A Naperville man charged with a hate crime for putting swastika stickers on campaign signs of then DuPage County Board candidate Patty Gustin in October 2022 appeared in court for a bench trial Monday afternoon.
Keith Klingeman, 51, is charged with two counts of hate crime and one count of criminal damage to property.
Klingeman frustrated with Gustin’s comments at a city council meeting
The prosecuting attorneys, Alyssa Rabulinski and Nicole Wilkes-English, argued Klingeman’s intentional choice of a swastika was “more than distasteful,” and said the defendant was trying to “tie (Gustin’s) likeness to that of Adolf Hitler.”
Gustin is not Jewish but said her family name is honored at the Holocaust Museums in Washington D.C. and Israel.
During the hearing, the prosecution played a video from the police body camera of Naperville Detective Sergeant Mike Courterier, in which he and an Aurora police officer visited Klingeman’s Naperville residence during the initial investigation to question him on the campaign sign incidents.
In the video, which was approximately 15 minutes long, Klingeman told police he placed the swastikas on the campaign signs and cut one of her signs with a knife in downtown Naperville.
During the footage, Klingeman said he was frustrated with Gustin’s comments at a Naperville City Council meeting where she said an issue was “above her paygrade.” He followed that up by saying Gustin didn’t “want to help the people.”
Klingeman also said during the video, “I am peaceful. I would never threaten anyone,” and that he had, “nothing against Patty.”
The prosecutors played another video, this one roughly 10 minutes long, taken from St. John’s Place’s security footage on Oct. 24, 2022, where a figure can be seen and heard cutting the campaign sign at the corner of Van Buren Avenue and Webster Street.
Klingeman could not be identified as the perpetrator in this clip as it was dark during the incident.
The defendant did not take the stand during Monday’s hearing and maintains his not-guilty plea.
Gustin said on the stand that the incidents surrounding her campaign signs left her, “numb (and) emotionally drained,” and that she did not want to go out into the community out of fear for her safety.
Defense refutes hate crime charges
Klingeman’s attorney Jason Kunowski argued his defendant was “overcharged.”
He said the prosecution gave no proof of Klingeman’s motive to place the swastikas, and he refuted the hate crime charges.
Kunowski argued on the basis of the First Amendment that Klingeman’s actions were “political speech” and that campaign signs should be considered a “bulletin board” and “part of the marketplace of ideas.”
Judge Daniel Guerin will deliver the verdict on Friday, Dec. 13 at 9:30 a.m. at the DuPage County Courthouse.
Resident informed Gustin about swastikas on her campaign signs
During the trial, Gustin said she was made aware of the swastikas on her campaign signs on Oct. 16, 2022, after an area resident sent her a Facebook message about the defacement.
All three campaign signs were immediately removed and taken to the Naperville Police Department for evidence.
At the time, Gustin was running for a District 5 seat on the DuPage County Board, which she was elected to in November 2022.
On Dec. 9, 2022, Judge Jeffrey Mackay issued a $50,000 arrest warrant for Klingeman. Later that same day, he turned himself in to Naperville police. Klingeman was later released from custody after posting the required 10% of his bond.
Over the past two years, the case has been continued 20 times.
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