Naperville man's sentence in Aurora gang murder cut by 25 years
A Naperville man convicted of killing a rival gang member in Aurora in 2007 has had his prison sentence reduced by 25 years because of changes in sentencing laws for minors.
On Wednesday, Kane County Judge D.J. Tegeler sentenced 33-year-old Joshua Cavazos to 50 years in prison for first-degree murder and attempted murder. Cavazos was serving a 75-year prison sentence handed down by a now-retired judge.
Cavazos was 17 when he fired a handgun four times out of a stolen SUV driving through a rival gang's territory near High and Grove streets in Aurora. He killed 15-year-old Oscar Rodriguez and injured his girlfriend.
In 2020, the Illinois 2nd District Appellate Court ordered the Kane County court to resentence Cavazos. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole for people who were younger than 18 at the time of the crime were unconstitutional.
The Illinois Supreme Court then ruled that any sentence for a minor that exceeds 40 years is a de facto life sentence that requires a judge to consider allowing the possibility of parole. The judge must consider such factors as the home and family circumstances of the youth, his or her maturity level, whether he or she has a tendency toward impetuous behavior, and whether the youth is incorrigible and incapable of being rehabilitated.
A 2019 state law also made mandatory gun add-ons optional in cases where defendants were younger than 18.
Tegeler said the crime was not impetuous because Cavazos and his co-defendants deliberately looked for rival gang members. He said Cavazos had grown up in a "decent" family environment and that Cavazos was an "older adolescent" because he was about three months shy of his 18th birthday.
He sentenced Cavazos to 20 years on the murder charge and 10 years on the attempted murder, with a 20-year gun add-on. They are to be served consecutively.
Cavazos can apply for parole after having served 20 years, Tegeler said. He has been incarcerated since his arrest.
Rodriguez's mother disagreed with lowering the sentence, according to a victim impact statement read in court by Assistant State's Attorney Bill Engerman.
"The wound that was left in my unhealed heart will never close because he will never be with me, and I will never be able to hug him," she wrote. "I do not think it is fair that the sentence should be lowered. So what will happen to every person that commits a crime that is a minor?"