Man Gets Life For Killing Stepdaughter
WHEATON (STMW) -- A west suburban man was sentenced to natural life in prison Tuesday morning for the 2004 murder of his stepdaughter, a high school sophomore he was accused of raping.
In handing down the sentence of life without the possibility of parole, DuPage County Judge Kathryn Creswell called Laurence Lovejoy's crime "shockingly evil."
The 44-year-old Aurora resident, formerly of Naperville, was eligible for a sentence of 20 years to life for the March 2004 murder of 16-year-old Erin Justice in the townhome she shared with her mother in Aurora.
On the morning of March 27, 2004, Lovejoy, at knifepoint, forced Erin to drink lethal amounts of over-the-counter medication. He then bludgeoned her on the head with a blunt object, stabbed her, slit her wrists and drowned her in the bathtub, prosecutors claimed at trial.
Her body was discovered by her mother when she arrived home from work later that morning. Prosecutors said Lovejoy killed the teen to keep her from testifying that he had raped her.
Lovejoy was found guilty of murder in 2007 and sentenced to death, but the State Appellate Court overturned the verdict because of questions about key blood evidence.
A new DuPage County jury convicted him again in February, but ruled he was not eligible for the death penalty, which was subsequently abolished.
DuPage County State's Atty. released a statement saying: "This case has always been about our system of justice and what message we send when a child rapist decides to murder his victim, the only witness against him, in order to prevent her from testifying against him and sending him back to jail.
"The evidence in this case however, spoke for Erin ... the message that we as a society send to child rapists and murderers came through loud and clear. We are a society that will not tolerate such evil. We will not tolerate such malice. And we, as a society, will not tolerate the likes of Laurence Lovejoy."
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2010. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
