Jury convicts man of Glendale Heights murder
A DuPage County jury on Tuesday convicted Isaias Beltran of robbing and fatally shooting a man out walking his dog in Glendale Heights.
Beltran, 20, kept his head lowered and hands folded in front of him as a clerk read the guilty verdicts. He faces 45 to life in prison when sentenced later this year.
The jury of eight men and four women deliberated for nearly seven hours during two days before finding Beltran guilty of first-degree murder, armed robbery and robbery.
The slain man, Corey Dale Krueger, was found unconscious with a head wound about 3 a.m. Dec. 19 on a sidewalk near his home on the 1200 block of Pleasant Avenue. The 35-year-old father of two was walking his dog while warming up his van before beginning a morning shift as a sanitation worker in Joliet.
Members of his family said Tuesday's verdict brought them some relief.
"I'm very excited and very happy it came out like this," his 18-year-old cousin Sam Vitro said. "For a little while, everyone was worried he might get away with this."
"He (Krueger) was a great guy," added Mel Vitro, the victim's uncle. "Justice was done."
Prosecutors Mary K. Cronin, Steven Knight and Thomas O'Connor described the crime as a random robbery; Beltran and Krueger did not know each other.
Police arrested Beltran during an unrelated traffic stop near the murder scene minutes before Krueger's body was found. Authorities lacked a confession or any physical evidence such as fingerprints or DNA directly linking him to the crime.
But one of the defendant's former friends, George Zuno, 19, identified Beltran as the shooter.
Zuno, who now lives in Georgia, testified that he and Beltran were smoking cigarettes outside another friend's apartment when he saw Beltran cross the street and shoot a man while attempting to rob him.
Zuno admitted he never actually saw a gun in his friend's hand, but the teen said he heard the gunshot, saw the spark and watched the man fall to the ground.
Defense attorney Patrick A. O'Byrne argued authorities prosecuted the wrong man. He said it was Zuno who actually committed the murder. O'Byrne noted Zuno has a criminal history. In fact, he just was released from police custody last Thursday in Georgia for a drug offense. Zuno also admitted smoking marijuana that day.
But prosecutors said if Zuno was lying, wouldn't he have made up a more complete story rather than admitting he never saw a gun? They argued he was believable.
"George Zuno has problems, but what do you expect?" Knight said. "Do you expect someone on the church choir to be friends with this guy (Beltran)? We didn't pick our witnesses. The defendant did. You may not like (Zuno), but he came in here and told you what he saw."
Another friend, Darryl Andrade, 19, who lived near the victim, also testified during the trial that Beltran woke him about 2 a.m. that day and asked for a ride to Maywood. Andrade said Beltran never mentioned a shooting to him.
Andrade identified Zuno and Beltran's younger brother, Israel, as two passengers who fled when police stopped Andrade's car. The defendant, seated in the back, did not flee. Andrade told jurors he saw either the defendant or Zuno give what appeared to be clothing to Israel Beltran before the teen fled.
Israel Beltran, 19, is serving a short stint in prison after pleading guilty July 22 to unlawful use or possession of a weapon by a felon. Prosecutors said he dumped a plastic bag containing what they believe to be the murder weapon - a .22-caliber revolver wrapped in a cloth glove - in a backyard after he fled the traffic stop.
Forensic experts were unable to rule with certainty that the gun is the exact one that fired the bullet that killed Krueger, but the slain man's key chain also was in the plastic bag.
DuPage Circuit Judge George Bakalis presided over the trial, which began last week.