Judge Linda Abrahamson has set a March 23 sentencing date for the Texas man convicted in December of murdering his grandmother in East Dundee.
Richard Schmelzer is expected to ask the judge at that time for a new trial or to acquit him of killing Mildred Darrington, 83, in her home in July 2014. In a recently filed motion, his trial attorney suggests prosecutors failed to prove Schmelzer’s guilt and asks that the jury verdict be thrown out. The motion also claims Abrahamson erred in a number of ways through the two-week trial.
Prosecutors spent the majority of the trial outlining Schmelzer’s financial motive to kill Darrington, affectionately known as “Dodie,” because of a secret lifestyle that exceeded his family’s means. Schmelzer stood to inherit a portion of Darrington’s estimated $800,000 estate. Evidence at trial included an electronic trail of cellphone calls and prepaid American Express card purchases left by Schmelzer as he drove a rental car from Texas to Illinois in the hours before Darrington’s body was discovered in her bed.
Schmelzer’s defense highlighted what it perceived as a shoddy investigation that targeted Schmelzer almost immediately but never turned up any physical evidence. Attorney Joshua Dieden attacked the state’s case for lacking a connection between the crime and Schmelzer, while overly focusing on his spending on prostitutes.
In the motion, Dieden wrote, “there was questionable and impeached evidence, no direct evidence of guilt and this honorable court allowed the admission of evidence submitted by the state, over the defense’s objection, that was irrelevant, immaterial and prejudicial.” Dieden, who was appointed a DuPage County judge weeks before the trial began, also reiterated that investigators violated Schmelzer’s rights during an initial interview and questioned the integrity of an East Dundee detective’s involvement in the case.
The motion takes issue with Abrahamson’s dismissal of two jurors during the trial, a ruling that allowed prosecutors to tell jurors of Schmelzer’s financial motive, and for not excluding Schmelzer’s mother and sister — who both testified against him for the state — from the courtroom while others took the witness stand.
Prosecutors had not yet filed a formal response to the motion.
Dan Campana is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
