Suburban Chicago man gets 26 years for shootout with agents

CHICAGO (AP) - A judge has sentenced a suburban Chicago man to 26 years in prison for a 2016 shootout with federal agents during an undercover drug operation.

Adan Godinez, 35, of Morris, pleaded guilty in 2018 to drug and weapons offenses. He admitted in a plea agreement with prosecutors that he was trying to kill law enforcement agents who were attempting to arrest his brother in the parking lot of a Joliet shopping mall, court records show.

Federal Judge Jorge Alonso handed down the sentence Thursday, the Chicago Tribune reported. Video of the shootout, which occurred in broad daylight outside the crowded mall, was played for the judge before he ruled.

Godinez's brother, Fernando Godinez, 50, of Cicero, has also pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced in July, court records show.

Prosecutors said Adan Godinez was conducting a drug sale with an undercover agent in the agent's vehicle on Aug. 30, 2016, when he saw heavily armed agents approach in the mall parking lot.

Adan Godinez then ran through the parking lot and fired several more times, prosecutors said. The agents returned fire and wounded Godinez in the leg.

Agents recovered two kilograms of cocaine with a street value of about $70,000 and two loaded handguns, court records show.

Godinez's attorney, Stephen Eberhardt, asked the judge to impose the minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.