Center Client Julie Rea Harper Acquitted of Murder
Julie Rea Harper, a client of the Center on Wrongful Convictions, was acquitted by a jury in Clinton County, Illinois, on Wednesday, July 26, 2006, of the 1997 murder of her ten-year-old son, Joel Kirkpatrick — a crime that in all likelihood was committed by a serial killer who committed similar crimes in Missouri and Texas.
Harper had always maintained that an unknown intruder had entered her home in the early morning hours of October 13, 1997, and killed the child. In 2002, five years after the murder, Harper was convicted of the crime by a jury in Wayne County and sentenced to sixty-five years in prison. The conviction was reversed in 2004 by the Fifth District Illinois Appellate Court after, although not because, the Downstate Illinois Innocence Project developed evidence linking confessed killer Tommy Lynn Sells to the crime. Harper was released on bond after having spent nearly two years in prison.
A change of venue was granted to Clinton County, where jury selection began on July 11, 2006. On July 20, the jury heard an audio recording of Sells, made on Texas death row, confessing that he broke into Harper’s home in Lawrenceville and killed the child. He said on the tape that he had a clear recollection of the murder weapon, which he found in the house. Specifically, he said he took the knife from a butcher block in the kitchen and got into a scuffle with a woman — details bearing striking similarities to Harper’s account of what occurred.
In addition to presenting the Sells confession, Harper’s defense team adduced extensive forensic evidence demonstrating that there was a third person in the house who not only killed Joel Kirkpatrick but who also attacked Harper. This evidence included injuries to Harper that could not have been self-inflicted and bloodstains on her clothing demonstrating that she had struggled with a third person.
Prosecutors Ed Parkinson and David Rands contended that Sells, for whatever reason, was lying. They further argued that Harper killed her only child with no demonstrable motive, based on the fact that she was in the house when the crime occurred. The jury, however, found the prosecution’s contention unpersuasive and returned a not-guilty verdict on July 26 after deliberating twelve hours over two days.
The Center on Wrongful Convictions defense team that successfully represented Harper was led by Ronald S. Safer, of Schiff Hardin LLP, and Jeffrey Urdangen, clinical professor of law at Northwestern University School of Law. Other members of the team included Karen Daniel, Center staff counsel; Judith Royal, a Center volunteer attorney; Stephanie L. Horten, of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal; Jessica Romero, of Schiff Hardin; and David Lieber, of DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary; and numerous current and former Northwestern clinic students.
