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Gang member statement can't be used in Addison murder case

A DuPage County judge Wednesday denied prosecutors' request to use a gang member's videotaped statement as evidence against a man charged in a fatal Addison shooting. In the statement, gang member Robert M. Meza identifies 24-year-old Antonio Aguilar of Joliet as the gunman who killed Lorenzo Salazar-Cortez more than three years ago.

Prosecutors said Meza is afraid he will be killed if he violates his gang's “code of silence” by testifying. But Judge George Bakalis ruled the code didn't rise to the level of preventing Meza's cooperation.

“(The code) is more often breached than it is honored,” Bakalis wrote in an 11-page ruling.

Meza was sentenced to 45 years in prison for his role in the murder and also faces additional time on contempt of court charges for refusing to testify against Aguilar, despite the court's immunity offer.

Hearsay statements are rarely allowed at trial and only in cases where a judge determines a defendant's crime left a witness unavailable to take the stand.

Aguilar's attorney, Bradley Harris, said his client never made any threats and that Meza's concerns are that fellow prisoners will hurt him if they find out he testified. Harris said he “fully expected” Bakalis to deny the motion to use Meza's statement.

Prosecutors, he said. “were looking to make a new law, and the judge followed the existing law.

Prosecutor Steven Knight declined to comment.

Aguilar is accused of shooting to death Salazar-Cortez, 22, in the early morning hours of Sept. 15, 2007. Prosecutors allege Aguilar believed the victim to be a rival gang member, but in reality he was an innocent man attending a party at a co-worker's apartment at 320 Dale Street in the Highview Park neighborhood of Addison.

Investigators have taped both Aguilar and Meza, also of Joliet, pointing the finger at each other following their arrests, according to their attorneys.

Aguilar returns to court Dec. 28, when his bench trial on first-degree murder charges resumes.

Robert M. Meza