A Cook County Criminal Court judge on Tuesday denied a request for a new trial from a Death Row inmate who said his trial was tainted because the jury foreman and Cook County State’s Atty. Richard Devine knew each other.
Judge Joseph Urso made the ruling in the case of Julius Kuntu, 32, who was convicted of murder for setting a fire in 1994 at a Chicago apartment building that killed seven residents, including two children, at 917 W. Dakin St.
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In October, the Illinois Supreme Court ordered an evidentiary hearing on the question of Devine’s relationship with jury foreman Paul Kosin, a securities lawyer who was in the same graduating class with Devine at Northwestern University law school. The two also worked at the Northwestern Law Review publication at the same time.
Calling the relationship between Devine and Kosin “casual at best,” Urso ruled against Kuntu at the Rolling Meadows courthouse.
“This court finds the relationship that exists between the juror and Mr. Devine was that of former classmates,” Urso said. “There is no evidence to suggest Mr. Kosin’s relationship prejudiced the trial.”
The relationship was made known shortly after Kuntu’s 1997 conviction, when Kosin sent a letter to Devine that began “Dear Dick” and ended with a sentence that included “congratulations on being where I can write this letter to someone I know.”
Devine turned the letter over to Kuntu’s lawyers immediately, his spokesman said. Kuntu’s lawyers argued on appeal that the relationship rendered the verdict and death sentence invalid.
Kosin told the Tribune in an interview last year that he and Devine were “more than just pure classmates” at Northwestern, but they were not close friends.
Kuntu’s case is still before the Illinois Supreme Court on other issues.
His appellate lawyer could not be reached for comment Tuesday.