A suburban Chicago man granted a new trial after being sentenced to 65 years in prison for the beating death of his girlfriend's 2½-year-old son is a free man after a prosecutor dropped charges against him.
Thirty-nine-year-old Randy Liebich of Willowbrook left a DuPage County courtroom Wednesday and said, "I'm feeling a million different emotions right now. I spent 17 years locked up for something I didn't do. Now I'm going to leave here and begin rebuilding my life."
Liebich was convicted in a 2004 bench trial of killing Steven Quinn two years earlier. He had been free on bond since his conviction was thrown out last fall because of ineffective counsel.
DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin announced Wednesday he didn't have enough evidence to retry the case.
"I have determined that my office cannot, at this time, meet our burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt," Berlin said in a statement. "While the evidence supports the fact that Steven Quinn died as a result of inflicted blunt force injuries, the evidence is insufficient to prove Randy Liebich guilty beyond a reasonable doubt."
According to The Exoneration Project, which worked on Leibich's case, "experts unanimously agreed that whatever caused the child's death happened prior to the time Mr. Liebich was caring for him."
In February, the forensic pathologist who conducted Steven's autopsy sent a letter to Berlin stating that "Steven Quinn's death did not occur through actions taken" on the day the child was admitted to the hospital. Instead, she said, he died from "abdominal injuries that were present at least two days before hospital admission. Some were older."
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"Steven was a chronically mistreated child," her letter read.
"My decision today does not mean Randy Liebich is innocent, simply that my office cannot ethically proceed to a retrial based on the evidence we currently have," Berlin said in a statement. "The Sheriff’s Office and my office will continue to investigate this case in an effort to obtain sufficient admissible evidence to hold the person or persons who inflicted Steven Quinn’s fatal injuries responsible.”
