Man gets 11 years for friend's murder

In the end, hot tempers and alcohol ruined a friendship, cost Juan Carlos Cardoso his life and ensured that his killer will spend the better part of the next decade as a guest of the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Acknowledging that "alcohol played a large role in this case," Associate Judge John J. Scotillo sentenced Alfredo Hernandez, a former Wheeling resident, to 11 years in prison Tuesday for the murder of his childhood friend.

In March, a jury declined to convict Hernandez, 32, of first-degree murder, which could have resulted in a prison term of 20 to 60 years. Instead, they convicted him on the lesser charge of second-degree murder, which carries a sentence of four to 20 years.

"It's what we were expecting," said defense attorney Domingo Vargas of the sentence. "We'll take this."

The murder resulted from an alcohol-fueled falling-out between friends. It started with name-calling, escalated and then concluded with Cardoso following Hernandez home and calling him out.

According to court records, Hernandez left his home and pursued Cardoso with a knife, stabbing him in the liver, lung and heart. Within days of the killing, Hernandez caught a bus to Mexico, where he remained for 4½ years, began a relationship and had a daughter. Authorities located him through telephone records of calls made from the Chicago area to his rural hometown near Cuernavaca, in the Mexican state of Morelos, and extradited him to the U.S.

In a pre-sentencing statement issued through an interpreter, Hernandez apologized to the Cardoso family and asked their forgiveness.

Calling Cardoso his "best friend from childhood," he said "I have paid for my mistakes and am willing and able to pay for this mistake as well."