Trejo murder trial begins with dueling versions of what prompted attack
Fearing his wife would leave after she discovered his infidelity days earlier, Armando Trejo repeatedly struck her and her son with an aluminum baseball bat, prosecutors said Tuesday during opening statements of the double murder trial.
But, defense attorneys laid out a different scenario to Lake County Judge James Boora and the jury, claiming Armando Trejo discovered Lailani Uy Trejo, 43, sexually abusing her son twice in the middle of the night and he killed her in the heat of the moment.
Armando Trejo faces multiple counts of first-degree murder and aggravated battery for killing his wife and 14-year-old stepson, Patrick K. Cruz Uy, Nov. 29, 2015.
Defense attorneys argue Armando Trejo should face lesser charges of second-degree murder because the attack took place when he reacted with "sudden and intense passion" after seeing Lailani Uy Trejo abusing her son.
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 after receiving serious provocation.
Trejo will be sentenced to prison for life if he's found guilty on all counts of first-degree murder. He would face four to 20 years in prison if found guilty of second-degree murder, authorities said.
Assistant Lake County State's Attorney Eric Kalata said Lailani Uy Trejo had packed a bag and was ready to leave when Armando hit her in the head with the bat. She stumbled out of the basement apartment she shared with her husband and son, and made it to the first floor of the Beach Park house where her in-laws lived.
She dialed 9-1-1, and told an emergency dispatcher she "needs police" and "she was bleeding." But, Armando Trejo caught up to her and swung the bat again, Kalata said, fulfilling the "ultimate act of domestic violence" by bludgeoning his wife to death.
Trejo's mother tried to intervene by shielding Lailani Uy Trejo with her body, but she was hit in the arm by the bat, Kalata said. Moments later, the boy arrived to help his mother, and Armando Trejo bludgeoned him repeatedly, Kalata said.
Trejo initially tried to hide the double murder, but police entered the house and saw the two bludgeoned bodies and the baseball bat leaning against a door frame, Kalata said.
But defense attorney Michael Ettinger said there was no infidelity, and Lailani Uy Trejo was not looking to leave her husband of two years.
Ettinger said Armando Trejo woke up in the middle of the night and discovered his wife missing from their bed. He walked through the house to her son's room, where he found the woman abusing the boy.
Shocked, Armando Trejo sent his wife back to bed, only to have her sneak out again and return to the boy's bedroom where she continued abusing him.
"He lost it," Ettinger told the jury, and admitted Trejo grabbed a baseball bat and hit his wife once in the head. "He was out of control."
Trejo has been held in the Lake County jail on $5 million bail since his arrest.