Testimony resumes in 1994 murder trial

Testimony resumed late Tuesday afternoon in the trial of 62-year-old Moises Bahena, charged with first-degree murder in the Christmas Day 1994 shooting of Wenceslao Gonzalez at the Prospect Heights apartment complex where both men lived.

Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Andy Dalkin called as the prosecution's first witness Gonzalez's cousin Alejandro Juarez, who also resided at the Country Pines apartment complex at the time. Juarez, 36, testified that Bahena and one of his family members kicked Juarez in the groin and hit a friend of Juarez's in the face as they returned to a Christmas party in the early morning hours of Dec. 25, 1994.

Returning to the party, Juarez told family and friends about the alleged attack. Gonzalez, 23, and four other men left the party so that Gonzalez could talk with Bahena about the altercation, Juarez said.

They walked back to Juarez's apartment building with Gonzalez in the lead, Juarez said.

As they approached, Juarez testified he heard shots and saw Bahena holding a rifle while standing behind a pine tree. Gonzalez took “three or four steps, then fell down,” Juarez said. Immediately, Bahena's friends and family members ran up to the group brandishing knives, Juarez said, and detained Juarez and the others while Bahena ran away.

Asked by defense attorney Ed Edens whether Gonzalez or anyone else in their party had knives, Juarez insisted they did not. He also denied any of them had prior altercations with Bahena or his family before the fatal encounter.

Juarez's brother Eric, 40, and another Gonzalez cousin Salvador Hernandez, 34, corroborated Juarez's testimony, saying they saw Bahena shoot at the victim.

Testimony resumes at 1:30 p.m. today in Rolling Meadows courtroom 110.