Waukegan man's murder sentence reduced by two years
A Waukegan man previously sentenced to 50 years in prison for killing his girlfriend in front of her daughter had two years of his prison sentence reduced by a Lake County judge Friday morning.
However, defense attorney Jed Stone said the sentence reduction for Roberto C. Romero, 25, would not end plans to ask an appeals court to overturn the plea deal or have the prison sentence reduced.
"I'm sorry we live in a world where mental illness is so poorly misunderstood by people in positions of power," Stone said after court.
Romero, of the 400 block of South Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, was sentenced to 50 years in prison by Judge Daniel Shanes after pleading guilty earlier this year to one count of first-degree murder for shooting his live-in girlfriend, Elpidia Munoz-Garcia, 33, on Jan. 2, 2015, at the Taco Bueno Bar in Waukegan.
Munoz-Garcia asked Romero's parents to meet her at the bar so she could give them a gun that belonged to Romero. During the exchange, Romero seized the weapon and shot Munoz-Garcia multiple times in front of her 9-year-old daughter.
Romero left the bar but later returned and was arrested by Waukegan police. He admitted to the shooting, police said.
Shanes called the shooting a "senseless execution" when sentencing Romero Aug. 9. Stone asked Shanes to reconsider the 50-year sentence or to withdraw Romero's guilty plea if the sentence were not reduced to 30 years.
Shanes denied Romero's motion to withdraw the guilty plea before reducing the prison sentence by two years.
"As much as I will remember this case for the legal argument it presented, I will also remember this case because of its senselessness and viciousness," Shanes said.
Stone has argued Romero had a history of mental illness that was not diagnosed until he was in custody after the shooting.