Elgin man found guilty of setting wife on fire

His attorney argued that the jury deliberating Jose Marquez's fate had everything they needed to acquit him of charges he doused his wife with rubbing alcohol and set her afire.

They had the victim's own words insisted, defense attorney David Corbett during closing arguments Friday. He was referring to multiple statements Marquez's now ex-wife Christine Espinosa, 33, gave to police and medical personnel following the incident on the night of Oct. 17, 2009.

Initially, she claimed she set herself on fire. Later, she admitted to police that her husband did it after an argument escalated to choking, hair pulling and insults before concluding with the victim suffering first-, second- and some third-degree burns over 27 percent of her body.

The Rolling Meadows jury also had hospital photographs of Espinosa's burned arms, hands and chest, and her tearful testimony about the attack, corroborated by her the preteen daughter who witnessed much of it.

The jury also saw images of Espinosa's charred skin and puckered flesh, injuries she will carry the rest of her life. And there was the photograph of the yellow lighter used to set her ablaze, sitting neatly alongside a nearly empty bottle of rubbing alcohol, right where Marquez told police it would be.

In the end, it took the jury only 90 minutes to find Marquez guilty of heinous battery and aggravated domestic battery, for which he could spend up to 30 years in prison.

Espinosa's cousin Belen Alonso expressed the family's gratitude to the Elgin Police Department and Cook County prosecutors. She also praised the state's attorney's office for its zero tolerance policy on domestic violence which lets "all victims of domestic violence know that they should not take it and they do not have to take it."

Corbett expressed his client's disappointment and said he will discuss with Marquez and his family their next course of action.

"We respect the jury's decision," Corbett said, "but Jose, his family and I are bitterly disappointed."

Closing arguments dominated the second day of the trial in which Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Mike Clarke introduced jurors to Espinosa's world.

"Welcome to the world of domestic violence," he said. "Welcome to the world where crimes are committed in the secrecy of one's own home. Welcome to the world where fear and intimidation serve to protect the offender and not the abused."

"Welcome to the world of Christine Espinosa."

Responding to Corbett's repeated references to Espinosa's claims that she lit herself on fire, Clarke described the overwhelming fear that engulfed her: fear of what Marquez would do if she exposed him, fear for the safety of her daughter.

"Fear is a powerful thing," he said. "So powerful it made Espinosa lie.

"Thank God for the Elgin Police Department. They didn't believe her," said Clarke, who praised lead detective Brian Gorcowski truth.

Corbett offered a different version of the truth in his closing remarks. Marquez isn't to blame, he said. Espinosa absolved him in her statements to police and she persisted in her claims even after she knew he had been arrested and posed her no threat, he said.

How is it that both Marquez and Espinosa told the same story of what happened that night at their home in the 1200 block of Blackhawk Drive, Corbett asked. How is it that Espinosa willingly drove to the hospital with the man who burned her, even though family members had called for an ambulance? And, if Marquez was guilty why did he consent to a search of his house, Corbett asked.

"Sadly enough and beyond all reasonable explanation, she did this to herself," said Corbett, who acknowledged the pain and severity of Espinosa's injuries. "I know it's shocking. It's a case beyond all reckoning- But we are not here to figure out why she did it."

Except that she didn't, said Clarke, who concluded his remarks in dramatic fashion by flicking on the yellow lighter and holding in front of the jury.

Imagine flames all over your body, he said. Imagine how painful that would be. Then imagine setting down the lighter, neatly on a cabinet, he said.