Jury selection begins in 2011 Elgin shooting
Outside a Rolling Meadows courtroom Monday, family members of Guillermo Pineda yearned for something they cannot have.
“We want my brother back,” says Lisette Pineda, whose younger brother was only a few blocks from his Elgin home last July when he suffered a gunshot wound to the head.
Elgin police say Donald Rattanavong, 58, shot the 18-year-old because he believed Pineda and several other teenagers were breaking into his car, which was parked on the street near his home on the 800 block of Arthur Drive. Police say Rattanavong exited his house, yelled at the teens and fired a small caliber handgun into the air several times. One of the bullets struck and killed Pineda, police say.
Rattanavong, who did not have a valid firearm owner’s identification card, never saw the teenagers inside his car, police said. He’s been charged with involuntary manslaughter, a Class 3 felony punishable by two to five years in prison, and reckless discharge of a firearm, a Class 4 felony punishable by one to three years in prison. Probation is available for both charges.
Lissette Pineda, 20, said her family, including her mother and 10-year-old brother along with a half dozen of her brother’s friends, will attend the trial which began jury selection Monday in Rolling Meadows.
“We’re going to be here to show how much we care for my brother,” she said.
Defense attorney Lewis Gainer expressed sympathy for Pineda’s family but insisted that “the fact that Guillermo Pineda died doesn’t mean my client should be made a criminal.”
At the time of the shooting, Rattanavong was defending himself and his family from “four men engaging in a crime spree,” Gaine told reporters. “They were burglarizing vehicles.” None of the teens has been charged with burglary.
Gainer referenced the timing of the case amid a national controversy following the February shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida, and insisted there are key differences between the cases.
In Sanford, Fla., George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old Neighborhood Watch captain says he shot and killed the unarmed Martin in self-defense following a confrontation in a gated community. An investigation continues but so far, Zimmerman has not been charged with a crime. Gainer stressed to reporters that the Martin case is completely different from his client’s, noting that Rattanavong was “on his own property defending himself from people engaged in criminal activity.”
“My client is entitled to a fair trial” that isn’t affected by media reports about the Martin-Zimmerman case, Gainer said.
The morning session concluded with the selection of eight jurors, with six spots — including two alternates — remaining. Opening statements are scheduled for Tuesday in Rolling Meadows courtroom 110.