Prosecutors detail attack on Hanover Park woman
Prosecutors presented in vivid and disturbing detail evidence of the 2009 slaying of Norma Favela and her unborn child as the trial of her accused attacker Rafael Alvarado continued Thursday in a Rolling Meadows courtroom.
Alvarado, 33, is charged with first-degree murder in what prosecutors said was a hammer attack that took the life of 31-year-old Favela and her eight-month-old fetus, a baby girl.
A medical examiner's testimony about Favela's injuries and physical evidence which prosecutors say links Alvarado to the murder dominated the proceedings, which concluded with Alvarado's videotaped statement to police in which he admits attacking his girlfriend in the couple's Hanover Park home around midnight on June 3, 2009.
Favela's friends and family, who occupied three rows of seats in the courtroom, held hands and dabbed their tears as Cook County Assistant Medical Examiner Lauren Moser described Favela's injuries, which included facial cuts, a broken nose, jaw and teeth, bruises that suggested strangulation, defensive wounds on her arms and hands, and several skull fractures. Moser also described Favela's unborn child - a healthy girl of between 32 and 37 weeks gestation with a full head of hair.
"Would that baby have been born alive if the mother had not been killed?" asked Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Mike Gerber.
"Yes," Moser replied.
Responding to Gerber's question about a weapon, Moser indicated that Favela's attacker could have used a hammer to inflict the wounds. Police recovered a hammer at the crime scene, but a forensic scientist testified that the latent fingerprint found on its handle was not suitable for comparison to the fingerprints police obtained from Alvarado. Police also recovered Alvarado's clothes, which evidence technicians testified were stained with a red substance that resembled blood.
The most heated moments came during Cook County Assistant Public Defender Daniel Naranjo's cross examination of Hanover Park detective Juan Miranda. Under direct examination, Miranda testified Alvarado requested an attorney, after which Miranda stopped speaking with him. But Alvarado did not ask to make a phone call, Miranda said. Later he asked for a cigarette, which Miranda said he provided, after making clear that it wasn't in exchange for a statement. Afterward Alvarado - who indicated "he was 100 percent certain" he wanted to talk - signed the Miranda warnings re-initiating the conversation that eventually concluded in a videotaped statement, Miranda said.
"You knew that cigarette would get you the statement you wanted," Naranjo said on cross examination.
Miranda replied that he "wasn't out to get a statement," he wanted the truth.
Naranjo questioned why - after Alvarado requested an attorney - Miranda made no attempt to contact Alvarado's family so they could obtain one. Miranda replied that he was not obligated to contact an attorney for Alvarado, just that he could not question him further unless he agreed to waive his rights.
On redirect, Cook County Assistant State's Attorney David Weiner pointed out that police are not obligated to peruse the yellow pages to secure attorneys for suspects.
Testimony concluded with the videotaped statement Alvarado made in Spanish to Miranda and another officer. English subtitles accompanied the videotape shown to the jury, but were not visible to spectators. A court interpreter said Alvarado admitted killing Favela after the two argued. Testimony resumes Friday at 10:30 a.m. in courtroom 109.