Arguments conclude in retrial of Naperville man accused of setting deadly fire

Feb. 03--The retrial of a man accused of murdering his mother-in-law two decades ago concluded Friday in DuPage County, and the judge overseeing the case said he would announce his ruling later in February.

In the closing arguments in the murder trial of William Amor, prosecutors urged the judge to place weight on a confession Amor made in 1995 -- that he started a fire in the Naperville condo where he lived with his wife and her mother, Marianne Miceli.

Amor's attorneys, though, repeated their assertions that coercive questioning from police led to a false confession, including Amor admitting to starting a fire in a way that's impossible. Three defense experts and a prosecution fire expert have all testified that Amor's confession, that he started the fire with a cigarette and a vodka-soaked newspaper, was not scientifically feasible.

"It's not 1995 anymore," Amor attorney Tara Thompson told the judge. "We live in the 21st century, where science has caught up."

But Assistant State's Atty. Jim Scaliatine countered, "This is a courtroom, not a science project."

After hearing the arguments, Judge Liam Brennan said he wanted to review testimony and said he would give his ruling in the bench trial Feb. 21.

The arguments capped testimony in the trial that began Jan. 24. In 2017, Brennan vacated Amor's 1997 conviction for Miceli's murder after a series of hearings in which the vodka-newspaper fire scenario was found invalid. The judge said that with Amor's conviction in 1997 resting heavily on the confession, he did not have confidence in the original verdict.

DuPage prosecutors opted to retry Amor, and Scaliatine said in closings that Amor's confession was not coerced. He pointed to a letter Amor had written his new wife in 1995, saying he had a plan for "capital gains," which prosecutors interpreted as Amor scheming to get insurance money via the death of his mother-in-law.

Marianne Miceli, 40, called 911 at 6:40 p.m. on Sept. 10, 1995, to report smoke and flames in the Bailey Road condo. A minute later, while still on the phone with emergency operator, she was overcome. Firefighters found her body on the floor of her bedroom.

Amor, then 39, and Tina Miceli, 18, had left to go to a movie about 20 minutes before the 911 call. Amor's attorneys argued that that timeline supported a scenario that the fire was likely started by a smoldering cigarette in a chair. Marianne Miceli smoked two packs a day, and Amor and Tina were also smokers, according to testimony.

A state expert testified Friday that he believed the fire was started with an open flame. But defense experts said a fire set with a match or lighter would have produced the heavy smoke Miceli described in her 911 call in as little as two or three minutes.

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