Crime & Safety

LeSure Found Unfit to Stand Trial

Kendall County judge remands Montgomery man accused of double murder to state mental health facility for up to a year.

A Kendall County judge ruled Thursday that a Montgomery man accused of murder is unfit to stand trial, and will be sent to a state mental health facility for up to a year.

Theddias LeSure, 23, of the 2400 block of Riva Ridge Road, is charged with 28 counts of murder, attempted murder and arson for allegedly setting the fire that killed his cousin Maurice Vaughn, 32, and his brother, Matthew LeSure, 26, in June 2009. 

On Thursday, Kendall County State's Attorney Eric Weis presented three reports on LeSure's mental health from defense and prosecution psychiatrists. The reports were filed in June, July and September of last year.

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All of the reports, he said, found LeSure mentally unfit to stand trial, which is why Weis agreed to waive the right for a jury to decide LeSure's fitness. Defense attorney Gary Johnson waived the same right.

Fitness to stand trial is decided on two criteria: the defendant must understand what is happening in court, and be able to assist in his own defense. Fitness is a separate legal question from insanity; insanity addresses the defendant's mental state at the time of the incident.

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LeSure will be handed over to the Illinois Department of Human Services, specifically the Division of Mental Health. He will be placed in a secure, locked-down facility—either the Elgin Mental Health Center or the Chester Mental Health Center, according to Weis.

State officials must come to Kendall County to evaluate LeSure and determine which facility would serve him best. They must also submit reports on the possibility of LeSure becoming fit to stand trial within a year.

Weis said it is not uncommon for those sent to mental health facilities to return and face a jury in less than a year.

"My feeling is you err on the side of, get him evaluated, get him treated and deal with him in six to nine months," he said.

In June 2009, prosecutors said, LeSure filled a bucket with gasoline and doused Vaughn, who was asleep on the floor of the home they shared. LeSure allegedly then lit a match, tossed it at Vaughn, then left the house and watched it burn.

Vaughn was killed in the blaze, and Matthew LeSure, who was asleep in an upstairs room, died of injuries sustained in the fire. Two other family members were injured as they attempted to escape the burning house.

Thursday's ruling makes a death penalty trial unlikely. Both houses of the Illinois Legislature passed a repeal of the death penalty last month, and the bill sits on Gov. Pat Quinn's desk. He has until March 18 to sign or veto it, and if he does neither, the bill will automatically become law on that date.

Quinn has not said whether he will sign. But barring a veto, by the time LeSure stands trial, the bill may be the law of the land.

McCann ordered a status hearing on LeSure's treatment on April 7 at 1 p.m.


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