Stark contrast painted of teen charged in Hanover Park murder

Two very different versions of Jahaziel Duron emerged Thursday during the first day of his first-degree murder trial in Rolling Meadows.

His defense attorney painted him as a slight 17-year-old who himself fell victim to a pack of gang-affiliated bullies at a party one summer night in 2009 in Hanover Park.

Prosecutors say, though, that Duron of Hanover Park was looking to pick fight after fight at the party and, without any provocation, fatally stabbed 23-year-old Diontae Roberts, of Hanover Park, and wounded his now 21-year-old brother, Michael Cherry.

Since Duron waived his right to a jury trial, Cook County Circuit Judge John Scotillo will be the one to decide his fate. Duron is also charged with the attempted murder of Cherry.

Cherry and two of Roberts' friends took the stand Thursday afternoon to describe what took place the night of June 5, 2009.

A group of about 10 friends, including Roberts and Cherry, headed to a 17-year-old girl's birthday party on the 8000 block of Catawba Lane in Hanover Park. Not much was going on, so they went to another party in Schaumburg for a while.

Shortly after they returned around midnight, chaos broke out and between 20 and 25 people started fighting in the backyard and out front, according to Eric Rodriguez, 21, formerly of Schaumburg. He encountered Duron, who he said started aggressively yelling at him.

“I said, ‘We're not in that drama business. Chill out,'” Rodriguez testified.

Duron moved on, Rodriguez said, but then he saw the defendant and Roberts scuffling across the street. Moments later, a bleeding Roberts turned around, held his abdomen and said, “I think he stabbed me. I think he stabbed me,” according to Rodriguez.

Roberts had been stabbed six times and died a short time later at St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates.

Rodriguez added that before fleeing, Duron yelled he was also going to stab Roberts' brother, Cherry, and referred to both using racial slurs. Cherry was stabbed once in his left side.

Defense attorney Sandra Ramos attempted to discredit Cherry and Rodriguez, who have felony convictions for possession of a controlled substance and aggravated robbery, respectively.

She said Cherry is a gang member, an accusation that he denied and family members verbally scoffed at, and said Roberts' entire group of partygoers was affiliated with a gang.

“They were the indeed the aggressors,” Ramos said. “Mr. Duron, who had already been there, was there peacefully.”

All three witnesses acknowledged they never saw a weapon, and Ramos focused on poor street lighting, implying that it's possible Roberts' friends didn't get a clear look at his murderer. She also described Duron, who was 16 at the time of the party, as much younger and “far shorter, far lighter” than the 23-year-old victim, who shouldn't have been at a kids' party in the first place.

The trial resumes Monday.