Man gets 45 years for Addison murder
Robert M. Meza did not pull the trigger, but the gang member still forfeited his future for his role in a fatal Addison shooting in which an innocent man was killed.
Meza, 22, of Joliet, was sentenced Wednesday to serve 45 years in prison. He faced a term of 20 to 75 years.
The accused shooter, Antonio Aguilar Jr., 19, also of Joliet, is awaiting trial.
Lorenzo Salazar-Cortez was inside a friend's apartment at 320 Dale St., in the Highview Park neighborhood, about 5 a.m. Sept. 15, 2007, when an assailant opened fire from outside the building through a window. The 22-year-old man, who lived in Berkeley but worked nearby in Itasca, was shot four times in the back.
Prosecutors Steven Knight and Helen Kapas-Erdman said the slain man was an innocent victim whose only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They said Aguilar and Meza are gang members whose rivals were known to live in the same apartment complex.
The victim's brothers, David and Manuel Salazar, along with several cousins, were in court for the sentencing hearing. The brothers told DuPage Circuit Judge George Bakalis that Lorenzo was a happy-go-lucky guy who was active in church and worked hard in a factory to help support his parents and other family.
They said Salazar-Cortez came to the U.S. at 17 to try to better himself.
"Lorenzo never should have died over a gang war," the brothers said in a written statement. "We ask ourselves why him? He never caused harm to anyone. When we think of him, it is so hard not to cry ... and not fall apart."
Meza did not testify during his two-day trial, but jurors watched a 90-minute police videotaped interrogation in which he admitted driving an armed Aguilar to rival gang territory to start some trouble.
Meza insisted he never touched the gun but, under Illinois law, a person is legally accountable for the conduct of another if they knowingly solicited, abetted, or attempted to aid that person in the planning or commission of the offense.
On July 8, after five hours of deliberations, a DuPage County jury found Meza fit that criteria. The panel convicted him of first-degree murder.
Meza attended hundreds of hours of religious study in jail. He maintains his innocence, but said his faith will sustain him.
"I am sorry for what happened to the victim and his family," Meza said. "My life has changed. I am a reborn Christian. I want to do what is right. I ask for their forgiveness, even though I know I am innocent."
Prosecutors sought a 55-year term. Defense attorney John P. Carroll, who argued Meza has rehabilitative potential, asked for the minimum.
Judge Bakalis said he factored in Meza's young age and the fact he was not the shooter. Still, Bakalis called Meza's actions "unfathomable."
"It's pretty hard to understand that kind of thinking," Bakalis said of the senseless violence. "In my mind, Mr. Meza knew what was going on. He knew he was going there to do something criminal in nature."