Trial opens in 'senseless' Wheeling stabbing
Seconds after Juan Carlos Cardoso collapsed on the ground bleeding from a fatal stab wound, his attacker fled in panic, a witness testified Wednesday in Cook County court.
Alfredo Hernandez, 32, is charged with murder for stabbing his former friend six years ago in Wheeling.
Hernandez and Cardoso spent most of April 14, 2002, hanging out and drinking beer, prosecutors say.
But something triggered an argument between the two men that turned a day of leisure into a downward spiral of rage and violence. It came to a climax outside of Hernandez's apartment at 291 Ninth St.
Angered after earlier fisticuffs, Cardoso threw rocks at Hernandez's second-floor window, testified Hernandez's childhood friend Dagoberto Abarca, who was drinking with the others that day.
"Nico yelled for him to come out of the apartment; he wanted to continue to fight," Abarca said, using a nickname for Cardoso.
As Hernandez headed downstairs, he grabbed a 10-inch kitchen knife.
"They ran up to each other," Abarca said through a court interpreter. "He stabbed Nico with the knife."
As Cardoso fell, Abarca, Hernandez and his brother, Juan Carlos, took to their heels, Abarca said.
"Everyone ran in different directions," he testified.
While defense attorneys argue that Hernandez was defending himself, prosecutor Shandra Leary told the jury in opening statements he deliberately used a knife on a man with no weapon.
"It started as a bunch of friends hanging out in the neighborhood, drinking a few beers, and it ended tragically. It's a sad, senseless murder," Leary said.
"This is about choices. He made the choice to go after Juan Carlos Cardoso. The confrontation was a mismatch when the defendant chose to bring a knife against an unarmed man who was merely yelling."
The two men had first brawled after stopping at a Cajun restaurant to get money for beer from Cardoso's brother, who worked there, according to testimony. They pummeled each other in the parking lot, rolling around on the ground until calming down.
But after Hernandez and Abarca left on foot, Cardoso followed in his van and initiated another fistfight along Milwaukee Avenue, witnesses said.
Those actions alarmed Hernandez, who felt threatened that Cardoso would retaliate, his lawyers said.
"Unfortunately, Juan Carlos Cardoso wanted to pursue the fight," defense attorney Eugene O'Malley said. "As Alfredo Hernandez was leaving, Cardoso said, 'I'm going to get my gang buddies. This is not over.'
"Alfredo Hernandez feared for his life and he defended himself."
Hernandez, clad in a light-blue dress shirt and navy blue pants, stared somberly at witnesses or his notepad during the trial.
The jury trial continues today at the Rolling Meadows courthouse.