Rapist dodged prison for 32 years

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Zion rapist dodged prison for 32 years
DETERIORATING HEALTH | Gets house arrest as judge reviews case

June 15, 2007
BY DAN ROZEK Staff Reporter

He's home -- but not free.

A Zion man arrested in February after he avoided prison for 32 years following a rape conviction was released Thursday from the Lake County Jail.

But Sebon Brown Jr., 56, still doesn't know if he'll have to return to a state prison to serve out a 15- to 30-year prison term imposed on him for the 1972 rape of a Zion teenager.

Brown's father and other relatives wept with relief when Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti agreed to release Brown on bail -- partly because she wants more information about the case and partly because his attorney argued that Brown's health was deteriorating while he remained jailed.

"Until we get all the information we need, I'm going to release him," Rossetti said during the hearing.

Brown initially served about two years of his sentence, but after he was released from prison pending an appeal of his conviction, he slipped through the seams of the legal system. His appeal was denied in May 1975, though Brown contended he was never told he had to return to a prison cell.

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