19-year-old convicted of 2008 Des Plaines murder

A long day of testimony was followed by a speedy verdict for 19-year-old Ashur Hidou, who was found guilty of first-degree murder late Wednesday in the 2008 stabbing death of Israel Moreno, also known as Kiki.

The verdict concluded an often tense, three-day bench trial before Cook County Circuit Court Judge Larry Axelrood that was characterized by increased security around the Skokie courtroom, including a metal detector, armed sheriff's police officers and a canine unit.

Violence underscored the case between onetime acquaintances and Des Plaines residents Hidou and Moreno, who authorities say belonged to rival gangs.

"It is too simplistic to say this is a gang matter. This is more personal than that," said Axelrood, suggesting that gang affiliation "was almost a side-note to what was going on here."

Hidou insisted he killed Moreno in self-defense, but Axelrood rejected that, saying he did not find credible the defendant's claim he feared Moreno might hurt him or the Claudio family with whom he was extremely close.

Family members testified that Moreno dated Vanessa Claudio for about 14 months but they broke up a few months before the murder. Witnesses said, a week before his death, Moreno came to their apartment and approached Vanessa and her parents, Ida and Angelo Claudio, who were standing outside. Ida Claudio testified that Moreno grabbed Vanessa's face, forced her to look at him and made crude comments. Moreno and Angelo Claudio exchanged words, after which Moreno "fought his way into the building," said Ida Claudio, who testified Moreno struck her in the face, broke her husband's glasses and hit several bystanders. Police charged Moreno with battery and criminal trespass. He was out on bond at the time of his death.

Hidou was not present but said the incident scared him. He testified Moreno asked him to join the gang but he refused. He said he feared Moreno would retaliate because a refusal signifies disrespect, which he said Moreno's gang did not tolerate. Hidou also testified that Vanessa's younger brother Anthony Claudio told him Moreno tried to recruit him into the gang and harassed him at a neighborhood store.

Hidou admitted he bought a knife for protection after he said he was attacked by masked individuals six weeks earlier and that he showed it to Angelo Claudio a few hours before the murder. Police recovered the knife that Hidou used to stab Moreno from the scene at the intersection of Laurel Avemue and Washington Street in Des Plaines.

Witnesses say Moreno went to the Claudio apartment about 2 a.m. the day of the murder and called for Vanessa, but left when she didn't respond. Moreno's friend Gregory Latson, 28, testified he and Moreno began walking back to Moreno's house when Hidou approached Moreno, pulled out a knife and began stabbing him. Moreno threw a punch at Hidou, who fell backward, Latson said. He said Moreno ended up on top of Hidou, but Hidou kept stabbing him. Cook County Assistant Medical Examiner Dr. Tear Jones said Moreno suffered eight stab wounds including fatal ones to his heart and a major vein.

Latson said he tried wrestling the knife from Hidou while kneeing him in the head several times. Witnesses who saw Hidou after the stabbing confirmed his face was covered in blood. Medical records from Swedish Covenant Hospital, where Hidou went for treatment after the stabbing, indicated he suffered head trauma, a fractured nose, abrasions and a knife wound to his left hand.

Calling Hidou the aggressor, prosecutors pointed out that neither Moreno nor Latson had a weapon. That Hidou came armed indicated his intent, said Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Karan Baltazar. That he fled confirmed his guilt, she said. "You can't bring a knife to a fist fight," she said, dismissing Hidou's claims that Moreno and Latson attacked him and that Latson held him down while Moreno punched him.

Axelrood rejected Hidou's assertion that he swung the knife wildly while trying to defend himself, saying the physical evidence did not support it.

"If Mr. Latson was holding him down while Kiki was beating him, he wouldn't have been able to get his knife out," Axelrood said, adding "a defendant can't initiate a fight and then claim self-defense."

Moreno's mother America Miramontes said she was satisfied with the verdict. Hidou's family did not comment, but defense attorneys Patrick O'Byrne and David Carrabotta expressed disappointment.

It was a case of "self-defense predicated on egregious gang violence," said O'Byrne. "Kiki is every family's nightmare."

Hidou returns to the Skokie courthouse next month, where he could be sentenced up to 60 years in prison.