Plea deal is bitter pill for victim's family

A Lake County man who just three years ago was serving a 67-year sentence for murdering Lakemoor businessman Raul Briseno could go free in a little more than a decade under a plea bargain expected in a McHenry County courtroom this morning.

County prosecutors confirmed Monday they have reached a deal with lawyers for Kenneth E. Smith to plead guilty to second-degree murder and attempted armed robbery charges stemming from Briseno's 2001 slaying in a botched holdup of his McHenry restaurant.

Under the proposed deal, Smith, 31, of Park City, will receive a 35-year prison sentence but could earn day-for-day credit for good behavior while behind bars. Combined with credit for time already served, that would make him eligible for parole in about 11½ years.

The agreement is a bitter pill for both Briseno's family and prosecutors, who have been besieged by bad luck since a state appeals court overturned Smith's first conviction in 2004.

Since then, a witness to Briseno's fatal shooting has disappeared, another key witness died and a co-defendant whose statements helped convict Smith the first time has refused to cooperate with authorities.

"The case against him was strong when he first went to trial," said Nichole Owens, chief of the McHenry County state's attorney's criminal division. "Now we're in a bad position."

Owens said the state's attorney's office decided it was better to have Smith convicted via a plea bargain than take a risky case to trial.

"We need to protect the community as best we can and make sure he's not released without spending any more time in prison or without any more accountability," she said.

That, however, is little comfort to Briseno's family.

"We feel justice is not being done," the victim's sister, Maria Carrera, said Monday. "When they told us they were negotiating (with Smith's lawyers), it was like a slap in the face."

Palemon Briseno, Raul Briseno's youngest brother, said the family believes prosecutors are "selling out" the murder victim. They would rather lose in a trial than accept a plea bargain, he said.

"It seems they don't want to pick up the pieces of the puzzle and rebuild the case," he added. "We would be willing to take the risk of a trial. If we take the risk and lose, at least we tried."

Raul Briseno was 35 and the owner of two restaurants when he was gunned down in March 2001 while chasing two would-be robbers out of his Burrito Express in McHenry. About two months later Smith, accused as the trigger man, and three co-defendants were arrested. Two of the co-defendants later struck plea bargains with prosecutors while a third, getaway driver Jennifer McMullan of Round Lake, went to trial and was found guilty of first-degree murder.