He didn't kill anyone, so why does a court say Round Lake man belongs locked up for murder?

Jose Rebollar-Vergara didn't kill anyone. He didn't even know a shooting was about to happen when he and a fellow gang member met up with a teen they mistook for a rival at a Round Lake Beach minimart in 2013.

But the Round Lake man still should do 38 years in prison as a convicted killer, a state appeals court ruled this week.

In a split decision featuring an unusually harsh dissent stating the decision “reeks of desperation,” justices decided Rebollar-Vergara's first-degree murder conviction was appropriate under the state's accountability statute.

The statute essentially says that under the right circumstances, a person is legally responsible for another's actions.

Rebollar-Vergara, who will turn 31 on Saturday, was convicted for his role in the March 2013 shooting of Gabriel Gonzalez, 18, outside the One Stop Food & Liquor store. Authorities said Rebollar-Vergara and co-defendant Jose Garcia exchanged words with the Zion teen inside the store, believing he belonged to a rival gang because of the way he was wearing his hat.

Rebollar-Vergara told police he followed Gonzalez outside expecting a one-on-one fistfight. That's when Garcia pulled out a gun and opened fire, killing the teenager, police said.

Writing for the majority, Justice Michael J. Burke said even if Rebollar-Vergara didn't intend to kill Gonzalez, he and Garcia were “acting with a common criminal design.”

“The state presented ample evidence from which the jury could infer that defendant's trash talking and pursuing Gonzalez from the store was a cue to Garcia to escalate the confrontation,” Burke wrote. “Garcia's act of shooting Gonzalez was in furtherance of the common design to harm Gonzalez.”

'Counterfactual mischief'

That's what Justice Robert D. McLaren wrote of his colleagues' finding in a scathing 17½-page dissent that references the Salem Witch Trials, Humpty Dumpty, the Magna Carta and the military aphorism “Kill 'em all, let God sort 'em out.”

McLaren's main beef was the majority's willingness to give prosecutors a pass for allowing false testimony before the grand jury that indicted Rebollar-Vergara. The jury was told Rebollar-Vergara confessed; he didn't.

“No longer a 'shield' against arbitrary prosecutions, the grand jury becomes the proverbial mushroom that is kept in the dark and fed false confessions,” he wrote.

McLaren also scoffed at the idea Rebollar-Vergara and Garcia acted together to kill Gonzalez. The co-defendants, he noted, met up at the store that night by chance, and there was no evidence Rebollar-Vergara knew Garcia was armed.

“How could the intent to fight 'one on one,' while someone 'looked on,' be evidence of a common criminal design?” he asked.

What's next?

Rebollar-Vergara's next step could be asking the Illinois Supreme Court to give his case another look. Until then, he remains locked up at the Pontiac Correctional Center, with a potential parole date in March 2051.

Garcia, 24, and formerly of Mundelein, is serving a 62-year term at the Menard Correctional Center. He won't be eligible for parole until 2075.

Mourning Bart

Eleven years is a long career for a police dog. It's a tough job that takes a toll on their bodies, and most retire before their age reaches double digits, spending their senior years lolling around as a family pet.

Lisle police officer Bart - Badge 499 - was due to join the ranks of retirees at the end of April. But a neurological issue that caused him pain and affected his ability to walk led to the difficult decision Sunday to have him euthanized.

“Bart, you have had an impact on more people than you know, and will be sorely missed,” the police department said Sunday in a Facebook post announcing his death.

Bart, 12, was a German shepherd, born in the Netherlands and trained to respond to commands in Dutch. He was trained to detect narcotics, look for evidence, track people, search buildings, and control aggressive humans, according to his handler, officer Bill Wise.

His last shift was Saturday.

Wise said Bart worked with departments throughout DuPage County, as well as the Drug Enforcement Administration, the postal inspector, the FBI, state police and various narcotic units.

“One of his best drug finds was locating over 20 kilos of packaged cocaine that was hidden in the wall of a closet, packed in suitcases,” Wise told us. “He also helped to locate an elderly woman in Downers Grove that suffered from dementia and had wandered away from her residence during an exceptionally hot and humid summer evening.”

Bart lived with Wise and his wife, Jodie, also a Lisle police officer, along with their other two dogs, Rookie and Trailer.

The department is planning a public memorial, at a date yet to be determined.

No running from the law

Would-be crooks in Geneva, beware: We don't suggest trying to outrun the city's newest recruit, Quantrell Priest.

A day before his swearing-in ceremony Monday, Priest ran the Shamrock Shuffle in Chicago, covering the approximately 5-mile course in just over 40 minutes.

“It was a lot of work for a free bandanna,” he told Geneva aldermen Monday, after the mayor told them about his running.

Priest took the city's oath of office with his mother, father and a family friend by his side. His father also is a police officer.

He's switching over from a career working with special-education students at Joseph Academy.

“I wanted to stay in public service,” he said. “This felt like a natural fit, to do some good in the world.”

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Crime: Lisle police dog euthanized on Sunday