Stuart Heaton

It is not unusual when I research a case to find sites and things from people who proclaim that the person convicted was innocent. I think we are all forced to admit that there have obviously been innocent people convicted of crimes. You cannot look at especially the scientifically proven exonerations that have occurred and not come to that conclusion. I have often mused however at some of those sites that I have come upon after I have found pretty clear cut proof that the defendant was rightly convicted. Then there are the cases like that of Stuart Heaton.

While initially starting the research on this case I have to say that I questioned the guilt of Heaton. As I said it is not uncommon to find people among the Internet proclaiming a person's innocence. In this case it often came from an argument that DNA was in its infancy and that there had been not only disputes as to how the tests were conducted, but the conclusions. When I first saw that a doctor testified at his trial that the DNA was a match based on a conclusion of one in 52,600 I was a little skeptical. While those numbers seem pretty high in the scope of DNA they are actually low. When you see DNA results they are generally thought to be matches when the second number is at least in the millions, but in the majority of cases I have seen it is generally in the billions or even trillions. Considering that the crime in this case took place in 1991 and DNA has come a long, long way since then I supported the efforts made by the defense, as well as Heaton's supporters to have more reliable DNA testing done. This is a common, but valid, argument from inmates. But, in July of 2001 the defense won that right. And then the suspicion kicks in because then there is silence.

A case such as this always makes me think of the Roger Keith Coleman case. Coleman was convicted in the 1981 rape and murder of his sister in law in Virginia. He was sentenced to death and like many proclaimed his innocence. Many high profile people believed him. He was executed in 1992 but his supporters still fought for DNA testing, convinced it would prove his innocence and in essence prove that the state had executed an innocent man, fully exposing the flaws of the death penalty. There were huge arguments about it. The prosecution continued to claim that Coleman was guilty and that DNA testing was a waste of valuable time and money. Supporters of Coleman projected that the prosecution was attempting to hide the fact they had executed an innocent man and that they continued to hide this from the general public. Finally in 2006 the testing was granted and when the results were published one side had “egg” on their face. The prosecution had been correct. In fact, it was said the results were so conclusive that Coleman was guilty that it seemed absolutely no one could dispute them. Many supporters came forward, having to admit that they had been had by Coleman.

It is the Coleman case that had me suspicious about the fact that over seventeen years ago modern DNA testing was granted in the Heaton case and yet I struggled to find anything that announced the results of the testing. I finally discovered at least one source that announced that the new results were one in thirty-eight billion that Heaton was guilty. In my opinion, this was more “like it.”

On July 23, 1991 the body of sixteen year old Krystal Naab was found inside her Ramsey Illinois home. An autopsy would conclude that the pregnant teenager had been raped and then stabbed at least eighty-one times with a pair of sewing scissors. A semen sample was collected for the DNA profiling.

It appears that investigators were put on the trail of Stuart Heaton rather quickly. Krystal's brother, Curtis would apparently bring him up to investigators although the reason was unclear. Curtis and Stuart were friends. Investigators did go and talk to Heaton and they quickly noticed cuts on his hands. It would be said that he had other cuts on his forehead and on other areas of his body. However, Heaton worked as a carpenter and so these sorts of cuts may have not been unusual. There did appear to be several witnesses who described a truck, like Heaton's, being at the Naab home that day. One witness was said to have described his distinct hubcaps. Another witness was a mailman who knew Heaton and identified the truck as being his. On the other hand there were witnesses that claimed he was elsewhere when the murder was thought to have occurred.

In September 1991, just two months after the murder, Stuart Heaton was indicted on two counts of first degree murder. It seems that the information I described above, from the witnesses, and the previously stated DNA results of one in 52,600 was all the prosecution had. I found information that stated there was a bloody palm print found at the scene that did not match Heaton and that nothing more at the scene, nor in his truck could link him to the murder. Despite this Heaton was convicted and in July of 1992 he was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

It was this information, or lack there of when it came to hard evidence in the trial that had me wondering if in fact Stuart Heaton was possibly innocent. And, to be fair, it is not simply the one source I found that stated new DNA results were more conclusive that convinced me in his guilt. Quite simply it is the lack of progress and information that has been published in the last seventeen years. Had the DNA exonerated him in any way the defense attorney's would have made sure they yelled it from the highest mountains through the courts and the media and yet there is nothing. This indicates to me that the results I found were likely accurate. It also shows us how despite claims of innocence, whether it be from the convict or their supporters, cannot always be trusted. Of course I am sure that someone, somewhere will likely tout something about these “new” results being inaccurate or some misconduct in how they were tested but that seems to be more and more less likely to be a legitimate argument. To dispute these facts would take an enormous amount of evidence and proof. So until then it looks as if Stuart Heaton will serve the rest of his life out in prison.