Eric Hanson Sentenced to Death for Killing his Family
By Margaret Lyons in News on Feb 28, 2008 7:20PM
Eric Hanson has been sentenced to death for killing his sister, parents and brother-in-law. His surviving sister testified against him during his recently concluded trial, and yesterday a jury took only 90 minutes to return its verdict in favor of execution.
Hanson was convicted of beating his sister and brother-in-law to death in their Aurora home after his sister discovered he stole $140,000 from their parents. He then drove to his parents' home in Naperville where he shot both of them, and then took their bodies to the Aurora house. Then he got on a plane and flew to LA, where he went to a Neil Diamond concert.
Hey wait a second...don't we have a moratorium on the death penalty in our state? Why yes. We do. So even though Hanson (and 13 other people since 2003) has been sentenced to the death, it's unlikely he'll be executed. Prosecutors for this case called the moratorium a "charade," but Blagojevich isn't about to lift the ban. (And for plenty of good reasons.)