Hanover Park beauty salon murder trial to begin

Jury selection begins today in the trial of an Aurora man accused of killing his former girlfriend outside the Hanover Park beauty salon where she worked.

Hanover Park police charged Sergio Hernandez, 24, with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Rocio Munez-Ramos, 26. The murder was among the half dozen high-profile murders that rocked Hanover Park between November 2008 and June 2009.

Cook County prosecutors say Hernandez, of the 500 block of High Street, shot the Elgin woman as she entered her car in the Park Place shopping center at the corner of Barrington and Irving Park roads shortly after 8 p.m. on Nov. 25, 2008.

Hernandez's attorneys say the shooting was accidental.

Last month, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Fecarotta ruled that a May 2008 domestic battery charge that Munez-Ramos levied against Hernandez could not be admitted because it could prejudice the jury.

Prosecutors insisted the charge demonstrated Hernandez's intent. But Fecarotta disagreed, ruling that single incident did not establish "a pattern or a blueprint of conduct this defendant has sustained over a period of time."

Opening statements could take place Monday afternoon in Rolling Meadows with testimony to follow.

If convicted, Hernandez could face up to 85 years in prison.