Darien man faces natural life sentence for 2012 slaying
A 36-year-old Darien man convicted of nearly beheading his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend faces natural life in prison when he is sentenced next month.
DuPage County Judge Robert Guerin denied Joseph Spitalli's motion for a new trial Wednesday and will sentence Spitalli at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 27 on his convictions for first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping.
A six-member jury deliberated for nearly three hours last month before determining Spitalli knew he would seriously injure or kill 31-year-old Skokie resident Teymur Huseynli when he slashed the man's throat, all the way through to his spine, with a 5-inch serrated kitchen knife in the overnight hours of Nov. 16 and 17, 2012.
Kristina Baltrimaviciene, 30, testified during last month's trial that she and Huseynli, who she was dating, were leaving her apartment on the 7700 block of Wildwood Court in Darien late on the night of Nov. 16, 2012. Spitalli, whom she had dated and lived with earlier in the year, appeared from the darkness demanding money.
After a brief scuffle between the men, she said Spitalli left, only to appear moments later, running up behind Huseynli and slitting his throat.
"I turned around and (Spitalli) wrapped his arms around (Huseynli's) neck. I raised my hand up and felt a sharp pain in my fingers," she testified through a Lithuanian interpreter. "I felt hot blood hit me and I told (Huseynli) to run. He ran toward the front of the building and fell down."
After Spitalli's conviction, Baltrimaviciene said she wishes Spitalli "spends (the) rest of his life in jail, without the chance of parole, so he can never do this to anyone else."