SYCAMORE – A rapist serving 55 years in prison after he kidnapped a Northern Illinois University student at gunpoint, made her drive to his home in Sycamore, raped her and then made her drive back to campus is seeking a retrial.
Todd Allgood, 51, was found guilty by a DeKalb County jury in 2002 of abduction and aggravated criminal sexual assault for the 2001 attack. Allgood was sentenced to 10 years for aggravated kidnapping and 30 years for aggravated criminal sexual assault. He was handed an additional 15 years because of the state’s “15-20-25” provision that automatically adds years to a prison sentence if a weapon is used during the crime. He must serve a minimum of 46 years and nine months, records show.
From inside the Dixon Correctional Center and 17 years into his sentence, Allgood is appealing the additional 15 years and wants a retrial. His lawyer, Daniel Transier, appeared in DeKalb County court Wednesday morning in front of Judge Robbin Stuckert on his behalf.
Transier filed a motion for continuance, citing the need for additional time to review the request. Stuckert granted the motion, and Allgood’s next court date is set for Dec. 10. Transier said Allgood would appear in court if requested, but it wasn’t his preference.
“He doesn’t want to be transported unless it’s necessary,” Transier said.
Allgood has been seeking a retrial for years.
County court records show he filed a petition in September 2006, alleging “ineffective assistance of counsel.” In September 2011, he filed an amended petition claiming the 15-year clause punished him twice for the same crime.
On July 10, Illinois’ Second District Appellate Court opined that Allgood’s 15-year sentence does violate the proportionate-penalties clause of the Illinois Constitution, but does not warrant reversing Allgood’s convictions.
Allgood’s lawyer is in turn appealing that decision, which is headed to the Illinois Supreme Court in Springfield.
“We’re still waiting on the Supreme Court to make a decision,” Transier said Wednesday. “He’s seeking a new trial, but there won’t be a new trial unless the Supreme Court decides there needs to be.”
The jury found Allgood guilty of the kidnapping and rape, which occurred April 25, 2001. He’s also linked by DNA evidence to two other rapes in 1989 and 1990 in the Mundelein area, court records show, although neither victim in those cases could identify Allgood as their attacker. DeKalb County prosecutors linked the two rapes to Allgood after the Lake County statute of limitations had expired.
On April 25, 2001, Allgood approached a 21-year-old NIU student in the gravel parking lot of 1100 W. Lincoln Highway, now Lincoln Tower. He abducted her at gunpoint and forced her to drive to his residence in the Edgebrook Trailer Park in Sycamore, where he raped her, records show. He then made her drive back to the Gabel Hall area on NIU’s campus.
During the trial, which concluded in 2002, Allgood continued to profess his innocence, records show, and maintained the sex had been consensual.
Records show the DeKalb County Circuit Court judge who ruled on Allgood’s sentence, Douglas Engel, in 2002 called Allgood “a very dangerous person to society.”
Source: The Daily Chronicle
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