Defendant claims self-defense in 1981 Addison slaying
Back in 1981, Jesus Villarreal was a young busboy living with his brother in Addison under an alias after coming to United States illegally in search of a better life.
Instead, after a chance encounter with two men ended in bloodshed, Villarreal fled back to Mexico, where he married, raised five children and labored as a rancher.
But Villarreal did not escape his past forever.
On Thursday, which marked the 29th anniversary of the deadly confrontation, he testified before a DuPage County jury that will decide if he committed murder or acted in self-defense.
Villarreal, 52, is accused of firing two bullets at John Spoors that Aug. 26 in a parking lot on the 600 block of West Lake Street in Addison. The young carpenter's boss said Villarreal minutes earlier had cut him off in traffic, which led the two to exchange obscene hand gestures. Harry Krivoshein said he thought that was the end of it, until Villarreal pulled into the parking lot and, without provocation, opened fire on the unarmed men.
John "Spree" Spoors, 23, was killed.
Villarreal said he does not recall a traffic dispute. He said the first time he saw Spoors or Krivoshein was when they came at him, shouting slurs and wielding a pipe, after he pulled into a nearby service station to get $5 of gasoline.
"I couldn't understand them, but I knew they were mad," said Villarreal, as translated by a Spanish interpreter. "I was scared. I thought they were going to kill me. I was defending myself."
Villarreal sped off, but he admitted he returned five minutes later and shot Spoors with a loaded gun the defendant kept in his car. Krivoshein provided police with Villarreal's license plate information, but he was able to flee to Kansas, then California, and eventually back in his hometown of Zacatecas, Mexico.
Upon prosecutor Joseph Ruggiero's heated cross examination, Villarreal admitted he repeatedly lied to police after he was captured and extradited back to Illinois. For example, in a videotaped December 2008 interview played Thursday in court, Villarreal said he shot the gun toward the ground after Spoors took at least 10 steps in the opposite direction while running away. Villarreal changed his story on the witness stand and said he shot an approaching Spoors within three feet.
Villarreal told police he went back because he was angry, but he testified he returned because he still needed gas and figured the two men were gone.
Moreover, Villarreal testified he came to the United States within months of the shooting, but Ruggiero noted paycheck, car loan and other receipts that showed the defendant under the alias Rodriguez lived here since at least October 1979.
Ruggiero and his trial partner, Steven Knight, said Spoors was shot in the back. The defense attorney, Brian Jacobs, countered that the medical evidence supports Villarreal's testimony that Spoors had his hand raised, possibly carrying a carpentry tool, when one of the bullets went into his side. The other bullet was in his back.
The six-member jury will deliberate Friday after lawyers' closing arguments. Villarreal faces 20 to 40 years in prison if convicted. He is eligible for parole after serving half the term, according to 1981 sentencing guidelines.