Accident or murder? Attorneys spar in Hernandez trial
Rocio Munoz-Ramos had her whole life ahead of her, until a jealous ex-boyfriend robbed her of it just before Thanksgiving nearly two years ago, said prosecutors as the trial of her accused killer began Tuesday in Rolling Meadows.
Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Mike Andre pulled at the heartstrings of jurors in his opening statement in the trial of Sergio Hernandez, 24, charged with first-degree murder in the Nov. 25, 2008, shooting of the 26-year-old Elgin woman.
Cook County Assistant Public Defender Daniel Naranjo insisted that while "all murders are homicides, not all homicides are murders."
This is one of those time, said Naranjo, insisting that Hernandez did not mean to kill Munoz-Ramos and that the gun had a sensitive trigger.
The shooting happened at about 8 p.m. in the parking lot of a Hanover Park beauty salon, located in a shopping center at the corner of Barrington and Irving Park Roads, where Munoz-Ramos worked.
According to testimony, the victim suffered a gunshot wound to the back of the head and was unresponsive by the time emergency teams arrived on scene.
The brother of the victim, Jose Munoz-Ramos, solemnly answered questions from Andre. Asked to identify the defendant, Munoz-Ramos left the witness box with the court's permission, walked up to Hernandez and pointed at him without looking him in the eye.
Rafael De La Torre-Guzman, Munoz-Ramos' boyfriend at the time of her death, testified that he met her at work the night of her death to go out to dinner. They walked to her car, she got into the driver's seat and began to remove items from the passenger seat to make room for him, Guzman said. He testified someone wearing a black, hooded sweatshirt passed in front of the car but said he did not see the person's face. As he moved to enter the car, he said he heard a shot and saw Munoz-Ramos slump over. He ran to a nearby supermarket for help, he said.
The majority of the testimony and questioning Tuesday focused on linking Hernandez to the shooting. Witnesses testified to seeing near the scene a Ford F-150 like that owned by Hernandez the night of the killing, and Sgt. Kevin Conway of the Hanover Park Police Department said that he observed burned clothing of black cloth outside Hernandez's residence the day after the shooting,
A gun was never recovered, but forensic technician Lisa Koenen testified she photographed a black plastic gun holder inside Hernandez's vehicle.
Forensic technician Thomas Todd of the Schaumburg Police Department testified that he recovered the gun holder along with fragments of broken glass from inside Hernandez's truck. Earlier Hanover Park police officer Hugo Villa, the first officer on the scene, testified that he "saw glass everywhere" including on Munoz-Ramos's hair and clothes.
Testimony is expected to conclude Wednesday in Rolling Meadows.