Elgin man guilty of 2008 attempted murder
Following a weeklong trial a Kane County jury late Tuesday convicted a 25-year-old Elgin man of the 2008 attempted murder of the mother of his child.
Bernardino Hernandez Jr., formerly of the 800 block of South Liberty Street, faces between 31 and 55 years in prison when he is sentenced July 16 by Judge Karen Simpson.
Hernandez was found guilty of shooting the woman through her bedroom window June 28, 2008, after the victim and another woman confronted him. The women had learned of a love triangle and the mother of Hernandez’ child threatened to deny him visitation to his toddler daughter until the matter was resolved in court, prosecutors said,
Prosecutors said Hernandez went to the victim’s residence in the 300 block of Ann Street, knocked on her window and shot her three times in the back with a .38 caliber Bersa pistol as she stepped toward a door to let him in.
The attempted murder charge carried a prison term of six to 30 years. The jury also found that he used a handgun in the offense and caused great bodily harm — the victim was hospitalized in intensive care for 10 days — which automatically adds 25 years to the sentence.
The jury took about three hours to find him guilty.
Even if a not-guilty verdict was returned, Hernandez would not be free. He currently is serving a 20-year prison term for solicitation of murder charges from 2010 that he pleaded guilty to in January 2012.
This sentence will be served at the same time as the attempted murder sentence that Simpson will issue in July.
According to prosecutors, while being held at the Kane County jail, Hernandez asked a fellow detainee to make arrangements in the spring of 2010 to kill Hernandez’s ex-girlfriend. He transferred money to a third party and was secretly recorded discussing details of the planned murder, authorities said.
He also faces felony weapons charges and obstruction of justice allegations from late 2009, according to court records.
If convicted on these charges, he faces between one and three years in prison.
Hernandez’s defense attorney, Sandra Byrd, did not immediately return a phone message.