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Michael Cardamone
Michael Cardamone
and his wife, Liz
'I have been buried
in an avalanche of lies'
- Gymnastics coach fights
prison time
By Robert Sanchez, Chicago
Daily Herald Staff Writer, December 01, 2005
Saying he finds comfort in
the belief that God knows what happened, convicted child molester
Michael P. Cardamone Wednesday professed his innocence while
asking a judge to spare him prison time.
"My behavior was always
responsible and appropriate," the former gymnastics coach
said. "I have never crossed any boundary."
Cardamone was convicted in
March of fondling seven of the 14 girls under his tutelage at
the American Institute of Gymnastics in Aurora, a training facility
owned by his mother.
A jury acquitted the 28-year-old
man of molesting the other girls and of more serious predatory
criminal sexual assault charges.
Now DuPage Circuit Judge Michael
Burke must decide whether to sentence Cardamone to probation
or up to 63 years in prison. The decision is expected Monday.
On Wednesday, prosecutors said
they want a punishment of at least 35 years in prison - five
years for each victim.
"These young girls were
supposed to be protected," Prosecutor Alex McGimpsey said
during his closing argument. "And he (Cardamone) betrayed
that trust - over and over again."
But defense attorney Joseph
Laraia said prison time is "totally inappropriate to Michael
and this case." With no criminal record, he said, Cardamone
poses no danger to the public.
"He is a good person -
well-qualified and appropriate to give probation to," Laraia
said.
But the most emotional comments
came from Cardamone himself.
Wearing his jail-issued orange
jumpsuit, Cardamone stood before the judge and said he can't
express remorse for crimes he didn't commit.
"I have been buried in
an avalanche of lies," he said. "I am going to fight
this conviction to my death."
Cardamone is appealing the
conviction to a higher court. His family hired Naperville attorney
Kathleen Zellner, who represented Kevin Fox, the Wilmington father
accused of his 3-year-old daughter's murder before prosecutors
dropped charges when forensic tests cleared him as the rapist.
During his trial, Cardamone's
accusers, now ages 8 to 16, testified he touched them beneath
their leotards, usually during stretching exercises within the
crowded gym.
Defense attorneys countered
by calling 80 gymnasts, parents, teachers and coaches who said
they never saw Cardamone make any inappropriate move.
On Wednesday, Cardamone said
the gym is like a stage. "No one could have committed these
acts without being seen," he said.
Cardamone said his trial taught
him that when someone is accused of molesting a child, guilt
is presumed. He claimed jurors never made eye contact with him
during the proceedings.
"My trial was over before
it began," he said.
Cardamone said he has since
"lost valuable time" with his wife and two young sons.
If given probation, he said, he wouldn't do anything to jeopardize
it.
But prosecutors say Cardamone
is a "systematic and serial child abuser" who should
be given a lengthy prison term.
"Based on this defendant's
character and what he did to those little girls no less than
35 years," McGimpsey said.
While Cardamone didn't have
a criminal record before the March 11 guilty verdict, prosecutors
argue some of his past conduct has been "suspicious"
and "scary."
At 17, Cardamone was ticketed
for using oscillating blue lights similar to a police squad while
he and his buddies pulled over a carload of teenage girls in
Naperville in July 1994. They never approached the girls.
Four months later, as a Waubonsie
Valley High School senior, Cardamone was expelled for the remainder
of the semester after bringing a metal pellet gun to school that
another student mistook for a real weapon.
"What does it say about
his character?" McGimpsey said. "Not much. He's dishonest
and manipulative."
But after the hearing, Cardamone's
wife, Liz, accused prosecutors of trying to "lie and manipulate
stories."
"I love my husband, and
I am so proud of the courage he has shown this entire ordeal,"
she said in a handwritten statement. "We will continue to
fight this injustice together so he can come home to our family
where he belongs."
dailyherald.com
Coach rails at judge,
seeks light sentence
By Art Barnum, Chicago Tribune,
December 1, 2005
Even as Michael Cardamone asked
DuPage County Judge Michael Burke for leniency and no prison
time Wednesday, the former Aurora gymnastics coach harshly criticized
the seven young girls he's convicted of molesting.
"These kids have been
brainwashed by the state," said Cardamone, 28, as he spoke
on the sixth day of his sentencing hearing.
"These kids are highly
suggestible and manipulative," he said. "They cry while
giving testimony, but laugh and carry on in the hallway. This
is a joke."
The girls were sitting in the
courtroom as the statement was made.
A jury convicted Cardamone
in March of nine counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of
seven pupils under the age of 13 until 2002 at his family-operated
Aurora gymnasium. He faces a sentence of either probation or
3 to 63 years in prison.
The charges allege he touched
the girls inappropriately on or under their leotards during practices.
The same jury acquitted him of sexually abusing seven other girls.
DuPage prosecutors asked for
35 years, 5 for each of the seven victims, while defense attorneys
asked for probation.
Cardamone also blamed Burke,
who will announce the sentence Monday, for his conviction.
The defendant chastised Burke
for not allowing the jury to visit the gym.
"They would have seen
that the crimes I am convicted of could not have been committed
in a place full of people," Cardamone said.
"I was always presumed
guilty, and my trial was over before it started," said Cardamone,
who has been in the DuPage County Jail since August 2004. "I
can't express remorse because I have been buried in an avalanche
of lies. The prosecutor's case has been based on lies.
"The kids are pawns in
the system that has been forced to give in to peer and political
pressure," he continued. "The truth can be subverted,
but it will emerge. Judge, you are depriving an innocent man
of his freedom."
Assistant State's Atty. Alex
McGimpsey, in asking for the 35-year sentence, called Cardamone,
"a systemic serial child abuser. These seven young girls
are to be called courageous and have suffered humiliation that
will have a lasting impact on their lives. He betrayed their
trust over and over."
Defense attorney Joseph Laraia
called the convictions "fantasy situations that never happened."
Laraia said Cardamone still
strongly claims his innocence, but told Burke, "if you believe
the jury verdict was correct, they were but a momentary touching
during a gymnastics maneuver that lasted for less that a few
seconds. None of these touches were for sexual gratification."
----------
abarnum@tribune.com
Appeal begins in abuse case
Ex-coach denied new trial, but fight not over
By Christy Gutowski, Daily
Herald Legal Affairs Writer, July 21, 2005
A former Aurora gymnastics
coach lost an early round Wednesday in a legal fight to clear
his name of sexual abuse charges, but his family vowed to mount
a fierce appeal.
A judge denied Michael Cardamone's
request for a new trial after discounting 30 legal issues the
defense raised in its attempt to have the jury's March 11 verdicts
dismissed.
The jury convicted Cardamone
after 22 hours of deliberations of inappropriately touching seven
of 14 girls while they were under his tutelage at his family-owned
American Institute of Gymnastics.
Jurors acquitted the 28-year-old
man of molesting the other seven girls and of predatory criminal
sexual assault charges - two of which call for a mandatory life
prison sentence.
Cardamone faces probation or
up to more than 60 years in prison for aggravated criminal sexual
abuse. DuPage Circuit Judge Michael Burke, who presided over
the arduous trial, denied the defense's motion Wednesday and
set a Sept. 7 date for sentencing.
Cardamone is appealing the
conviction to a higher court. His family hired Naperville attorney
Kathleen Zellner, who represented Kevin Fox, the Wilmington father
accused of his 3-year-old daughter's murder before prosecutors
dropped charges when forensic tests cleared him as the rapist.
Similar to Fox's family, Cardamone's
also supports him.
"I worked beside my husband
every day with these girls," said his wife, Liz, also a
former coach. "That is how I know he never did anything
inappropriate. I will stand beside him while we continue to fight
to prove his innocence."
The defense argued the jury
reached a "compromise verdict" without holding prosecutors
to their high burden of proving Cardamone guilty beyond a reasonable
doubt.
The girls said Cardamone touched
them beneath their leotards mostly during stretching exercises
within the crowded gym. The defense fought the allegations while
calling 86 gymnasts, parents, teachers and coaches who said they
never saw Cardamone make an inappropriate move.
To corroborate the accusers,
the prosecution called upon a 15th girl who wasn't connected
to the gym who also said Cardamone fondled her in July 1999 during
a tumbling class at an Aurora hospital.
As part of his motion for a
new trial, defense attorney Joseph Laraia said the family discovered
new evidence after the trial ended that proves Cardamone couldn't
have abused the girl. The evidence, hospital payroll records,
show Cardamone did not work there in July 1999, but prosecutors
pointed out they weren't certain of the time frame.
Laraia also argued Cardamone
was denied a fair trial because the jury was not allowed to tour
the gym or to consider a lesser battery charge, in reaching a
verdict.
The tempest erupted in November
2002 after a 7-year-old Aurora girl reported that Cardamone,
who wasn't her coach, often molested her. The others followed.
Unlike them, the first gymnast said he often took her out of
her group and into an empty preschool room.
Prosecutors painted Cardamone
as a serial child molester who methodically manipulated his gymnasts
so that the girls endured repeated abuse rather than betray him.
But the defense said it all began with the first girl's wild
imagination, spread through gossip to include other girls, and
developed into false memories.
Coach's guility verdict
stands
DuPage judge rejects plea for new trial in sex-abuse case
By Art Barnum, Tribune staff
reporter. Published July 21, 2005
Despite defense claims that
the trial of an Aurora gymnastics coach contained 30 critical
legal errors, a DuPage judge Wednesday upheld his conviction
for sexually abusing seven students.
"Prosecutors presented
competent evidence, and a reasonable jury could return a finding
of guilty," said Judge Michael Burke, who set a Sept. 7
sentencing date for Michael Cardamone.
Cardamone, 28, was convicted
in March, but acquitted on charges involving seven other girls.
He was a coach at the American Institute of Gymnastics, owned
by his family.
After a two-month trial, the
jury deliberated for three days before convicting Cardamone,
who faces up to 63 years in prison.
The incidents consisted of
inappropriate touching of the girls, ages 8 to 16, under their
leotards between 1999 and 2002.
Defense attorneys Joseph Laraia
and John Donahue asked Burke on Wednesday to void the jury's
guilty verdicts and hold a new trial, citing 30 complaints about
the conduct of the trial.
Among the defense complaints
were:
- that the testimony of the
victims was outweighed by the testimony of 86 witnesses for the
defense;
- that the jury verdict was
a improper compromise;
- that the jurors weren't allowed
to visit the Aurora gym.
"Some of the testimony
of the girls was out of the realm of logic and completely refuted,"
Laraia said.
Laraia also said that the defense
has new evidence that an incident at a Kane County recreation
center where Cardamone allegedly also inappropriately touched
a young girl, which was discussed during the trial, couldn't
have occurred, according to recently obtained work records.
Assistant State's Atty. Alex
McGimpsey said that "the defense put forth their ideas at
trial, and the jury rejected them. He received a fair trial."
Burke rejected all of the defense's
arguments.
"All of these issues have
been preserved for appeal, but the jury's verdict wasn't legally
or logically inconsistent," Burke said. "There isn't
a smoking gun that would change the trial's course."
Cardamone was arrested in November
2002, and has been in the DuPage County Jail since August.
----------
abarnum@tribune.com
12 Ignorant People
Henry Fonda wasn't on this
jury! There was no Juror number 8. The poster for 1954's
12 Angry Men said "Life is in their hands\Death is on their
minds." In 2005, we could make a poster "Freedom is
in their hands\Prison is on their minds."
It is time to think of Lillian
Hellman who wrote The Children's Hour in 1934. Or Arthur
Miller's The crucible (summarized
here)
The jury believed one half
of the girl complainants. It seems they were adjudicating acting
performances rather than truth.
I "believed" Jody
Foster in Taxi Driver and Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon. They gave
brilliant, believable performances -- and they were portraying
fictional characters.
Of the seven witnesses against
Michael Cardamone who the jury found to be credible, some were
perhaps "natural" actors and others were coached. Who
coached them?
We could look to The
Illinois Department of Child and Family Services. "We
are extremely proud of the courage and honesty the girls have
demonstrated throughout this traumatic time," said Casey
Woodham. a state child welfare investigator, while reading a
statement from the girls' parents. "It is our hope that
the bravery these girls have displayed will give other victims
of child abuse the courage to come forward."
Trauma? Bravery? Courage? These
girls were not traumatized, brave or courageous. They were stars
in their own movie. And, if the shallowness and meanness of the
jury pool at large plays out as it seems to be doing, they will
be the role models and mentors for a full blown witch hunt which
has been brewing for a couple decades and from which none of
us will be safe. -- Sheila Steele, March 12, 2005
Jury: Coach molested
seven girls
By Christy Gutowski
Daily Herald Legal Affairs Writer, March 12, 2005
The 14 girls took their turns before the jury, telling its members
their beloved former gymnastics coach molested them.
They did not have forensics,
solid witnesses or his confession to support their words. In
fact, many coaches, gymnasts and parents called them liars.
The jury, however, found overwhelming
truth in some of their stories in a split verdict reached Friday
after 22 hours of debate over three days.
At first, a stoic Michael P.
Cardamone did not react when convicted of fondling seven of the
14 girls under his tutelage at his family-owned American Institute
of Gymnastics in Aurora.
The jury acquitted the 28-year-old
man of molesting the other girls and of predatory criminal sexual
assault allegations -- which are more serious, two of which calling
for a mandatory life prison sentence.
Seconds later, though, tears
began to trickle down Cardamone's face as a clerk polled each
of his jurors. He turned to look at his wife, Elizabeth, who
with his mother, Linda Lynch, shared his tears while seated feet
away. His only sibling, Alysha, who showed staunch support for
her young brother, fainted as the clerk read the verdicts. Paramedics
rushed her to a nearby hospital.
"It's OK," Cardamone
mouthed in their direction. Sheriff's deputies shackled his hands
minutes later and escorted him alone back to his jail cell.
He faces probation or up to
63 years in prison for multiple counts of aggravated criminal
sexual abuse. The wide range is possible if the judge decides
to sentence the Aurora man to consecutive terms. He did not have
a criminal record.
His defense team, Jack Donahue
and Joseph Laraia, vowed a fierce appeal. They remain resolute
in their belief that Cardamone is innocent. Days earlier, Laraia
called any guilty verdict a travesty of justice.
"Michael is a remarkable
young man," he said. "He has a great deal of courage.
We believe in our case and in his innocence."
The girls, now ages 8 to 16,
said Cardamone touched them beneath their leotards during stretching
exercises within the crowded gym. They could not recall absolutes,
and their stories evolved, but their resilience shined in the
courtroom despite meticulous cross examination.
"We are extremely proud
of the courage and honesty the girls have demonstrated throughout
this traumatic time," said Casey Woodham, a state child
welfare investigator, while reading a statement from the girls'
parents. "It is our hope that the bravery these girls have
displayed will give other victims of child abuse the courage
to come forward."
Sheriff's deputies encircled
the tired jury as it left the courthouse in the midst of a media
frenzy after the 5 p.m. verdict. Jurors declined comment while
leaving, as well as when some were contacted hours later. The
stress of their work, however, showed in each haggard expression.
The panel included a high school
coach, postal supervisor, nurse, stay-at-home mom, private business
owner, and American Airlines employee who served as foreman.
One juror persevered in obvious
discomfort earlier in the trial after a car accident. Another
juror, the nurse, was rushed by ambulance to a hospital after
complaining of dizziness. She returned two hours later.
Lawyers chose them out of a
pool of 124 potential jurors for the high-profile case. They
served since Jan. 7, enduring an emotion-filled trial with about
100 witnesses who testified for 140 hours in 26 days.
They had been sequestered away
from their homes and families since Wednesday, when deliberations
began. Some of their employers paid them. Others instead made
just $15 a day, the standard pay for jury duty.
DuPage Circuit Judge Michael
Burke presided over the arduous trial. His words of thanks brought
tears to some of their eyes.
"You are not required
to justify your verdicts to anyone at any time," the judge
said. "You have served above and beyond the call.
"It's been a long road,
a difficult road. If it wasn't for people like you, we wouldn't
be able to do this important work."
The tempest erupted after a
7-year-old Aurora girl reported that Cardamone, who wasn't her
coach, often fondled her. The others followed. Unlike them, however,
the pint-size gymnast said he often took her out of her group
and into an empty preschool room.
Prosecutors Alex McGimpsey
and Michael Pawl painted Cardamone as a serial child molester
who methodically manipulated his gymnasts so that the young girls
endured repeated abuse rather than betray him.
To corroborate the accusers,
the prosecution called upon a 15th girl who isn't connected to
the gym who also said Cardamone fondled her in July 1999 during
a tumbling class at an Aurora hospital.
DuPage County State's Attorney
Joseph Birkett said prosecutors will seek a tough prison sentence.
"This defendant violated
the trust of these children and their parents," he said.
"To betray that trust and violate the innocence of a child
is matched by only one offense, and that's murder."
The defense team fought the
allegations while calling 80 gymnasts, parents, teachers and
coaches who said they never saw Cardamone make a single inappropriate
move. His lawyers cautioned the jury against giving too much
weight to the recollection of children.
The lawyers said it all began
with the first girl's wild imagination, spread through gossip
to include other girls, and developed into false memories after
suggestive questioning.
Much of the trial centered
around the first girl to report the abuse. Her coaches said Cardamone
never took her out of their group. A teammate who was with the
girl during some of the alleged abuse said it never happened.
Teachers and parent volunteers also testified the preschool room
was occupied.
They said Cardamone would have
had to be a magician to pull off such widespread abuse without
detection. His wife, also a coach, worked near him. The prosecution,
however, compared him to a pickpocket whose masterful thievery
went undetected until his arrest in late 2002.
Cardamone is back in court
Monday, but for other allegations. Prosecutors charged him last
summer with harassing one of the girl's parents on suspicion
he made a false 911 call accusing the woman of drunken driving.
The phone call came minutes
after the two exchanged words outside of court during a pre-trial
hearing. Cardamone and his wife said they did not know the motorist's
identity. Judge Burke did not believe them. He revoked Cardamone's
bond.
The judge set a date of June
9 where lawyers will argue for a new trial.
|
Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell