Man who admits beating wife, stepson with baseball bat goes on trial today
Armando Trejo admits to using an aluminum baseball bat to beat his wife and stepson to death in their Lake County home in November 2015.
But when he goes to trial today on multiple counts of first-degree murder and aggravated battery, the issue will be what prompted the attack and whether prosecutors are charging the 50-year-old Beach Park man with the wrong offense.
Defense attorneys are expected to argue Trejo should face a lesser charge of second-degree murder because the assault took place when he reacted with "sudden and intense passion" after seeing his wife, Lailani Uy Trejo, abusing her 14-year-old son, Patrick Crus Uy.
Prosecutors are expected to argue that never happened. Instead, they'll say, the attack stemmed from a marital dispute and was without justification.
Jury selection is expected to begin this morning in front of Lake County Judge James Booras. Trejo has been held in the Lake County jail on $5 million bail since his arrest.
Authorities said emergency dispatchers received a call from Lailani Uy Trejo in the early morning hours of Nov. 29, 2015, saying she "needs police" and "she was dying and she was bleeding." Dispatchers then heard several "ping" sounds over the phone, which authorities believe was the sound of an aluminum bat striking her.
Trejo later admitted he killed his wife during an argument, then killed his stepson when the teen tried to intervene. He also hit his 68-year-old mother with the bat, authorities said.
First-degree murder in Illinois is defined as killing another without lawful justification, officials said.
For second-degree murder, defense attorneys must prove Trejo was reacting suddenly after receiving serious provocation.
Defense attorney Stephen Simonian wrote in court documents that Trejo acted "under a sudden and intense passion" when he "caught his wife molesting their son."
Simonian also said he will introduce experts at trial to prove "this is not a first-degree murder case."
Assistant Lake County State's Attorneys Eric Kalata and Jason Humke have argued through court documents that text messages were exchanged between the husband and wife about allegations Armando Trejo was having an extramarital affair in the days before the murders.
"This ongoing argument and observable marital discord is the true reason the defendant murdered his wife ... and not the salacious molestation story the defendant claimed," the prosecutors have said.
Trejo will be sentenced to prison for life if he's found guilty on all counts of first-degree murder.
He would face only four to 20 years in prison if found guilty of second-degree murder, authorities said.
Prior to trial, Trejo turned down a plea deal that would have sent him to prison for 50 years for first-degree murder. The trial is expected to last about eight days, attorneys have said.