Palatine gunplay accident leads to jail

Fooling around with a gun could have cost a teenager his life and 20-year-old man half a lifetime in prison.

As it happened, the "gunplay" Aurelio Diaz, his brothers and their friends engaged in during a party last year cost the then-15-year-old victim some "visual acuity."

It will cost Diaz a year in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

In February 2007, Diaz and his friends were drinking and hanging out at Diaz' Palatine apartment when somebody took out a handgun. The young men passed the weapon among themselves. They removed and replaced the clip and snapped photographs of each other posing with it, said defense attorney Christopher Cronson.

Like the adage, it was all fun and games until someone put an eye out. Or very nearly.

In March 2007, police charged Diaz with attempted first-degree murder for shooting the victim in the temple resulting in some vision loss. Cronson described the incident as an accident, insisting "there was no altercation, no bad blood" between the victim and defendant.

In a bench trial earlier this year, Cook County Associate Judge John J. Scotillo acquitted Diaz of attempted murder but found him guilty of aggravated battery with a firearm. The conviction carried a sentence of six to 30 years in prison. According to his attorney, Diaz had previously received supervision for damage to property.

Following a post-trial hearing July 2, Scotillo reduced the charges to reckless conduct, a Class 4 felony that carries a sentence of one to three years. At Friday's sentencing, assistant state's attorney Cathy Nauheimer asked the court for substantial penitentiary time. Scotillo sentenced Diaz to one year in prison. Diaz, who had been out on bond but was in custody on another matter at Friday's sentencing, appeared relieved.

"In light of all the facts and circumstances, this is a fair sentence," said Cronson.