GARANG DENG: Judge denies South Sudanese Man new trial in Bethell murder
By Dan Campana For The Beacon-News
ST. CHARLES — Almost exactly six years after Marilyn Bethell disappeared from her Aurora home, a judge told the man who pleaded guilty to her murder he can’t change his mind.
Gareng Deng told Judge Allen Anderson last week that he was confused about how much prison time he would serve in exchange for admitting to the murder in 2009 and that he was not effectively represented by his attorney at the time. On Wednesday afternoon, Anderson — who presided over the plea — said he found no evidence to support 20-year-old Deng’s claims.
“The defendant understood what he was doing,” Anderson said.
Deng, who is serving with 35-year prison sentence, was ordered to return to prison while an appeal of Anderson’s ruling is filed. Deng most recently was held in the Menard Correctional Center.
Deng was born in war-torn Sudan, and his family came to the U.S. in 2000. He was 14 on Halloween 2005, when he was seen jumping out of Bethell’s car after it smashed into a parked car near her house. Bethell lived on the far north side of Aurora and worked as a substance abuse counselor in Hoffman Estates. Police investigating the crash went to her house and found it empty.
About two months later, her body was found off a nearby trail. She had been shot in the head, then left in the woods.
Almost immediately Deng was a suspect in the case. He had been charged with 11 crimes as a juvenile and participated in two shootings, prosecutors have said.
After he was charged with Bethell’s murder, Deng’s family hired Joliet attorney Eric Mitchell. Last week, Deng testified that Mitchell never came to see him while he was in the youth home and only visited him once in jail. Deng said he was only made aware of the prosecutor’s plea deal a few days before he accepted it. Deng said Mitchell assured him he would only have to served half the sentence, although state law requires convicted murderers to serve all their time. Deng said he walked away from sentencing thinking he had agreed to serve half his sentence.
Deng said he tried to ask a question during the sentencing, but was not able to.
In his ruling, Anderson noted Deng’s “more than occasional familiarity” with the court system as a counter to Deng’s claims he was too nervous or intimidated to speak up with concerns during his 2009 plea hearing. At that time, Anderson asked Deng whether he understood he would have to serve all of his sentence, and Deng said he did.
Anderson also pointed out transcripts from that hearing included several references to Deng serving 100 percent of his prison sentence, something he contended he didn’t know when agreeing to the plea. Lastly, Deng had “several means” of communication to his family and attorney to ask questions about the agreement.
“I thought the law was certainly on our side,” Assistant State’s Attorney Jody Gleason said after the hearing, adding the state was prepared to go to trial if Anderson had vacated Deng’s guilty plea.
Deborah Eastman, who attended the hearing with Bethell relatives and friends, said she “very glad, very relieved” by the judge’s decision.
Two Deng supporters declined to comment outside the courtroom.
http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/8432167-418/judge-denies-teen-new-trial-in-bethell-murder.html
Judge to rule on withdrawing guilty plea in Aurora woman’s murder
By Matt Hanley mhanley@stmedianetwork.com
Gareng Deng / photo from Kane County State’s Attorney’s office
ST. CHARLES TOWNSHIP — Kane County Judge Allen Anderson is expected to rule Wednesday on whether Garang Deng understood what he had agreed to when he pleaded guilty to the 2005 murder of Marilyn Bethell.
Deng was sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to the murder of the Aurora woman in 2009, when he was 17 years old. At a hearing Friday in Kane County Court, Deng testified that his lawyer led him to believe that he would only have to serve half of that sentence and rarely met with him leading up to the plea deal. Prosecutors argued that Deng understood what was happening and was told repeatedly he would have to serve all of the 35-year sentence.
Deng was born in war-torn Sudan. His family came to the U.S. in 2000. He was 14 on Halloween 2005, when he was seen jumping out of Bethell’s car after it smashed into a parked car on Aurora’s far East Side.
Bethell lived on the far north side of Aurora and worked as a substance abuse counselor in Hoffman Estates. Police investigating the crash went to her house and found it empty.
About two months later, her body was found off a trail behind her home. She had been shot in the head, then left in the woods.
Almost immediately Deng was a suspect in the case. He had been charged with 11 crimes as a juvenile and participated in two shootings, prosecutors said.
After he was charged, Deng’s family hired Joliet attorney Eric Mitchell. On Friday, Deng testified that Mitchell never came to see him while he was in the youth home and only visited him once in jail. Deng said he was only made aware of the prosecutor’s plea deal a few days before he accepted it. Deng said Mitchell assured him he would only have to served half the sentence, although state law now requires convicted murderers to serve all their time. Deng said he walked away from sentencing thinking he had agreed to serve half his sentence.
“The whole time I was kind confused,” he said. Mitchell “hardly would ever talk to me about my case. I didn’t know what was going on with my case.”
Deng said during the sentencing, he tried to raise his hand to ask a question, but was not acknowledged. Less than six days later, he withdrew his plea.
“I thought I understood … but I didn’t,” he said Friday. “Some of the stuff I was just saying, ‘yep’ or ‘yeah’ to get through it.”
Mitchell rarely communicated with Deng’s parents, other than a few minutes after court, Deng’s mother said. He never met with the family in his office or elsewhere to talk about the case, she said.
On Friday, Deng appeared nervous or confused on the stand, frequently contradicting himself or agreeing with whoever was questioning him at the time. Anderson tried to get Deng to pinpoint at exactly what point he tried to raise his hand, but Deng gave two answers and admitted he wasn’t sure.
Prosecutors pointed out Deng had been in trouble with the law before and understood the basics of the legal system. And in 2009, when Anderson asked Deng whether he understood he would have to serve all of his sentence, Deng replied yes.
Anderson expects to issue a ruling on whether to overturn the plea at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. If he overturns the plea, Assistant State’s Attorney Jody Gleason said she will ask for a trial to be scheduled.
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