A former emergency medical technician accused in potentially the nation’s first murder case against a first responder received the lightest possible sentence – probation and no prison time – on June 23 after pleading guilty to a lesser charge.
Members of Earl Moore Jr.’s family showed their displeasure with Circuit Judge Robin Schmidt’s decision to sentence former LifeStar Ambulance Service EMT Peter J. Cadigan to two years of probation as they walked out of a Sangamon County courtroom.
In addition to two years of probation, Schmidt ordered Cadigan, 53, of Springfield, to serve a 180-day jail sentence. But the judge said the jail time would be more than offset by the credit Cadigan received for 10 months previously served in the county jail after his arrest and before he gained pretrial release.
Cadigan, who was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service as part of his sentence, could have been sentenced to between two and five years in prison after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in connection with the December 2022 death of Moore, 35, a McDonald’s shift manager.
Time served for any imposed prison sentence for that felony charge could have been cut in half for good behavior.
Related
EMT takes plea deal
Cadigan and former LifeStar paramedic Peggy Finley, 47, originally were charged in 2023 with first-degree murder by former Sangamon County State’s Attorney Dan Wright, who now is an associate circuit judge. Finley’s murder charge remains pending.
Wright’s charges said the EMS workers “did acts without legal justification” that caused Moore’s death and that the workers knew, based on their “training, experience and the surrounding circumstances” that the acts “would create a substantial probability of great bodily harm or death.”
The lesser charge said Cadigan’s actions leading to Moore’s death were reckless and without legal justification.
Prosecutors alleged that Cadigan, with Finley as the supervising medical worker at the scene, caused Moore’s death by placing him face-down on a LifeStar gurney and then tightly strapping him in place. Prosecutors said the straps were cinched so tightly that several ribs were broken. Forensic pathologist Dr. Scott Denton of Bloomington concluded after an autopsy that Moore’s treatment caused suffocation.
Denton said the face-down, or prone, placement of Moore, rather than the recommended face-up placement, as well as unnecessarily tight straps, caused Moore to die from what Denton termed “compressional and positional asphyxia.”
There was no immediate comment on the sentence from Moore’s family, which previously received an undisclosed settlement from LifeStar to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit.
The family was represented by the law firm of nationally known civil rights attorney Ben Crump and Texas-based lawyer Robert Hilliard.
The prosecution requested a five-year prison sentence. Cadigan’s attorney, Justin Kuehn of Belleville, asked for a sentence of probation.
Before he was sentenced, Cadigan told the judge and Moore’s family in the packed gallery that he was sorry for his actions and made fatal errors after being summoned with Finley to Moore’s home in the 1100 block of North 11th Street early in the morning on Dec. 18, 2022.
“I’ve been in EMS for the past 24 years,” Cadigan said in court. “I did have great pride in being able to play a part in saving several lives. I do want Mr. Moore’s family to know that I never intended to do him any harm. I should have asked more questions, I should have acquired more information, and for that, I am forever regretful, and I am very sorry.”
The EMS workers were summoned by police, and Kuehn said Cadigan and Finley initially were informed that Moore was intoxicated. Police said Moore reportedly was hallucinating and going through alcohol withdrawal and hadn’t had a drink in several days, though toxicology tests after his death showed Moore had a blood-alcohol content of 0.077%, or just under the legal limit of 0.08% for driving in Illinois.
One of the Moore family’s attorneys previously said the fact that Moore was Black and the EMS workers were white played a role in the rough, rude and ultimately deadly treatment of Moore on police-worn camera footage that later became public and went viral.
Special Prosecutor Derek Dion told Schmidt the maximum sentence was justified to “send a strong message” to other healthcare professionals.
Dion said Moore “called 911 for help, not for someone to kill him. … He was a weak patient, and he was strapped into a position where he could not breathe.”
Dion said Cadigan lied to police when Cadigan said he was never trained on how to avoid suffocating a patient and that Moore was resisting assistance.
Schmidt said she appreciated the emotional victim impact statements from Moore’s mother, Rosena Washington, from Moore’s younger sisters, Chatara, Shikira and Mahogany, and from a niece.
Schmidt said Cadigan, who had no prior criminal history, “failed woefully” in performing his duties and was “apathetic” when he should have been looking out for Moore’s health at the scene.
But Schmidt said Illinois law mandates probation for involuntary manslaughter unless probation would detract from the seriousness of the crime. Probation is appropriate for Cadigan, she ruled.
Both Kuehn and Scott Hanken, Finley’s attorney, have said Moore’s death was a tragedy but that first-degree murder charges weren’t justified.
State’s Attorney John Milhiser, who agreed to give Cadigan the opportunity to plead guilty to the involuntary manslaughter, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
