A Carpentersville woman – who is incarcerated after being convicted of killing a toddler in one of Lake County’s most controversial murder cases – has been granted a new opportunity to get out of prison.
Melissa Calusinski, 38, of Carpentersville, has been awarded a clemency hearing in front of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board (PRB) that could free her from the Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln.
Calusinski is currently serving a 31-year prison sentence after a jury found her guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated battery of a child involving 16-month-old Benjamin Kingan.
The clemency hearing is scheduled for July 9 at Crowne Plaza Springfield in front of the review board.
Under Article 5, Section 12 of the Illinois Constitution, the governor possesses the power to pardon a convicted felon by granting them clemency.
“The Governor may grant reprieves, commutations and pardons, after conviction, for all offenses on such terms as he thinks proper. The manner of applying therefore may be regulated by law,” the Illinois Constitution says.
However, the process means representatives for Calusinski must explain in detail to the board why the prison sentence should be commuted.
The PRB will then make a recommendation to Governor J.B. Pritzker, who decides whether or not to grant clemency.
Calusinski’s representatives filed a clemency petition with Pritzker and the Lake County Circuit Court.
Court records show Calusinski’s defense attorney, Kathleen Zellner, filed the 337-page clemency petition on May 1.
The same packet was also sent via FedEx to Pritzker, Lake County Chief Circuit Court Judge Daniel Shanes and the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office on April 24, court records show.
Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart confirmed in a statement to Lake & McHenry County Scanner on Wednesday that his office received the clemency petition in May but was not notified about the hearing from the parole board until June 10, after his office made several inquiries.
He added that the state’s attorney’s office “will be filing our objection to clemency and to the defense lawyers’ request for the Governor to intervene” by the mandated June 26 deadline.
“Since we received the clemency petition and the Notice, our office has been in communication with the Kingan family’s attorney,” Rinehart said in the statement.
“We will continue to offer them support during what must be a difficult time for them,” Rinehart added.
Rinehart was not able to comment further on the petition due to the pending nature of the proceedings.
Michael Perillo, who is the attorney for victims Amy and Andy Kingan, said he had a conversation about the petition with Rinehart earlier this week.
“We had a wide-ranging and complete conversation and I’m pleased with contents of same,” Perillo said.
The clemency petition states the PRB “can have no confidence in the evidence against Melissa Calusinski,” “can have no confidence in the process leading to Melissa Calusinski’s conviction,” and “can have no confidence in the justness of, or the continuing need for, Melissa Calusinski’s sentence.”
If Pritzker does not approve her bid for clemency, Calusinski will not be discharged from prison until her sentence ends on December 30, 2042.
The case of Melissa Calusinski is arguably one of the most controversial and high-profile criminal cases in Lake County history.
Calusinski was convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated battery of a child following a jury trial in 2011.
She has so far been incarcerated for 15 years and four months for killing 16-month-old Benjamin Kingan at the Minee Subee Daycare in the Park in Lincolnshire.
The daycare has since been ordered to close by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) following the incident.
Prosecutors said Calusinski was working as a full-time teacher’s assistant when she threw Kingan to the ground on January 14, 2009.
Calusinski, who was 22 at the time, was alone in the classroom with Kingan and seven other toddlers when she hurled him to the floor, killing him, police said.
Two days after Kingan’s death, Calusinski was questioned by police for over nine hours, at which time she made a video-recorded confession to throwing the toddler down.
She was subsequently charged with first-degree murder, paving the way for a two-week trial at the Lake County Courthouse that ended with a jury finding her guilty.
In the two video-recorded statements played at her trial, Calusinski said Benjamin was fussing as she carried him across the room, other children present were causing a commotion and she became overwhelmed and frustrated.
Calusinski’s defense attorneys made two main arguments during the trial: the confession she gave police was coerced and Kingan had a pre-existing head injury.
The defense argued that Calusinski’s confession to police was coerced because — after being locked in an interrogation room for nine hours — Calusinski thought she would be able to go home if she admitted to throwing the child down.
However, the jury ruled against Calusinski and Judge Shanes sentenced her to 31 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) at a subsequent sentencing hearing.
Calusinski’s case was further popularized when Erin Moriarty first featured it on CBS News’ “48 Hours” in 2015.
After several years of appeals, Zellner, who is a well-known wrongful conviction defense attorney, filed the necessary paperwork to serve as Calusinski’s attorney.
Zellner filed a post-conviction petition in 2015, which was required to grant Calusinski a new trial on claims that new evidence was uncovered proving Kingan died of a pre-existing head injury.
Zellner claimed in those filings that legible x-rays, which were previously unavailable at Calusinski’s 2011 trial, were discovered showing Kingan had a pre-existing head injury and died of a chronic brain hemorrhage.
In that process, then-Lake County Coroner Dr. Thomas Rudd changed the cause of Kingan’s death from homicide to “undecided” on the 16-month-old’s death certificate.
Shanes ruled against Zellner’s argument in 2016, saying the new evidence that she discovered was the same evidence rejected by the jury at Calusinski’s first trial.
Calusinski’s appeal of the evidentiary hearing was denied.
Zellner has since filed a writ of habeas corpus in federal court in hopes of transferring the case to federal jurisdiction.
That case still remains open, court records show.
Supporters for Calusinski are planning on attending the July clemency hearing in Springfield to show their support.
In the Facebook group called “Justice for Melissa Calusinski Family Group Page,” the woman’s father, Paul Calusinski, said he will be bringing t-shirts that say “Free Melissa” on one side and “Justice Denied” on the back of the shirt.
Multiple petitions on Change.org have been started over the years for Calusinski, with one gaining over 4,000 supporters.
Zellner’s clemency petition includes numerous letters from people nationwide asking Pritzker to grant clemency to Calusinski.