A week-long murder trial wrapped up with a guilty verdict Friday afternoon.
The jury took two days to convict Ricardo Gutierrez, 23, of first-degree murder.
Gutierrez gunned down Javier Barrios in October 2007 in Plainfield. Barrios was 18 when he was killed.
Jury selection started Monday in the Will County Courthouse. Gutierrez's attorneys, Jeff Tomczak and Paul Napolski, said the killing was carried out in self-defense.
That was just one of the things going on in court last week. There was also:
- The judge in the Drew Peterson case sending information on the wife-killer's former attorney, Joel Brodsky, to the state's Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission.
- Frankfort pediatrician Kishor Jain refusing to testify at a hearing for the Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation in Chicago. The department went ahead and indefinitely suspended Jain's medical license over his refusal to testify.
- A Joliet man who pleaded guilty to second degree murder getting sentenced to prison. But even though Marcos Camargo, 30, got 14 years, he will likely be out of prison in less than four.
- The lawyer for a New Lenox man convicted of punching a Joliet man into a coma arguing that his client should be found not guilty or at least get a new trial. Joseph Messina, 24, was supposed to be sentenced last week but instead the judge will decide next month whether to start over, acquit him, or go ahead as planned.
- Over in Bridgeview, three of the four defendants charged with killing a pal's parents appeared in court. Prosecutors said they were going to test a piece of a T-shirt one of the men was allegedly wearing during the murders in Palos Township.
- A firefighter for Orland and Crestwood is facing criminal charges stemming from a fatal car accident. Prosecutors said Patrick Bruce, of Oak Forest, was driving while on a prescription medication, speeding and swerving. A 25-year-old Downers Grove woman died after the accident.