he won't permit an execution while in office.
Jimmy Tsao's brother, Chiu Chih Tsao, who was involved with him in a
computer refurbishing business, also will be given a chance to address
the jury.
Prosecutors making their case for the death penalty argued Thursday
that Hanson qualified under four state statutes: he murdered two or
more people, committed the murders during the felony crime of armed
robbery, committed the murders during the felony crime of aggravated
kidnapping and carried them out in a cold, calculated, premeditated
manner.
"He knew what he was doing," Assistant State's Atty. Nancy Wolfe said.
Public Defender Robert Miller denied that the crimes were
premeditated.
"This was more impulsive and based on emotion," he said.
Assistant State's Atty. Robert Berlin disagreed, saying Hanson hatched
the murder plot on the morning of Sept. 28, 2005, when he cashed a
$13,800 check he stole from his father's credit union and transferred
$3,000 from his parents' checking account into his own.
-----------
abarnum @tribune.com
Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-eric-hanson_22feb22,1,1055629.story
Indigo Ace
Hanson pulled knife on sister 12 years before killing her, jury told
Minnesota officer testifies about attack as jurors weigh Hanson's fate
By Ted Gregory and Art Barnum | Tribune reporters
3:18 PM CST, February 22, 2008
A dozen years before Eric C. Hanson bludgeoned to death his sister, he
held a knife to her throat during an argument, threatening to kill her
and cover up the crime, prosecutors say.
Officer Eric Gieseke of the Burnsville, Minn., police force read an
account Friday morning from his February 1993 police report to the
DuPage County jury determining if Hanson should be put to death for
the 2005 murders of his sister, brother-in-law and parents. Jurors
convicted Hanson Wednesday night and found him eligible for the death
penalty Thursday.
The jury is now hearing evidence of aggravation and mitigation in
deciding whether to impose the death penalty on Hanson, convicted of
murdering his four relatives after the discovery that he had stolen
about $140,000 from his family.
Hanson, 31, beat to death Kate Hanson-Tsao and her husband, Jimmy
Tsao, Sept. 28, 2005, in their Aurora home. Prosecutors and Hanson's
other sister, Jennifer Williams, have stated that Eric Hanson in
August of that year had threatened to kill Kate Hanson-Tsao if she
told their father of Eric Hanson's fraud against his parents.
Testifying for the prosecution, Gieseke said he was dispatched to a
Burnsville grocery, where he met Kate Hanson and a friend minutes
after Hanson attacked her. Kate Hanson told Gieseke that the Hansons'
parents were out of town and had prohibited Eric Hanson from visiting
the home until they returned, directing him to stay at a friend's
house.
But Eric Hanson, who was known to throw parties while his parents were
away, showed up at the Hanson home Feb. 10, 1993, the officer said.
When Kate Hanson told her younger brother he was not allowed in the
home, he became angry, Gieseke testified in recalling his interviews
with Kate and Eric Hanson.
He grabbed Kate Hanson by the hair, threw her to the ground, made a
fist, then pulled out a 7-inch kitchen knife and held it under his
sister's throat, Gieseke testified. Then he read Kate Hanson's written
recollection of the event from the police report.
"His face turned color," Kate Hanson recounted in the report, and he
told her, "I might as well kill you because as soon as my probation
officer finds out, I'll be sent away anyway."
Eric Hanson added, "I can cover it up. No one will know," Gieseke
testified, reading from Kate Hanson's statement.
After Kate Hanson's friend told Eric Hanson they wouldn't tell anyone
about the attack if he released Kate Hanson, Eric Hanson relented,
Gieseke said. The friends then drove to the grocery and called police.
When Gieseke confronted Eric Hanson later that day, "he was really
matter of fact and calm," the officer testified. "He readily admitted
that he had grabbed his sister, that he was arguing with her."
The dispute was the second time police charged Eric Hanson with a
crime, witnesses at Friday's sentencing testified. In the fall of
1991, Eric Hanson, a high school freshman, scratched the side of a car
door of an older classmate who he thought was going to stop giving him
rides to school, the classmate testified Friday.
abarnum @tribune.com
tgregory @tribune.com
Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune
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