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| 10/30/2008 12:28:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | New book tells Gary Gauger's journey from convicted murder to free man
Annette Newcomb
Report Editor
Local writer Julie Von Bergen moved to southeast Wis-consin in 1994, about a year after Morris and Ruth Gauger were murdered at their farm outside of Richmond, Ill.
The Gauger's son, Gary, 41, was an organic farmer who lived with them. He was indicted on two counts of murder in 1993.
Like many residents in the area, Von Bergen followed the case as months turned into years. Little did she know a simple freelance assignment would end with her assisting Gauger in writing a very per-sonal book about his experience.
Von Bergen was assigned to do a story on a Richmond business operated by Ginger Blossom, Gauger's twin sister. Through that interview Von Bergen learned that many be-lieved Gauger was innocent and friends and family were trying to raise awareness in his case.
Gauger had been found guilty of the murders of his parents and sentenced to death in 1994 by Judge Henry L. Cowlin. After nine months on death row the judge reduced the sentence to life in prison, after Northwestern University Law Professor Lawrence C. Marshall took on the case and filed an appeal.
In 1996 the Second District Illinois Appellate Court unanimously reversed and remanded the case on the grounds Cowlin erred in failing to grant a motion to suppress Gauger's alleged incrementing statements. McHenry County States Attorney Gary W. Pack dropped charges and set Gauger free.
Pack suggested publicly that Gauger did indeed commit the crimes but was free because the prosecution had not met its burden of proof.
However, in 1997 a federal grand jury indicted two mem-bers of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club on 34 acts of racketeering. Outlaw member James Schneider pleaded guilty to the 1993 murders of Gauger's par-ents.
In 2002 Gauger received a pardon from Illinois Gov. George H. Ryan.
The book, "In Spite of the System" was released just a month ago and has already received praise from the "Chicago Tribune," "The New Yorker" and the Center on Wrongful Convictions, Northwestern University School of Law.
But it was not the praise that drove Von Bergen and Gauger to collaborate; it was a chance to share his extraordinary story.
"This isn't my story, it's Gary's story, I just helped him. He had already written the book without knowing it. All the time he was in jail he wrote letters that were actually journals. Fortunately the friend he sent them to kept them and more extraordinary, he shared them with me," she said.
"His words are over-whelmingly humble and the words in the book are his alone," she added.
"Gary is an organic farmer and family members on my husband's side own a produce stand in Hebron. Gary recog-nized the name. It was a con-nection that allowed me to speak with him and discuss the possibility of a book, telling his story," Von Bergen said.
It took almost 5 1/2 years for the book to be completed. Von Bergen began work slowly in 2003. It was a do it yourself book with Von Bergen pouring over thousands of pages of legal documents and trying to bridge gaps in Gary's letters.
Her son, Alex, 23, took the cover photo of Gauger and Von Bergen's daughter, Laura, did some copyediting. Husband Ed offered moral support, she said. Before the book went to press McHenry County officials sub-poenaed the unpublished manu-script. "They definitely saw it before it went to press," Von Bergen said.
Many residents in Kenosha and McHenry County know Gauger or his family well. The murder and subsequent trails were well followed by many in the area.
In the years since Gauger was pardoned, he had has been invited to appear on Oprah, 60 Minutes, A&E Investigates and others. He is also one of six former death row inmates who are profiled in the play, "The Exonerated."
He continues to speak out about wrongful conviction.
"It affects him to this day. He can't turn down a chance too share his story. It's so powerful when he speaks, people are on the edge of their seat. Listening to him, they realize it what happened to them too. When he is done, it takes him a few days to get his head out of those days and back to his life now," Von Bergen said.
Gauger has filed a wrongful-arrest lawsuit against McHenry County, the McHenry County Sheriff's Department, and two sheriff's department officers; one is currently on the force and one who is not.
Von Bergen believes the book will gain more interest once the election heat is off. There has already been light talk about a movie but "That is so far off the scope it's not a con-sideration at this time."
The books are $14.95 and available at Between the Lynes bookstore in Woodstock. You can also order it online. For information on Gauger's appearance schedule or to order a book, log on to http://garygauger.com.
Richmond couple murdered by a member of the Outlaws
Morris and Ruth Gauger were murdered on April 8, 1993, at their McHenry County farm, where they operated a motorcycle shop and sold imported rugs in addition to farming.
Their son, Gary Gauger, who lived with them, discovered his 74-year-old father's body the next day and called 911 to summon paramedics, who notified sheriff's police. Shortly after deputies arrived, they found the body of 70-year-old Ruth in a trailer from which the rugs were sold.
Gary, 41, was taken into custody and, after an all-night interrogation, made statements that police and prosecutors claimed constituted a confes-sion. He denied that he had confessed, claiming he had made the statements only hy-pothetically after his interro-gators persuaded him it was possible he had committed the double murder during an alco-holic blackout. The statements were not electronically recorded, and deputies made no contemporaneous record of them.
Despite an exhaustive search of the farm, no physical evidence was found linking Gary to the crime. Nonetheless, he was indicted on May 5, 1993, on two counts of murder.
At a hearing on a pretrial motion to suppress the alleged confession, Gauger testified that deputies had induced him to speculate about how he might have committed the crime. He said they accomplished this by telling him that he had failed a polygraph examination and that clothes drenched in his parents' blood had been found in his room. In fact, the polygraph had been inconclusive and there were no blood-drenched clothes.
At trial, the jury heard the official version of Gauger' allegedly inculpatory state-ments. According to deputies, Gauger told them he committed the crimes by coming upon his parents from behind, pulling their heads back by their hair, and cutting their throats.
The only evidence introduced to corroborate the alleged statements was the testimony of a pathologist who performed autopsies on the bodies and a state forensic scientist who examined loose hairs found near Ruth's body.
The prosecution also spon-sored the testimony of a jailhouse snitch, Raymond Wagner, a twice-convicted felon who was incarcerated with Gary in the McHenry County Jail. Wagner claimed that Gary repeatedly admitted killing his parents.
After the jury found Gary guilty on both counts, he waived a jury for sentencing and was sentenced to death by Judge Henry L. Cowlin on Jan. 11, 1994. Nine months later, after Northwestern University Law Professor Lawrence C. Marshall agreed to take the case on appeal.
On March 8, 1996, the Sec-ond District Illinois Appellate Court unanimously reversed and remanded the case for a new trial. McHenry County State's Attorney Gary W. Pack dropped the charges, and set Gauger free. Pack continued to suggest publicly that Gauger had in fact committed the crime and was freed only because the prosecution could not meet its burden of proof without the confession.
Pack's position was severely undermined in June of 1997, however, when a federal grand jury in Milwaukee indicted two members of a Wisconsin mo-torcycle gang known as the Outlaws for 34 acts of racket-eering, including the murder of the Gaugers. One of the Out-laws, James Schneider, pleaded guilty to acts relating to the murders in 1998. The other, Randall E. Miller, was con-victed of the charges in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee in June of 2000.
At Miller's trial, prosecutors played tape recordings in which Miller was heard to say that the authorities had nothing to link him to the Gauger murders be-cause he had been careful not to leave any physical evidence. The recordings had been made by an Outlaw who turned gov-ernment informant.
After his release, Gauger returned to farming in McHenry County. "Until this happened," he said. "I really believed in the criminal justice system."
(This information courtesy the Northwestern University School of Law, Bluhm Law Clinic Center on Wrongful Convictions
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Reader Comments
Posted: Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Article comment by:
Zaphrod
Gene Lowery, Beverly Hendle and Chris Pandreare are painting a sob story for themselves, however, they should not forget the fact that because they failed to investigate the case properly and were so zealous about "getting their man" that they ruined many years of a man's life.
They were supposed to protect people, but instead, they chose to imprison an innocent citizen. In my opinion, they should be brought to justice for their shameful crimes. We need honest officers, not men who want to show off their "scorecards" for # of prosecutions made.
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