Mattoon man once on death row dies in prison

PONTIAC — Patrick Wright, who was once on death row for killing a Mattoon woman 34 years ago, died in prison last month.

Wright, who was 74, died of heart failure and other natural causes while housed at the Pontiac Correctional Center on May 5, according the Livingston County coroner.

He was imprisoned for the June 1983 killing of Carol Specht and attacking her daughter Connie at their apartment on South Sixth Street in Mattoon in June 1983.

Wright was accused of stabbing Carol Specht several times after slashing her daughter's throat as well as trying to sexually assault both women. The attacks occurred when Wright found the women home during a burglary attempt.

He received the death penalty after his conviction and years of appeals didn't change that until a federal court ordered a new sentence.

Former Gov. George Ryan's commutation of death sentences for Illinois prisoners in 2004 meant the death penalty was not possible, and Wright was was re-sentenced to a life prison term later that year.

Wright was found unresponsive in his prison cell, Livingston County Coroner Danny Watson said. He was then taken to the prison's infirmary and died there, the coroner said.

The main cause of death was bleeding from a vascular condition in Wright's stomach that caused blood vessels to burst, Watson said. Wright also was experiencing heart failure and had emphysema, he said.

Wright's time on death row ended when a federal court ruled that then-Coles County Circuit Judge Paul Komada should have given more consideration to his troubled childhood before deciding on the death sentence.

Ryan's commuting the state's death sentences ended Wright's eligibility for that when he was re-sentenced.

Wright was returned to Coles County in May 2004, when then-Circuit Judge Dale Cini ordered a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Wright then ended his appeals.

The main contention at the re-sentencing was whether Wright would receive a life term or, as his attorneys requested, be sentenced to a specific number of years then be required to live in a mental facility after his release.

At the time of his 1983 trial, Wright pleaded not guilty by insanity, claiming he was driven to break into Specht's home and attack the two women because of a sexual obsession with women's shoes.

Specht, who was 44 at the time of her death, was the founder of what was then known as the Coles County Coalition Against Domestic Violence and was also involved in other, similar organizations.

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