McHenry man guilty of first-degree murder in teen's slaying

Rejecting claims of self-defense, a McHenry County judge Wednesday instead found a 22-year-old man guilty of first-degree murder for stabbing a high school student to death during a 2008 altercation outside a McHenry house party.

Victor Bandala-Martinez now faces 20 to 60 years in prison when sentenced Aug. 12 for killing onetime friend Yair Cabrera, a 17-year-old sophomore at McHenry High School's West Campus, in the early morning hours of Dec. 14, 2008.

Bandala-Martinez, of McHenry, bowed his head after Judge Joseph Condon issued the verdict, which ended a three-day trial in which he tried to convince the court he fatally stabbed Cabrera out of fear for his own safety.

During closing arguments earlier Wednesday, Senior Assistant Public Defender Christopher Harmon said Bandala-Martinez repeatedly turned down invites to fight Cabrera that night, saying, "I'm not a fighter." But he ultimately relented when pressured by a number of gang members at the party, fearing they would beat him if he did not fight, Harmon said.

"That's not the behavior of a rabid, vitriolic person," the defense attorney said. "This was a senseless, stupid act fueled by alcohol and the gladiatorial atmosphere at this party."

County prosecutors, however, described Bandala-Martinez as boiling with anger that night, upset because Cabrera had told his girlfriend's brother he had cheated on her.

"The reason we are here is because the defendant brought a knife to a fistfight," said Philip Hiscock, criminal division chief for the McHenry County State's Attorney. "He was seething, he was drunk, he was frustrated and when he went outside he knew what he was going to do."

They discounted his claims of self-defense, saying Bandala-Martinez's use of a knife was a disproportionate response to a 17-year-old's fists.

"He was faced with a fistfight and pulled out a knife of at least five inches and stabbed his friend twice," Hiscock said. "He was not faced with deadly force."