Guilty plea in Carpentersville birthday party slaying
A Carpentersville woman Wednesday pleaded guilty to the stabbing death of a 20-year-old Aurora woman who was an uninvited guest at her 19th birthday party.
Jacqueline Loyola, 20, of the 2100 block of Tepee Avenue, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and faces anywhere from probation to 15 years in prison.
Loyola entered a “cold plea” in which the defendant does not have a sentence agreed upon with prosecutors before admitting guilt.
Judge Timothy Sheldon will sentence Loyola, who has been on electronic home monitoring, on Dec. 22.
Authorities initially charged Loyola with first-degree murder — a crime punishable by 20 to 60 years — for stabbing Kassandra Caceres, 20, of Aurora, in the back several times after Caceres punched and kicked Loyola’s 16-year-old sister.
“(The) defendant believed that circumstances existed which justified her actions. However, this belief was unreasonable,” according to the court records.
Carpentersville police said Loyola was throwing a party and that Caceres, a mother of two who was in a rival gang, arrived with a group of six or seven other people who weren’t invited but were told they could stay.
The party turned violent after Caceres lit a cigarette inside the home and was escorted outside, authorities said.
Carpentersville police testified at a July 2010 coroner’s inquest that Loyola called police after the stabbing and said she acted to protect her sister.
Loyola’s defense attorney, David Camic, noted his client’s limited criminal record and the fact that her sister was hospitalized from the fight with Cacares.
“We believe the plea was appropriate,” Camic said, adding he will argue for probation. “She was attempting to defend her sister.”