Drug-deal shooting case under way

After handing over a wad of cash for drugs he never got, an Elgin man used slang to tell a friend that he intended to kill those on the other end of the botched deal, a woman testified in court Tuesday.

Vanessa Serna, who had been in the car with David Luna at the time, said Luna announced he "was going to lick" the people. She said she knew "lick" meant "shoot."

Her testimony helped open the trial of Luna, who faces a first-degree murder charge in the Nov. 5, 2006, slaying of a straight-A Streamwood teen who authorities say had no role in the drug exchange.

Though Luna, now 20, didn't actually pull the trigger, prosecutors say he drove the getaway car -- leading police on a high-speed chase before crashing -- after friend Daniel Vargas pumped three bullets into Anthony Brown, a 17-year-old friend of a small-time drug dealer.

"But for the actions of Mr. Luna … Anthony Brown would not be dead," Assistant State's Attorney Mike Gerber said in his opening remarks.

Both Luna and Vargas were "enraged," Gerber said, and went out to get "payback."

Luna's defense attorney, William Gibb, said there's no evidence his client was irate or hostile and argued that Luna actually was the "calming influence" the night of the confrontation -- the man who told Vargas to "just chill" when Vargas pulled a gun.

"My client was standing aside, not saying anything but, 'Chill, just chill,'" he said.

Vargas already has been convicted by a jury of first-degree murder, attempted murder -- for extra shots he fired at someone else as he ran off -- and aggravated discharge of a firearm. He was sentenced to 50 years in jail.

Luna, who authorities say also supplied the gun, now faces all of the same charges.

On Tuesday, prosecutors presented many of the same witnesses they did on the first day of Vargas' trial, including Joseph Benitez -- a teenager who said he'd met up with Luna and Vargas earlier on Nov. 5, 2006, to give them a half-pound of marijuana in exchange for about $2,000.

He took their money but never gave them the drugs, he said, instead returning to his home in Streamwood.

Luna and Vargas, he said, arrived there later in the evening. He and Brown, a friend who came by to retrieve his cell phone, were out back.

Benitez said he went out to talk to Luna -- who he said "wanted to know what happened" in terms of the drug deal -- and then said Vargas got out of the car with a gun and waved it. Vargas later ran into the garage, Benitez said, where Brown tried to stop him, extending his arms to grab him in a sort-of hug.

Benitez testified he then heard shots and said he was helping Brown, holding his hand against him to try to stop the blood, when Luna and Vargas drove away.

Benitez admitted in cross-examination that he had told a grand jury Luna had been trying to calm them all down during the confrontation.

Serna, Vargas' girlfriend at the time and the mother of his then-10-month-old child, also testified Tuesday, saying she was in the car with Vargas and Luna when they met up with Benitez earlier that day.

When Benitez left without giving them the marijuana, she said Luna tried to rile Vargas up about it, egging him on by saying Benitez had stolen his money. They all then drove to Elgin, she said, and Vargas told her to go home on her own from there.

She said she left Vargas and Luna by Luna's car -- the white Honda Prelude they would later drive to Benitez's house -- and told her boyfriend, "Don't do nothing stupid."