Elgin man sentenced to 29 years in prison for murder
An Elgin man, who was one of three men involved in a 2017 murder, was sentenced to 29 years in prison Monday.
Michael Giacomino, 34, pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree murder in the 2017 stabbing of Bayron Cruz-Garcia, 36, of Elgin.
Giacomino was sentenced by Kane County Judge D.J. Tegeler.
According to authorities, co-defendant Carlos F. Lopez thought Cruz-Garcia was having an affair with Lopez's former girlfriend, so he recruited and paid Giacomino and Gabriel Lopez $200 apiece to beat up Cruz-Garcia.
The three went to the victim's workplace at 1:10 a.m. Aug. 12, 2017, and waited nearly an hour until he left the building. The plan was to ambush Cruz-Garcia while he was having a tryst in the back seat of a car with Carlos Lopez's ex-girlfriend, according to testimony given at Carlos Lopez's trial.
The three men pulled Cruz-Garcia out of the car, then punched and kicked him. Carlos Lopez then stabbed and slashed him, at least 16 times, with a steak knife.
Carlos Lopez was convicted in March 2020 of first-degree murder and was sentenced to 39 years in prison.
Gabriel Lopez, who is not related to Carlos Lopez, pleaded guilty in August 2019 to first-degree murder and is serving a 25-year sentence.
A Carpentersville woman, Ivette Rodriguez, was also charged with murder; prosecutors said she drove the getaway car. She was Carlos Lopez's girlfriend at the time of the killing. She later pleaded guilty to felony obstruction of justice, and the murder charge was dropped, in exchange for her testimony at Carlos Lopez's trial. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Giacomino had pleaded guilty in July 2020 but withdrew that plea.