BABY HEATHER’S MURDER
NORMAN V. KELLY
I have said it before murder
is always a surprise and most definitely a shock to the loved ones and
acquaintances of the victim. I believe that most everyone would put murder in
that compact box. But where do we put the murder of a baby? I’m not talking
about a late abortion I am talking about the actual murder…the killing of an
innocent baby. I can tell you this if you know the murdered child, or the
family of a murdered baby, the answer to the question is simple. Pain…agonizing
pain, and between sobs the question that is always asked is…WHY?
The story I am about to tell
you began near Alton, Illinois in June of 1989.
I decided to bring this story
to you because it touched the hearts of folks here in Peoria, Illinois because
some of them were jurors in the trial held right here in River City.
Paula and Robert Sims were
just another married couple. She came from a farm in southern Missouri and Bob
worked the nightshift in Alton, Illinois.
They were no different than
the thousands of newly married, and like the others their lives were ordinary.
Then on June 17, 1986 Paula made a call to the local police, screaming into the
telephone that a man had stolen her baby girl. Well, now that is news that will
catapult a person into the spotlight rather quickly.
It was 10:00 that June night
and Paula Sims was watching the news on TV
while her husband was off to
work. At that time they lived in a rural setting in Brighton, Illinois. Paula
was stunned senseless as she saw a man standing in front of her with a masked
face and a mean looking gun in his hand. She had a habit of watching TV in her
basement and locked the rear door only after she was ready to go upstairs to
bed. The gunman forced her to lie on the floor warning her to stay there at
least ten minutes. The moment she heard the door close she got up and raced to
check on her baby. Her infant girl, Lora lei was gone!
We are all aware of the
uproar and the publicity connected with a kidnapping of a child, and this case
was no different. The local press down there in Alton and Saint Louis and
surrounding areas raced to get the story to the public. The first person to be
quoted was Paula’s father, Orville Blew.
“Somebody’s got to be sick to do something like
this or have no feelings at all. It could be somebody
in the market for selling babies or maybe somebody who
lost theirs and wants another.”
Paula and Robert were much
too distraught to speak to the press, but finally
on June 20th
Robert appealed to the press. “They could have stolen anything I have,” he said,
standing in his driveway and pointing toward the house,
“They could have fired me,
sent me back to war, nothing compares with this.”
The couple appeared in
newspapers, heads together, tears on their faces holding up a poster they had
made. “Have you seen Lora lei? She abducted
from Brighton home Tuesday
Nite, June 17.”
Seven thousand fliers were
sent out by I-Search, describing little Lora lei
as light-haired and 19 inches
long. Five thousand photos were made up and sent out and within a few days over
$8,000.00 were offered as a reward for information. Authorities made every
effort to find the infant as they waited for a ransom note, but none came.
THE WORST NEWS POSSIBLE
On June 24, 1986, one week
after the baby was kidnapped the decomposed remains of an infant were found in
a deep ravine less than 150 feet from the Sims home. The bones had been
scattered about apparently from animals and no clothing or anything else was
found at the scene. Hospital x-rays could not reveal whether the bones were
those of a boy or a girl, only that they were human. Were those pathetic
remains that of little Lora lei?
The police immediately asked
Robert and Paula to take lie detector tests. Coming out of the police inquiry,
the press asked them how they did.
Robert smiled, “We passed
with flying colors.” The truth was that they had not only not passed with
‘flying colors,’ they had indeed failed the tests.
What did that mean? Could it
be possible that this nice couple murdered their daughter? For the folks that
knew them that thought was absolutely
ludicrous.
Right after the tests the
Sims moved away telling friends that the pressure on them from the media was
just too much…so they left. A month or so later
Dr. James McGivney, a
forensic dentist, told the press that the remains were those of a
thirteen-day-old baby, based on the tooth buds he found in the jaw bone.
Later the police had experts compare the bone marrow and reported that their
experts reported that they were 97.2 percent positive that the baby found in
the ravine was that of Lora lei Sims. Paul and Robert rejected that idea
completely. It was not their daughter, they were sure of that fact. To counter
that even more sophisticated tests were made and the results were that the
experts were now 99.75 percent sure that the baby was Lora lei. Remember the
sophistication of today’s DNA tests were yet to come.
The couple then told the
press that they had accepted the death of their daughter and were just barely
“Keeping their sanity.” However, Robert hedged a bit by adding, “But I can’t
say, down in my heart, that I absolutely know it’s her,” The father, whom many
suspected, struck out at his tormentors. “What I can’t believe is how little
support we’ve got from the
world in general. We’ve been
condemned.”
The family of little Lora lei
buried her in Woodland Cemetery over in Wood River, Illinois just a few miles
from where her grandparents lived. No death
date was carved on the stone
because the date is uncertain. Also, although they buried the remains of the
infant, the Sims family left the cemetery not exactly sure that they had indeed
buried Lora lei Sims.
In March, 1987, the grand
jury met to consider the death of the infant, which
told the reading public that
authorities must believe that the baby was murdered by one or both of her
parents. Both Robert and Paula were asked to appear which they did but they
invoked the Fifth Amendment and did not answer the questions put to them. The
public assumed at that point, since they had flunked the lie detector
tests and refused to answer questions from the grand jury, that they were
guilty of murder. That was how it was then and as the months went on they never
changed their minds. Paul and Robert Sims were guilty of killing their baby…why
aren’t they in jail?
CAN
LIGHTINING STRIKE TWICE?
On February 1, 1988, there
were grins on the faces of hard-luck parents, Robert and Paula Sims. They had a
baby boy. The happy parents then announced to the suspicious world that another
child was born to them thirteen months later, a little girl named Heather. Joy
settled over the distraught parents and even the folks that believed the couple
had killed Lora lei were now willing to give them some space. After all, in
spite of the hell they had gone through they had a boy named Randy and sweet,
beautiful Heather to raise. They would prove they were decent parents given a
chance. Interest in the couple waned and like always life moved on.
And then the impossible
happened. On April 29, 1989, a Saturday at 10:20
P.M., Paula was taking the
trash out when she was accosted by a masked man. The armed man forced her back
into the house then smashed her with some kind of Karate chop across the back
of the neck. She lay there unconscious for as much as forty-five minutes.
That’s when Robert returned from work to revive her and call police. The couple
dashed through the house to check on Randy and Heather. Randy was just fine but
Heather was gone!
The news raced through the
community like a tornado and as in the last case, soon was a national story.
The doubters quickly said “I told you so,” and soon the Sims house was the
center of crowds and TV cameras. The folks would buy the first case, well some
of them, but not this one. These two cases were so similar that the people were
now positive of the guilt of the young couple. How could the authorities have
allowed this to happen? They should have had one or both of those people in
jail after the death of Lora lei. That was the sentiment of the folks who had
not quite gotten over the horror of the first case three years previously.
The couple took their only
son and raced over to the Blew’s house to take refuge. People showed up there
as well, some carrying placards, others just stood staring at the house. One
lady told the press that they should not judge these people “Only God can judge
them.” The media circus kicked up a notch when police found pornography in
Robert’s garage. There were soft-porn magazines in his locker, one of them, Abnormal
Wife, had a picture of a naked woman sitting on a human skull. The media took some pains to inform the people that the
police found a picture of the son in his locker but none of his daughter.
ANOTHER INFANT BODY
Just four days after the baby’s disappearance a man was
searching a park area near the Mississippi River. He’d often found a few cans
in the trash- cans, and when he saw a large green garbage bag he immediately
opened it. To his utter horror what he saw was not aluminum cans. No, what he
saw was the frozen body of a very small infant! Authorities were summoned and
they soon identified the pitiful remains as those of the missing infant, Heather
Lee Sims. The news bumped the case up to international coverage, and the media
converged once again upon Paula and Robert Sims.
More and more TV cameras were aimed at the couple but
before long they seemed to zero in on Paula Sims alone. After all she was with
the two infants when they were kidnapped, and as far as people were concerned
she was guilty of their murders. Of course the media did not say that but by
their very actions the finger pointing was obvious. A lot of people reduced the
number of suspects to two, and they had already made up their minds which two.
They made it clear that they thought either Paula and Robert did it together or
Paula did it on her own…one or the other.
WOULD THEY CHARGE PAULA?
The first kidnapping and murder were in 1986, which cost
the life of Lora lei
and then in 1989, the murder of Heather. The authorities
did not charge Robert or Paula for the 1986 murder so what was different about
the 1989 murder? If they had nothing on her then how could they charge her now?
That was the question that bounced around among the people who followed the
Sims case. What were they going to do? In 1986, Sheriff Frank Yocum
of Jersey County, who with the help of dogs found
the body of Lora lei certainly did everything he could possibly do to get the
evidence needed to charge Paula. Three frustrating years, following every lead,
countless hours of endless investigations…tip after tip…all for naught. Finally
he took what he had to Lee Plummer, the Jersey County State’s Attorney, who
decided that they did not have enough evidence to proceed.
Sheriff Yocum expressed his concern over so many
inconsistencies in the case, shaking his head and totally frustrated he let
them be known to the public. He told reporters that the tear in the screen door
where the intruder made his entry was not only too small it was on the wrong
side of the screen. He wondered why neither Robert nor Paula had ever gone on
any of the searches for the bodies. Also the sheriff pondered the fact that no
clothing, no baby clothing was ever found on or near either one of the infant’s
bodies. Despite all of Yocum’s suspicions and hard work there was nothing in
the years between the two cases that ever tipped the scales of justice his way.
Lora lei’s fate remained a deep, dark mystery not only to him but everyone else
as well. Yocum was stunned when he arrived at the Sims house once
again to investigate yet another kidnapping and another
murder. He stood looking at the crying couple. He said he could see them cry
“But I’ve never
been able to put an adjective as to what Paula’s emotions
were that night. To this day I can’t.”
NOW WHAT?
There is no Statute of Limitation on murder. However,
there is on the other charges that the SA could charge Paula with, so with time
running out he did file them. Lee Plummer had Paula arrested and arraigned on
concealing a homicide and three counts of obstructing justice, all in
connection with the death and disappearance of Lora lei Sims. So finally the
mystery lady from La Plata, population 1,423, was under the jurisdiction
of Illinois law. Now all the public could do was wait and see what developed.
The little town she grew up in was known as “The soybean
capital of the
world.” The town is a nice little farm town, it even has a
nine-hole golf course, and most everyone there certainly knew Paula as the
“Pleasant tomboy from Bates Street.” She busied herself taking care of her
disabled brother and never showed any signs of having a bad disposition. The
town had its dark side, as reporters found out when they went there to find out
about Paula, who she was and why she would kill her kids. Reporters said that
at one time there was a sign along Route 63 that read “Nigger don’t let the sun
set on your head in La Plata.” But, hell, that was 1965 a long time ago.
Surely folks had changed their attitude…hopefully.
Reporters found the town a bit protective of Paula. The folks
admitted they never locked their doors, and left their keys in
their cars, but those same folks carried guns in their cars. There was a
sizeable marijuana crop there as well, according to some of the more snoopy
reporters. The principal of the school told reporters that he “Had nothing to
say,” and other folks told the intruders the same thing. Paula’s smiling
picture in the 1970 high school book was proudly shown with the hint that if
she went wrong it was after she left La Plata. Some local folks resented the
press calling her a La Plata girl. “She was born here but she didn’t even
graduate high school here.” The reporters never really got the answers to the
“Why” Paula Sims would kill her children, but they learned a lot about her and
reported much of it to their readers.
One interesting thing did pop
up from the reporter’s investigation when she interviewed a high school student
that was in school with Paula. “If anything ever come up missing at school,
every finger would point at her. She’d get real paranoid about it. ‘Why do you
always say I did it?’ Paula would ask. “Well because 99 chances out of 100 you
did it that’s why.”
Another young lady that spent
some time with Paula quickly
added “she didn’t act
very feminine; she was tall and not much of a figure. She was prone to
fighting…fists and cat fights. She was tough and she didn’t bluff.”
So that’s enough about Paula,
what any of that has to do with why she would kill her kids, is beyond me.
Also…keep in mind she was not even charged with murder when all these
interviews took place…but people love to talk…my how they love to talk.
FINALLY THE CHARGE IS MURDER
On May 12, Paula was charged
with concealing a homicide and obstructing justice for the death of Lora Lei.
That trial would take place after the murder charges have been concluded. July
1, the same charges are filed only this time they are in connection with the
death of Heather Sims. On July 11 Paula Sims is charged with Heather’s murder
and this time she is charged without the possibility of a bond. A major
surprise is that the Madison County judge transferred the trial to Peoria,
Illinois because of pre-trial publicity. Now all the publicity would be
generated here in Peoria, Illinois. Of course that trial will mean a pretty
penny for the hotels and merchants here in town so authorities eagerly awaited
the trial.
FROM MADISON COUNTY TO PEORIA
Paula spent her time secluded
in her Madison County Jail, rarely talking to anyone, sitting, reading…staring
out into space. Publicity still surrounded the case and every time a pre-trial
motion or hearing was held, the crowds swarmed and the media frenzy continued.
Roadblocks were put up on the street where the Sims family lived but still the
parade of people going by never stopped. One TV reporter from KMOV-TV said to
reporters that contacted the station by phone “you’d have to be here to see the
circus atmosphere.” What would it be like here in Peoria, Illinois?
A very important decision by
the judge in Madison County ordered that information about the death of Loralei
could be used in the trial of Paula for the murder of her second daughter,
Heather Sims. This was huge as far as the prosecutor was concerned. Just think
of it from the juror’s viewpoint. They sit there and for a few days and they
hear that this woman, according to the prosecutor, killed her first daughter.
The judge allowed this under some section of the law consistent with ‘showing a
consistent pattern of crime.’ It was a devastating ruling, and one that a
Peoria jury would get a chance to listen to. Many lawyers interviewed felt that
in the end this just might be reversible error,
PEORIA,
ILLINOIS
1-08-1990
Reporters flocked into
Peoria, Illinois where the TV vans took up valuable
parking spaces, and crowds
flooded the courthouse. That was the scene that cold January morning when the
Paula Simses jury waited in the Jury Commission Room to be called for questioning.
This was another one of those ‘hot tickets’ I told you about, but less
spectators would see this show.
Since so many visiting
reporters took the good seats, and other VIP’s were allowed in, frustration
prevailed even among the very early seat hopefuls.
Judge Matoesian from Madison
County would preside and local reporters quickly told the Peoria readers that
Andy Matoesian was a graduate of the Peoria Barber College. Most folks hoped
that the man had also gone to law school. The media coverage was a blitz not
only TV, newspaper and radio, there were live broadcasts back to the Alton,
Illinois area as well. The death
penalty would be sought by
the county’s prosecutor, William Haine and his two valuable assistants, Kit
Morrisey and Donald Weber. Paula Sims had as her lawyer Donald Groshong, a very
competent defense attorney. The actors were in place, the judge was ready, and
the bit players were waiting to become jurors. Camera…action!
Judge Matoesian questioned 97
jurors himself excusing many before either side got to talk to them. The
questions centered around what the prospective juror knew about the case and
what their views were concerning the death penalty. It was a long, sometimes
boring process, but eventually the deed was done. The jurors were finally in
the box and the alternates were sitting in ready to take over when the judge
asked both sides if they were ready to go. “Ready your honor” came the answers
and the opening statements were delivered. I can tell you after 22 years of
hearing and watching the beginning of trials I was never able to quiet my
heart… it’s better than TV that’s for sure.
A PARADE OF WITNESSES
Frank Yocum the Jersey County
Sheriff, led by the SA went through the three years of frustrating
investigation in the first murder and was off the stand before he even got to
the second murder. The strategy of the People was now apparent. For the first
three days they put on witness after witness
who discussed the first
death, that of Lora Lei Sims. The sheriff told the jury that Paula had a dog, a
big, very alert dog, named Shadow. Neighbors reported to him that not once
during the night of the kidnapping did Shadow bark. Why not? That’s what the
prosecutor asked the jury. How could a man come up into the yard, enter the
house and not even cause a whimper from the dog? Damn good questions?
The eight-men and four-women
jury, leaned a bit forward as the first 16 witnesses, which included
investigators, neighbors and forensic experts,
paraded in front of them.
Each brought with them a piece of the puzzle the prosecutors hoped to fit into
the complicated motives that caused Paula Sims to kill her two beautiful baby
girls. Prosecutors even put on a roommate of Paula’s who had her baby the same
day that Paula did. The lady told the jurors that she heard Paula talking to
someone on the telephone. “I’m sorry I had a little girl,” Paula said to
someone on the other end of the telephone.
By the time the jury had
heard from 26 witnesses the spectators had already made up their mind about
Paula Sims. Reporters talked to a lot of them during the breaks, reporting
their comments. “Guilty as sin,” was the general
consensus. There was also a call-in
public poll being conducted but the results would be published after the trial.
Nurse Diane Seavers testified
that in all the time she saw Robert Sims at the hospital he never once looked
at the new baby girl. State investigators repeatedly told the jury that they
did not believe the kidnapping story and at one time told Paula that to her
face. She abruptly got up and walked out of the room leaving the police looking
at each other.
The State put on the
physician that did the autopsy on the body of Heather once they had finally
gotten around to the second murder. There are very few surprises in a murder
trial what with all the discovery and pre-trial motions, but there was in this
trial. As the good doctor took the stand, the defense attorney for Paula Sims
led her out of the courtroom. He did that without explanation, which was his
right, but later he told reporters she did not want to hear the details
concerning her beloved daughter’s death. It was while she was out of the
courtroom that Dr. Kay dropped the bomb. Since the doctor was not only a
pathologist, but a neurologist as well, the judge let her testify beyond the
autopsy. She told the jury that in her opinion based on a degree of medical
certainty that she did not believe Paul Sims was knocked unconscious. She went
into an elaborate medical explanation about memory loss and recovery that
probably went over most heads. It was devastating to the defense and Mr.
Groshong did everything he could to keep it out.
“Overruled,” said the judge,
“the doctor may continue.”
After Doctor Mary Kay’s
dissertation on retrograde amnesia was allowed to sink in the prosecution
rested its case. The 215 exhibits would fill a damn pickup truck and the
testimony from 51 witnesses that went with them must have jammed the juror’s
brains to the limit. Somehow they had gotten through it, sequestered at the
Pere Marquette, herded around like cattle and now they faced the long
anticipated defense. To me it was magic to watch a jury, and to this day I am
amazed that in most cases they got it right.
ACT TWO: THE DEFENSE
Of course the defense started
during the opening statements and continued with every witness the People put
on the stand. Every exhibit is subject to objection and every word out of every
witness is scrutinized and often attacked. When the case is finally in the
hands of the defense attorney, many of those very same witnesses are back on
the stand. It is a time consuming, grueling procedure especially when the
evidence seems stacked against the defendant as it was in this case. Donald
Groshong was a master at his craft, and his main task was to show the jury that
the State had no real evidence against his client…they had nothing but
circumstantial evidence and a lot of
innuendo and gossip.
Robert Sims was not charged
with a crime in the murder of his two daughters. He would be a key defense
witness and as it is in all murder trials the big question was, ‘will the
defendant take the stand?’
Several relatives of Paula
Sims told the jury that Robert and Paula loved the baby girls and the idea that
either one of them would harm them was absurd. Linda Condray, a sister-in-law
showed dozens of pictures depicting scenes of love and affection on the part of
Paula toward both the baby girls. She was also very upset that the police had
searched her home some ten miles from the Sims home. She told the jury that she
thought the search was “a bit absurd.” In all the defense put on 18 witnesses
that testified that the children were loved and that they did not show any
special interest in their son. “Robert and Paula loved their kids,” it was that
simple. The spectators were anxious to see what Paula and Robert Sims had to
say.
THE INNOCENT PARENTS
Robert Sims looked over at
the jury “I wouldn’t cover for one minute for anyone that would harm a hair on
my children no matter how much I loved them.” He choked up a bit before he said
“I believe Paula absolutely and she
is a good mother and an
excellent wife.” The defense took Robert through all the accusations the
witnesses had testified to and one by one he denied them.
One important aspect of the
testimony from Robert was that he disagreed with his sister-in-law about what
time Paula had visited her the day of the murder. He told the jury it was ten
in the morning and the sister-in-law said it was three in the afternoon. This
was important because police maintain that it was in the afternoon while Paula
was supposed to be over at the sister-in-law’s home that she removed the body
from the freezer and disposed of it. Robert endured a brutal cross-examination
from two of the prosecuting lawyers.
The shy, withdrawn Defendant,
Paula Sims took the stand. The crowded courtroom was hushed as the soft-spoken
woman, now 30 looked over at her lawyer as he walked up to her. Gently her
lawyer led her through the horrible ordeal of losing her two daughters. He
asked question deliberately, nodding as his client answered. It was a very well
rehearsed sensible examination of an innocent woman.
“I loved my daughters and I
had a lot of plans for them. I wanted to give them these dresses. This dress
was mine when I was fifteen months old and I wanted to give it to Heather. She
held up two tiny dresses for the jury to see. The defense held up a deflated
balloon that had ‘It’s A Girl!’ printed on it. Paula sobbed, “we were going to
put that in her room.”
Paula’s testimony went well.
She was believable, answering her lawyer’s question in a straight-forward
manner and looking like the distraught innocent woman that she said she was.
The cross-examination was not so kind and not so forthcoming on the part of the
witness. She was at one point courteous, even kind, but the flip side was anger
and resentment. The prosecutors tore in to her on the discrepancies of her
earlier statements and it was brutal.
The SA questioned her about a
visit to a card shop when she and her husband walked into the store carrying
Heather. The SA pointed a finger at her. “That child was dead wasn’t she? Your
baby was dead and you carried it in there in a blanket to establish an alibi
didn’t you?” Paula bristled
as she yelled back, “I was
never in that card shop!”
THE CLOSING ARGUMENTS
In the ideal world closing
arguments should not win a trial. But we all know better than that. Lawyers are
supposed to use the closing arguments to summarize the evidence garnered from
the witnesses. They are allowed some leeway, and I don’t have to tell you,
leeway to a lawyer means freedom to go off on a rant. Good lawyers are good
public speakers and damn good actors. The closing arguments in this case were
dramatic and aggressive. The urge to object is overwhelming to the opposing
lawyers but forcibly subdued for one simple reason, If one objects…the other
will follow suit. After eleven days of testimony three days to pick a
jury, the end was in sight. Hell…get on with it, the jury would like to visit
their kids before they graduate from college. That was the sentiment of the
jury and even the press was getting anxious to get home.
The trial was over! After 84
witnesses, and four and one half-hours of closing arguments, the end was near.
The long, sometime arduous task
by the judge of instructing
the jury as to the law can often empty a courtroom in a hurry. Once the jury is
charged, they are sworn in and from that moment on they are the sole holders of
justice. Soon they would select a foreman and began their deliberations. Would
they reach a verdict or would they become deadlocked? Paula Sims was on trial
in Peoria, Illinois for the murder of her child. If they found her guilty she
could and probably would be executed. Think about it a minute, that is one hell
of a responsibility. How would you vote? If guilty would you have her put
to death?
That last day of the trial
Paula and Robert Sims ate lunch together and he stood and watched as guards
took her back inside the courthouse. The judge would now instruct the jury as
to the law in the case, and soon the jury would have the case. The end was near
to the case that had brought as much interest as did the Richard Speck trial
twenty-three years earlier. Would Robert Sims get his wife back or would he
lose her forever?
A JUROR’S WORK IS NEVER EASY
It was a cold January 30,
1990, the jury had deliberated for seven hours and
speculation was high. A lot
of people indicated to the press that they assumed the jury would take a couple
of hours to find the defendant guilty. They were certainly surprised how long
they had been out and still no verdict. What was wrong with those people?
The folks in Peoria were also
talking about the closing of Bishop’s Cafeteria after 61 years in business and
fretting about the Varsity Theater shutting its
doors as well. The good news
was that the old Apollo Theater was going to be refurbished and there was talk
about the riverfront project. Other than that, all eyes were on the media for
news about the jury.
The jury had gotten the case
at 5:30 on Monday, they had to eat dinner, get settled down, pick a foreman,
take a few votes, hell, it all took time. Once
they did all that they asked
the judge for a transcript of the trial, which of course was not available.
They would have to go by memory, exhibits and
notes.
Suddenly the word came that
the jury had reached a verdict and it was
ready to meet with the judge.
The moment had arrived. The courtroom filled up quickly and excitement was in
the air. The jury is in the box…it’s over. GUILTY!
LIFE OR DEATH?
Thursday 2-2-1990 the jury is
back in the box and the courtroom is once
again filled up for the final
phase of People vs Paula Sims case. This day
Is the second birthday for
Paula’s son whom she has not held since her incarceration. Paula was led into
the courthouse dressed in a long sleeved
V-necked striped sweater. Her
hair was long and pulled back behind her bare ears. Two county officers guided
her between them as all eyes swept over her. She was now the convicted killer
of Heather Sims, her infant daughter. The charges against her concerning Laura
lei would be tried in March. She was now waiting to hear the verdict of life or
death against her. At least that’s what the spectators assumed.
The truth of the matter was
simple. Once the jury had found her guilty they had decided that they would not
impose the death sentence upon her. So the threat of death row was not even to
be considered. But many of the folks that crowded the courthouse that day
seemed to be unaware of that. The judge, after a hearing would decide what the
penalty would be. Would it be life or something less? That is the question that
would be answered by Judge Matoesian of Madison County, not whether she
lived or died.
The judge finally had the
decision in his hands. He looked down at Paula Sims, pausing in thought he said
“you will serve your natural life behind bars.” Sims did not move, showed no
signs she even heard the judge. “That means in plain English that you’re not
eligible for parole.” Only a hand full of spectators heard the final sentence
that would bring to close the trial that had created an uproar for three weeks.
The judge then ordered that Sims be escorted to the Illinois Department of
Corrections’ women’s prison in Dwight, Illinois.
That poll I told you about,
was finally published in the Peoria Journal
Star: Of the 2,268 people
that responded to Dial-A-Vote, 2,034 said she was guilty and deserved the death
penalty. The remaining 234 said that she did not deserve the death penalty.
Hell, Illinois is not a state that is quick to execute. Also the means of
execution had changed from the electric chair to lethal injection in 1983. Now
after Governor Ryan signed into law his legislation it will be another fifteen
years before Illinois even gets close to an execution. It is my guess that we
never will. Have any idea how long ago it was that Illinois executed a prisoner?
Good guess…it was 1962.
So, let’s leave this case
with some questions unanswered. Will Robert Sims eventually be indicted for his
part, if any, in the death of his two baby girls? Will Paula Sims be
sentenced additionally when she is tried for the charges against her in
connection with Lora Lei’s death? Maybe, if I ever write another book like Murder
In Your Own Backyard, I’ll answer
those questions for you.
Editor’s Note: Norm
Kelly is a retired private investigator, author and
historian. He welcomes you
comments.
norman.kelly@sbcglobal.net
