Trial opens for man charged with Toulon, Ill., murders

DIXON, Ill. -- A bully who terrified residents of a tiny western Illinois town snapped when a sheriff's deputy came to arrest him, shooting the lawman at such close range that the blast burned the finish off his badge, prosecutor James Owens said Friday.

Curtis Thompson used the same sawed-off shotgun a short time later on a couple he had feuded with for years, killing them in front of their 10-year-old daughter, Owens said during his opening statement in Thompson's first-degree murder trial.

Owens urgied jurors to convict Thompson of more than two dozen felony charges, including first-degree murder.

Thompson, 61, has pleaded innocent to committing the first murders in recent memory in Toulon, a Stark County farming town of about 1,500. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

His lawyers plan to claim he was insane at the time, and they told Judge Scott Shore they will make their opening statement at the conclusion of the prosecution's case.

Townspeople say the retired coal miner was a bully with a quick temper and a grudge against James and Janet Giesenhagen, who had sued him 15 years earlier in a dispute over a dog attack.

Thompson won the lawsuit, which alleged his dog bit Janet Giesenhagen's son. But he then began harassing the couple, including driving slowly by their house nearly every day and glaring, friends of the Giesenhagens said.

Investigators said Thompson turned violent on March 22, 2002, killing Stark County sheriff's deputy Adam Streicher when he went to Thompson's house to arrest him for missing a court appearance in an assault case.

Thompson killed Streicher with one blast from a 12-gauge shotgun, Owens said Friday.

"It was so close the finish of his badge was burned off and the badge itself was twisted," Owens said.

Thompson then took the deputy's handgun and car, drove to the Giesenhagen home and shot the couple to death, Owens said.

Marilyn Ardelle Giesenhagen, James Giesenhagen's mother, testified later Friday that the couple's daughter, who was not injured, called her after Thompson left.

"She said, 'Grandma, come quick. Curt Thompson just killed my daddy and hurt mommy,"' Giesenhagen said.

Giesenhagen, 71, who lived across an alley from her son, ran over to the house and went into the kitchen.

Giesenhagen found her daughter-in-law lying on the floor with a wound to her head. Janet Giesenhagen was still conscious and asked for a pillow, saying she couldn't breathe.

"Her left arm was out and her hand was lying on the floor because he'd blown it off," Giesenhagen testified.

Giesenhagen said she saw her son's body in a pool of blood on the basement floor.

The wounds that killed James Giesenhagen were between the tip of his nose and his collarbone, Owens said.

"Of the shots fired into the three people he murdered -- Adam Streicher, Janet Giesenhagen and James Giesenhagen -- not a single shot was below the chest," Owens told jurors.

The shooting spree ended when Thompson was seriously injured in a gunfight with police.

Thompson's trial was moved to Dixon because of pretrial publicity in Toulon. Jury selection began July 7, and lawyers said the trial could last four to six weeks.

It appeared Friday afternoon that Thompson's lawyer, Matthew Maloney, will use his reputation in his insanity defense. In cross-examination of state's witnesses Maloney questioned Thompson's calm, almost robot-like reaction to events the night of the murders.

After the Giesenhagens were shot, Thompson allegedly used the squad car to ram a truck driven by Jason Rice, a neighbor with whom he had a longtime feud. Rice testified that he got out of his pickup thinking a police officer was ill, saw Thompson behind the wheel, and ran.

"He had that look in his eye, didn't he?" Maloney asked.

"He always had that look in his eye. I got the hell out of there," said Rice, who told Maloney that some Toulon residents had nicknamed Thompson "Glare."

Outside the courtroom, Ed Tye, 37, who is related to the Giesenhagens through his wife, Jennifer, said he doesn't care whether Thompson gets the death penalty, only that he is convicted.

"Personally, I just want to hear the word 'guilty,'" Tye said.