Wheeling man convicted of running down former friend wins appeal, but could still lose in the end

A Wheeling man serving a 50-year prison sentence for running over and killing a former friend in 2020 won his appeal this week, but it may not be enough to get him a new trial.

A state appellate court ruled Wednesday that the Cook County judge who presided over the case of Jose F. Zavala did not conduct a proper mental fitness hearing before allowing him to act as his own attorney during his 2023 trial.

“The record before us does not demonstrate that the trial court used any judicial discretion or judgment in assessing Zavala’s fitness,” Justice LeRoy K. Martin, Jr. wrote in the unanimous decision, later adding, “We find this to be in clear violation of Zavala’s due process rights.”

However, the appellate court found that the violation potentially could be fixed without a new trial. Instead, the court ruled, the judge could hold a proper “retrospective” fitness hearing. If the judge then determines Zavala was mentally capable of serving as his own attorney back in 2023, the conviction would stand.

A date for when that hearing might take place has not been scheduled.

“We are currently reviewing the court’s decision to determine the appropriate next steps,” a spokesperson for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office told us Thursday.

In the meantime, Zavala, 44, remains incarcerated at the Lawrence Correctional Center for the May 2020 killing of 32-year-old Wheeling resident Carlos Maciel Pulido.

Authorities said the two friends had a falling out a few days earlier related to allegations of domestic violence involving Zavala and his wife.

On the morning of May 20, 2020, police said, Zavala stole a Toyota Highlander SUV and tracked Pulido down to the 700 block of Equestrian Drive in Wheeling. When he spotted Pulido, authorities alleged, Zavala hit the accelerator and ran down his former friend, killing the father of three.

The SUV then crashed through the front entryway of a nearby home. Zavala fled the scene, but was captured about a month later in Indiana, after a road-rage altercation there, officials said.

Case update

Last week, we told you how DuPage County prosecutors hoped to persuade a judge to reverse course on allowing a teen to remain free while awaiting trial on charges he caused a crash that killed a Downers Grove couple.

On Wednesday, they succeeded.

After a hearing at which prosecutors offered new arguments against Francesco Rendina, Judge Ann Celine O’Hallaren Walsh ordered that the Oak Brook teen be held in the DuPage County jail while his case is pending.

Rendina, 18, is charged with two counts of reckless homicide in connection with a March 27 crash that took the lives of Ried Jacobsen, 72, and his wife, Katherine Jacobsen, 67.

Authorities allege he was driving a BMW SUV at 104 mph seconds before it collided with the Jacobsens’ vehicle on Highland Avenue, killing the couple.

Rendina initially was released from custody on May 11 following his arrest, but prosecutors late last month asked the court to reconsider. Their argument included information that Rendina had pleaded guilty to driving too fast for conditions/failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident just three days before the deadly crash.

O’Hallaren Walsh cited that case in her ruling Wednesday, saying “he did not comply with the court order just days before the violent crash” and “clearly did not think twice about the laws of the road which are designed to protect drivers.”

DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin later thanked the judge for agreeing that Rendina “poses a real and present threat to the residents of DuPage County.”

Hats off to the helpers

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office gave a well-deserved shout out this week to the roughly 50 volunteers who make up its auxiliary deputy unit.

The unit’s volunteer deputies assist the office with everything from missing persons searches to managing traffic at large events to providing security at community gatherings.

Last year, unit members contributed more than 10,250 hours of service — the equivalent of more than $551,000 in taxpayer dollars had those duties been conducted by a full-time deputy, according to the sheriff’s office.

“The members of our Auxiliary Deputy Unit embody the spirit of public service,” Sheriff John D. Idleburg said in a written statement.

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