Prospect Heights murder suspect wants statement pulled

Moises Bahena's defense attorney said Wednesday he will file a motion to suppress a statement his client gave to police admitting involvement in a 16-year-old murder in Prospect Heights.

Attorney Ed Edens told the court he would file the motion after a Wheeling officer who served as a translator during the interview testified that he read Bahena his Miranda rights but that Bahena informed them during questioning that he could not read Spanish and thus did not sign a waiver.

The testimony came Wednesday as Bahena's first-degree murder trial resumed before Cook County Circuit Court Judge John Scotillo.

Prosecutors called Wheeling police officer Thomas Pinedo, who served as translator during an interview Prospect Heights detectives conducted with Bahena on Oct. 15, 2009, following Bahena's extradition from Mexico. Pinedo testified that he read Bahena his Miranda rights in Spanish. Bahena did not sign a Miranda waiver but he did agree to an interview, Pinedo said. After a 30-minute, videotaped conversation with Prospect Heights officers, which Pinedo translated, Bahena requested an attorney and the interview concluded.

Authorities say Bahena, 62, used a rifle to shoot and kill 23-year-old Wenceslao Gonzalez in the early morning hours of Dec. 25, 1994, at the apartment complex where both men lived. Bahena then fled to Mexico, where police apprehended him some 14 months ago, authorities said.

Prosecutors say Bahena admitted shooting Gonzalez during the interview which was not shown in open court.

Pinedo testified that detectives removed the Miranda waiver after they discovered Bahena could not read Spanish.

“I'm sure the detectives didn't want him signing something he didn't know how to read,” said Pinedo in response to prosecutors' questions about the waiver.

Bahena's bench trial resumes at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 30 in Rolling Meadows.