Judge suspends Addison murder trial after witness refuses to testify

Antonio Aguilar Jr.'s murder trial came to an abrupt halt Wednesday when the man DuPage County prosecutors say was Aguilar's accomplice in the 2007 shooting at an Addison apartment refused to testify.

Robert Meza, who was sentenced to 45 years in prison last year for his role in the shooting, told Judge George Bakalis repeatedly that he wouldn't answer any questions. Bakalis presided over Meza's trial as well.

Bakalis told the 23-year-old self-admitted gang member from Joliet that prosecutors were offering immunity from further prosecution for the crime if he testified against Aguilar, but Meza still refused. Bakalis warned Meza he would be charged with criminal contempt of court, which has no maximum sentence. Bakalis said the only sentencing guidelines regarding contempt charges are that they have to be reasonable.

Assistant State's Attorney Steven Knight suggested a 20-year sentence as a starting point since it's the minimum for the first-degree murder charges Aguilar is facing. Knight asked Meza if he was afraid to testify.

"I am not going to answer that question," Meza said. "I deeply do apologize."

Knight asked if he was aware he was "obstructing prosecution" and could face additional prison time tacked onto the end of the 45-year sentence he already is serving.

"Yes, I do understand that," Meza said. "I apologize, sir, but I cannot answer any questions."

Bakalis then ordered Meza held at the DuPage County jail in Wheaton for 28 days "to think about your situation." Bakalis likely will charge Meza with criminal contempt if he still refuses to cooperate when the trial resumes July 28.

Meza is essentially the linchpin in the state's case against Aguilar. Knight and fellow prosecutors Helen Kapas-Erdman and Joseph Lindt cannot use a 90-minute video confession of Meza's that implicates Aguilar without Meza's testimony.

In the video played at Meza's trial, Meza tells detectives he drove an armed Aguilar to the apartments where the shooting occurred that night. Aguilar never confessed to police. However, prosecutors do have testimony from a former gang member who said Aguilar told him he was going to the area where the murder occurred in September 2007 to cause trouble with a rival gang. They also have audiotapes of Aguilar discussing the murder with an informant.

Knight had Stefan Bjes, an investigator in the Addison Police Department's gang unit, translate transcripts of some of the recordings because they are filled with street slang and gang codes.

In one recording, Aguilar is heard telling the informant he went to the area where the shooting occurred and "we not leavin' until we drop a flake" because "if we don't drop a flake, all of us is getting banged."

Bjes testified that statement meant that Aguilar and Meza were going to a rival gang's territory to kill a rival gang member because if they didn't carry out those orders they would face some type of discipline from the gang leadership.

Prosecutors said the man Aguilar is accused of killing was an innocent victim. Lorenzo Salazar-Cortez was a factory worker in Itasca who was hanging out at a co-worker's apartment next door to an identical apartment where two twin brothers who were in a rival gang were known to live. Prosecutors said Aguilar is heard on other recordings talking to the informant about the plan to kill one of the twins, but accidentally shooting Salazar-Cortez.

Aguilar's attorney, Bradley Harris, said his client never admits to personally killing anyone in the tapes and argued Aguilar was simply bragging to someone who he was trying to get to join his gang.