Court upholds DuPage road rage killing conviction

An appellate court upheld a man’s conviction in the 1981 road-rage murder of Addison resident John Spoors, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Jesus Rodriguez, 54, who fled the country after the fatal shooting and was arrested decades later, had argued he was denied a fair trial in August 2010 because of the prosecution’s closing arguments and because his attorney was ineffective. The Second District Appellate Court rejected both arguments.

“I would like to thank the appellate court for their thorough review of the case and for seeing through yet another attempt by Mr. Rodriguez to avoid responsibility for the murder of John Spoors,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said.

Rodriguez is serving a 37-year sentence.