Padilla brothers sentenced to prison for Arlington Heights murder
Nearly seven years after the stabbing death of an Arlington Heights man, the brothers charged with the crime pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison Monday.
Victor H. Padilla, 29, and Jose I. Padilla, 30, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder at the Cook County courthouse in Rolling Meadows.
Victor Padilla was sentenced to 16 years in prison and Jose Padilla to 12 years.
Their respective sentences will be reduced by 938 days -- more than two and a half years -- for the time they've already spent in custody since being located in Mexico after leaving the country while out of jail on bail.
The deal was announced a month before the brothers' trial was to begin with two separate juries.
The Padillas were originally charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery in the altercation that occurred at 3:10 a.m. on Sept. 3, 2000, outside the Arlington Place apartments on the 1100 block of Algonquin Road in Arlington Heights, where the brothers lived at the time.
Antonio Aguilar, 30, who also lived at Arlington Place, died of multiple stab wounds. Five other men were hurt.
Local police have said the fight started after Victor Padilla confronted a group of men drinking in a courtyard. The men responded by insulting him, and he later returned with a knife and his brother Jose.
Prosecutors said Aguilar was not the person with whom Victor Padilla had first argued, but rather a friend of that person who came to assist in the fight.
The Padilla brothers were arrested and charged the same day of the fight, after being treated for cuts and bruises at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights.
They became fugitives after missing a Sept. 28, 2000, court hearing. Victor Padilla had posted 10 percent of his $150,000 bond; his brother 10 percent of his $75,000 bond.
Using Western Union money transfer receipts, Arlington Heights police and the FBI tracked the Padillas to Mexico more than four years later. The brothers were arrested by Mexican police on Jan. 14, 2005, in their parents' town of Ameca in the Mexican state of Jalisco.
The brothers were then charged with violation of bail bond. As part of Monday's plea deal, that charge, along with those for aggravated battery, were dropped, and the murder charges reduced to second-degree.
The original fight and murder led Arlington Heights officials to order the owner of the five-building Arlington Place apartment complex to improve safety, including reducing overcrowding.