Is Liz Willding's family ever going to receive justice for her murder in 2004? It’s nearing the end of 2007 and they’ve yet to actually put Adam Christenson on trial. What’s the deal with all the delays?
Swami, too, finds the long legal struggle to try Christenson more than passing strange.
Though Miss Willding, then 16, was killed in July 2004, it took more than one and a half years before a Chicago psychiatrist determined he was mentally unfit to stand trial.
Now it’s the fall of 2007 and another psychiatrist has determined he’s good to go.
The prosecution’s evolving positions over the years have seemed to run in this order:
2004: He’s guilty and we’ll try him,
Later in 2004: Let’s try him but not seek the death penalty though he’s alleged to have stabbed her 40 times. The prosecutors have never adequately explained this one.
2005: Let’s agree with the defense that he’s too crazy to be tried
2007: He’s OK enough to be tried. Let’s try him in a case that might not end until 2008.
You can count your friendly neighborhood Swami among those puzzled soothsayers who wonder how a person can be sane enough when he kills to be held accountable, then too insane to be tried 15 months later and, then later on, sane enough for the trial after all. The power of anti-psychotic drugs must be quite amazing these days. They apparently cure insanity the way Benedril cures hay fever.
You can’t tell what the local justice system finds interesting enough to press for speedy justice, but nothing in the brutal death of Miss Willding seems to have provoked that urgency. It’s been a slow, torturous trip ever since the murder in 2004.
It is quite clear from the record that Christenson likely had mental defects of one degree or another at the time of the crime, but that doesn’t let him off the hook by itself. "Sane" in this case means he understands the charges and can participate in his trial.
The description of his behavior in state mental lockup seems to show a man barely capable of understanding the nature of the trial he will face.
There is mixed evidence that he developed even worse defects after he killed – if he killed – that did not exist before the crime. A new day, a new psychiatrist; a new assessment of the defendant.
It would be interesting to interview his two buddies in crime who were part of a burglary break-in at the Willding home in 2004. Christenson is alleged to have returned a day after that break-in to scoop up a missing item.
His compatriots might offer interesting insight into whether Christenson was aware of reality in 2004.
Of course, when a truly crazy person commits murder, it probably does not improve the advancing state of his mental balance. So perhaps the crime itself drove Christensen deeper into some deeper, more impenetrable psychosis. It’s a theory.
Ironically, the Judge who has ruled in the case – James Booras - believed Chicago psychiatrist Antoinette Kavanaugh in 2005 when she said Christenson was unfit for trial. Booras did not believe the same doctor’s repeat view last week.
Kavanaugh says Christenson was wacko then, was wacko all the time he was being treated and is wacko now. Of course, wacko is a technical term and we don’t have time to explain those right now.
The public defender had the same view. He characterized his client as a nut job ever since 2004 and claimed he always was a nut job in virtually every court appearance.
Someone will decide if he’s a developing-crazy. Perhaps he simply drove himself deeper into some lower plane of Hades by his own acts.
As to why this has dragged on for so long, there is no clear evidence. But the Lake County judicial system is a labyrinth of interlocking self-interests, drinking buddies, political chums and old friends who show up in the same court regularly to wage their eternal shadow puppetry. Sometimes justice is done; sometimes it is not.
This is a topic to which Swami will return. Count on it.
Thank you so much for writing this article. I am Liz's Mom and I was the one who found her. Somewhere in our judicial system there are many flaws,at least for the victims. The accused seem to have all the rights. The victims just have keep quiet and keep coming back time after time and hearing the defense attorney's motion a continuence. The last three motions that were made by the defense were all shot down on October 10th and 11th. 1.The defense objected to the way the police brought Christenson in. The judge disagreed and said the the detectives had enough reason to bring him in. 2. The confession should be thrown out because Christenson didn't understand his miranda rights. They were read out loud to him one by one three times and he intialed and signed them . He would give an answer to a question and find out the police knew more about it, he would change his story to try to cover up his last lie. He knew what he did was wrong and he was sane enough to continue giving lie after lie to try and cover his you know what. (Of course that is if he did it)The judge said the detectives again did nothing wrong and did everything by the book, so the confession would be kept into evidence.3 last but not least, the defense claimed that if in fact Christenson had murder my Lizzie, he was insane at the time. The defense had their professional doctor on the stand. The first time she had ever talked to Adam wasn't until 2005, yet she claimed he was at insane at the time of the murder. The next time she saw him was late 2006, early 2007. When she couln't answer some of the questions by the prosecution ,she said she didn't have any of her notes with her.She said she didn't want to make copies because of the enviroment she wanted to save trees. All in all, I feel the justice system is lop-sided. The accused have all the rights. The victims just have to sit and wait. We have been to court in the last three years at least 40 to 50 times. Everytime we go,the memories flash back and I live through my daughter's death as if had just happened.I have seen this accused person effect so many lives, yet if he is found guilty, only one family member is allowed to give a crime victim statement. It cannot be addressed to the defendant who has been found guilty, it must be given to the judge. You can not talk about the defendent, only the effect the murder has had on our life.I was very fortunate to have my three beautiful girls. Liz's murder has effected all of us including not only Liz's friends, but most my Mom and Dad, Courtney, Stephanie, my ex-husband. My six sisters and their husbands. We have a large family. And never in our lives has anyone ever been in any kind of trouble. The murder has changed our lives forever. I know that the old me is gone and don't have a clue as to what I will become. I just know the grief and pain I live everyday isn't getting any easier. Actually it has become more difficult because the surreal has become too real. Sometimes it is so overwhelming,I question how can I live the rest of my life feeling this intense pain of losing Liz.I'm not sure I should have written this because most certainly I will be called as a witness. That means that I will not be able to be in the courtroom for the trial till closing statements. I won't be able to hear firsthand the answers to so many questions that go through my head on a daily basis. My prayers and thoughts go out to all the parents that have lost there child, whether it be murder, suicide,car accident, or illness. Unless you have lived through it you can't possibly imagine what we go through. I wouldn't wish this pain on my worst enemy. It is ok if you proofread this. I tend to get my thoughts and hands going at a different pace. I thank you again for taking interest in my Liz. Many people will say, it's been three years now, It must be getter easier for you to get back to living your life. I just shake my head and think I don't even know what that means. On the day that Liz was killed the life I had before was gone forever. And until this trial is over, I have no clue what my life will be like. Thank you for listening to my babble. It is almost quarter to two in the morning and I haven't been able to go to sleep yet. Everytime I try the visions appear again. I get up so I don't have to live through them again and again.
May God Bless You and Yours, Gigi Willding
Two other things I forgot. On Monday the July 12,2004,Adam Christenson was arrested in Fox Lake for a switchblade,a needle and drinking with minors. The judge let him go. He had been on probation in Wisconsin and the papers had been sent to Illinois, is was quoted that they still hadn't been able to get hold of him so it wasn't in the Illinois system. I tried to get an arrest record from the Fox Lake police Department because it was in the newspaper and I figured it was public record. The officer explained, it is not public record until the case is closed and because of the murder it would never be closed, so we wouldn't be able to get a copy. Thanks for listening. Gigi
Well on Feb 4th after expecting a trial or continuence. Grant proceeded to plea for Adam Christenson. I can't even go into the details of it. I have not left the house since Monday. In my opinion JUSTICE HAS NOT BEEN DONE. It will take a long time if ever to reach some kind of closer in the murder of my Liz. In my opinion, I completely blame Grant for all the delays. His arrogance got in the way and put many people through so much pain over these past almost four years.This should have been settled years ago. Because there was a plea. The world will never know what he did to her. Myself and my family will never hear the words of twelve jurors that will say. The defendant is guilty of first degree murder and all eleven charges. Instead of a Capital Crime, it is guilty to murder which in this state can be 20 to 60 years. If there had been a trial, he could have been sentenced to life. Justice was not done. My daughter's murder turned into the Adam Christenson show. It almost makes him seem like the victim. The papers stopped writing or showing pictures of Liz about one year and a halve. Yet Christenson's picture and articles were all about him. My daughter was just a faceless victim of an evil man.Thanks for listening Gigi Willding LIZ'S MOM. The sentencing date is set for March 17th at 9:00 in Judge Boras's courtroom