Not guilty in videotape rape case

By Art Barnum
Tribune staff reporter
Published March 3, 2006, 5:45 PM CST


UPDATE: The jury found Missbrenner not guilty on all counts.

A Cook County jury today is deciding the fate of a Burr Ridge man accused of the videotaped rape of a 16-year-old Naperville girl during a night of drinking and partying at his home in 2002.

The jury of seven women and five men began deliberating early this afternoon the case of Adrian Missbrenner, 20, charged with sexual assault and child pornography. He faces 6 to 30 years in prison if convicted.

The trial drew national attention and scorn from victims' advocates and the governor after Judge Kerry Kennedy on Tuesday ordered the man's accuser to watch the tape under questioning or face possible jail time for contempt of court.

The tape, which was shown to the jury a number of times, shows Missbrenner having sex with the alleged victim. When the accuser, who claims never to have viewed the tape, refused Tuesday to watch it, Kennedy gave her the ultimatum. He gave her until the following day to respond, but rescinded the order on Wednesday.

During closing arguments today in the Bridgeview courthouse, Assistant State's Atty. Cheryl Shroeder said the defense tried to sully the alleged victim's reputation and blame her for being raped.

"Adrian's defense is that she is a slut, a whore, and she deserves what happened. He tried to dirty her up," Schroeder said. "He is trying to say she deserves this. But (the victim) had no friends that night. She was the lamb brought to the slaughter."

"He claims the tape exonerates him, but then why did he flee the country?" Schroeder said, citing the defendant's nine months on the run. "For once in his life, hold this kid, Mr. Burr Ridge, responsible."

Referring to the victim's assertion she was unconscious -- passed out because of all the alcohol she had consumed -- when she was assaulted, the prosecutor said Missbrenner and his accomplices "treated her worse than you treat a dead dog in the middle of the street. She had no idea what went on."

Defense attorney Patrick Campanelli argued the case was not rape, but a youthful incident that got out of hand.

Acknowledging the victim "isn't a bad girl. She just made mistakes," he told jurors, "This case should be in a counseling building, not in a criminal court…. This was an insult, not an assault. My client was morally wrong, but so was everyone else."

The defense attorney insisted that his client's accuser "was responsible for what she drank. This was a moral issue, not a legal issue. In his state of mind, he had consent."

"These kids are all children," Campanelli said, pointing at his client. "These kids were ahead of their years. Society pumps them full of this stuff. There's advertising all over the place, with boys and girls holding hands, touching."

"Adrian regrets every day that night," Campanelli said. "But he's a boy. Do you want to label him a rapist?"

Directly addressing the jury, Campanelli said, "If you say he's not guilty, that doesn't mean you approve of what happened."

Prosecutors have said Missbrenner was one of two young men on the videotape having sex with the victim. He was 17 at the time.

After his arrest and while free on bail, Missbrenner fled the country for Europe in 2004. He surrendered to authorities in Belgrade, Serbia-Montenegro, after nine months. The defendant was returned to the United States, convicted last year of violating his bail bond and sentenced to 6 months in jail. He has been in custody ever since.

The other man who prosecutors say appeared in the tape, Burim Bezeri of Lyons, was charged with similar crimes. He is believed to have fled the county about the same time as Missbrenner and remains at large.

Sonny Smith of Brookfield, who operated the video camera, was convicted of child pornography and sentenced to the Illinois Department of Corrections boot camp.