David Dowaliby

Cook County, IL

David Dowaliby

Sept 10, 1988 (Midlothian)

David Dowaliby was convicted of murdering his 7-year-old stepdaughter, Jaclyn. Police initially assumed that the window, through which an intruder had allegedly entered to abduct Jaclyn, had been broken from the inside of their home. There was more broken glass on the outside than on the inside but forensic analysis established that it had been broken from the outside. During the investigation, Dowaliby and his wife, Cynthia, had followed police advice not to talk to the press, but such refusal had made them appear guilty.

At trial, for which both Dowaliby and his wife were charged with first-degree murder, the prosecution presented a witness, with a history of mental illness, who stated that he saw someone with a nose structure resembling Dowaliby on the night the victim had disappeared and near where her body was found five days later. This witness, Everett Mann, made this identification from an unlighted parking lot 75 yards away on a moonless night. The prosecution also presented 17 gruesome autopsy photos that are disallowed in many jurisdictions because they serve to prejudice a jury. The trial judge gave Dowaliby's wife a directed verdict of acquittal, but the jury convicted Dowaliby.

Afterwards, in an interview, the jury forewoman said that fist marks on the door of a bedroom were critical to the jury's decision to convict Dowaliby. These marks appeared in one of the evidence photos, but were never mentioned by either side. The jury concluded from these marks that Dowaliby had a terrible temper. In fact, they had no bearing on the case, as they had been present years earlier, before the Dowalibys had moved into their home. The jury forewoman also said, that if given the chance, the jury would have convicted Dowalibly's wife as well.

An appeals court reversed Dowaliby's conviction in 1991, on the grounds of insufficient evidence. The case came to a legal end in 1992 when the Illinois Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by the prosecution. The case is the subject of a book, Gone in the Night: The Dowaliby Family's Encounter With Murder and the Law by Protess and Warden (1993). (CWC) (American Justice) [12/06]