Elgin man found guilty of 2006 murder

Daniel Vargas meant to kill Anthony Brown the night he pumped three bullets into the teenager's body, a Cook County jury ruled Thursday.

The six-man, six-woman jury deliberated for less than three hours before convicting the 21-year-old Elgin man of first-degree murder in the Nov. 5, 2006, slaying. He faces at least 45 years in prison.

The group also found Vargas, of 424 N. Aldine Ave., guilty of aggravated discharge of a firearm and of attempted murder for the extra shots he fired at another man that night.

He used a pistol in the evening encounter, which came after a botched drug deal in which Brown played no role.

Vargas, the father of a young son, showed no outward emotion when the verdict was read, but later turned his head away from his family and wiped tears.

"I'm very, very happy with the verdict," said Brown's dad, Mark, blinking back tears.

He noted that even though Vargas will be in prison, "he can still see his son. I can't."

The guilty verdict "is not going to make things right," said Brown's mother, Virginia. "But I'm thinking that maybe we can try to move forward in life."

Brown was her youngest son. A straight-A student, he would have graduated from Streamwood High School last June.

Vargas' family members declined comment other than to say the trial was unfair. Vargas' friends said the same, alleging witnesses had openly lied and saying their friend, who they said was remorseful for what he'd done, had merely acted in self-defense.

Friend Toine Kim said he felt the verdict came too fast and suggested the all-white jury's decision was racially motivated. Vargas, he said, is part Hispanic and Filipino.

"They didn't look at any of the good things about Dan," Kim said after the verdict.

Witnesses said Vargas and friend David Luna, who also has been charged, had met up with a friend of Brown's earlier on Nov. 5 and handed over about $2,000 for drugs. The friend, Joseph Benitez, took the cash but didn't get the drugs, witnesses said.

When Luna and Vargas came to Benitez's Streamwood home that night demanding their money, Brown was there, too -- and Vargas, witnesses said, had a gun.

"At any cost, the defendant was going to get his money," prosecutor Marilyn Hite-Ross said in her closing message to jurors. "At the cost of a life."

Witnesses said Brown had grabbed Vargas to keep him from going into the house.

That's when Vargas fired -- nuzzling the muzzle against Brown's body, Hite-Ross said, and hitting him three times as the two were in the garage. He later shot at Benitez's brother, witnesses testified.

Vargas' attorney, Jonathan Minkus, said his client fired in self-defense, after Brown -- who is more than 6 feet tall -- intimidated him, grabbed and punched him.

Minkus referenced a taped police interrogation played for the jury Wednesday, saying it depicted a man who was "still totally dazed and befuddled" by the situation.

In that footage, a tearful Vargas admits the shooting and having the gun with him, tucked in his coat pocket. But he also claims it all happened so fast he didn't know how many shots he fired or even whether he'd hit Brown.

"That video shows … that this is no killer," Minkus said in closing arguments. "There is a life that's been lost, and that is tragic beyond words. But what would be equally tragic is compounding that death with further injustice."

Minkus had said a finding of second-degree murder would make more sense; the jury did have that option.

Vargas' attorney said the entire situation is tragic but declined further comment. After the verdict, he rubbed Vargas' shoulder and whispered, "I'm sorry."

Vargas will be back in court Jan. 16 for sentencing. He's now in jail without bond.

Luna is scheduled to be in court next week, but officials said his case likely would not be resolved until January.