People v. Salgado

852 N.E.2d 266, 366 Ill. App. 3d 596
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided March 31, 2006·No. 1-04-0856·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

JUSTICE SOUTH

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, Ruffo Salgado, appeals his conviction for first degree murder in the shooting death of Erling Cox following a jury trial. The trial court sentenced him to a 54-year prison term in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Early in the proceedings, defendant was represented by the Cook County public defender’s office. The public defender filed pretrial motions to quash defendant’s arrest and suppress evidence, and to suppress the identification. Those motions were denied by the trial court. Just prior to trial, on January 8, 2002, defendant retained new counsel and was subsequently represented by private counsel.

The evidence presented at trial established the following. On February 22, 1992, Erling Cox was fatally shot three times while at the Pelican Bar in Chicago. Defendant and his cousin Saul Salgado, who were both under the legal drinking age at the time, entered the Pelican Bar and ordered beer. They were approached by the owner of the bar, Carlos Brito, who knew Saul’s parents from Mexico. Brito asked them for identification, and when they refused to provide it, he told them to leave. Brito testified that defendant had a bandage on his nose and that, before leaving the bar, defendant had an argument with Brito. Defendant warned Brito that he “would be sorry,” and he would be back. Defendant and Saul then left the bar.

Defendant and Saul left in defendant’s car and went to a restaurant where they remained for 45 minutes. They then returned to the Pelican Bar, where Brito was standing in front of the door. Defendant, who had a .22-caliber revolver with him, put the gun to the back of Brito’s head and told him that he was going to sell him some beer. Saul was approximately 10 feet behind defendant when he saw him walk up very close to Brito and begin arguing with him. Defendant shot once away from Brito and then returned the gun to the back of Brito’s head. Defendant ordered Brito back into the bar, where Brito told the bartender to call the police. The bartender then handed the telephone to the victim.

Defendant pushed Brito against the pool table and fired several shots in the bar. Three of these shots hit the victim, who fell to the ground and subsequently died from the wounds. Gina Hartung, who was standing inches away from the victim, saw defendant shoot the victim. After defendant fired inside the bar, Brito threw a pool ball at defendant, and defendant ran from the bar with the gun in his hand. Saul ran after defendant, and they left in defendant’s car. Defendant drove to the south side of Chicago, where they went to another bar. Saul testified they remained on the south side and slept in defendant’s car for three or four days.

Several police officers and detectives arrived at the Pelican Bar shortly after the shooting. Detective Schorsch entered the bar and saw that the victim was dead. Detective Sobielowski, who speaks Spanish, interviewed Brito. Detective Schorsch interviewed Hartung. A physical description of the shooter was compiled from the interviews. Following interviews with 20 to 25 people at or near the scene, the police checked some of the names given to them, and Saul’s came up. The police subsequently compiled a photo array with Saul’s photograph in it, which was shown to Brito. The police attempted to locate Saul, but could not. However, Detective Abrew spoke to Saul’s brother and learned that defendant had been hanging around with Saul. The description of defendant given by Saul’s brother matched the description of the offender wanted for the shooting. Based on that information, the police compiled a second photo array, this time containing defendant’s picture. When shown this photo array, Brito positively identified defendant as the shooter.

Following that identification, the police launched a search for defendant. They went to his previous addresses and places he had been known to frequent but were unable to locate him. The police also took additional measures to locate defendant: they prepared a “stop order,” which notifies everyone in the Chicago police department to contact the detectives at their station before releasing defendant on bond if he were to be detained; a daily request bulletin was prepared and submitted, which is dispersed internally within the entire police department and contains information on people being sought by the police, including photographs; and the felony review unit of the Cook County State’s Attorney office issued a warrant for defendant’s arrest by request of the detectives involved in the case on February 25, 1992.

The detectives interviewed Saul on February 27, 1992, and again attempted unsuccessfully to locate defendant. A federal search warrant for defendant was obtained several months after the murder based on unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Federal immigration officials were also notified, as well as the United States Marshall’s Service, all cities on the border in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Mexico, because the police learned that defendant might flee to Mexico. Despite these measures, defendant was still not located.

On August 4, 1999, following a telephone call from an anonymous source, three detectives from the Chicago police department, including Detective Tyler, and two police officers from the Cicero police department, went to a second-floor apartment at 1920 South 48th Court in Cicero to locate and arrest defendant pursuant to the outstanding arrest warrant. Jose Salgado answered the door and allowed the officers to enter the apartment. Defendant was located in the rear bedroom. The detectives asked defendant to stand, and when asked for his name, he told them his name was “Francisco Roman.” He then produced a social security card, an Arizona driver’s license and an immigration card, all with the name “Francisco Roman,” along with his picture. After determining that “Francisco Roman” was defendant, Detective Tyler arrested defendant and transported him to the Area 3 station.

At the station, defendant was placed in a detention room and Detective Schorsch was notified of the arrest. Detective Schorsch and Detective Thezan, who speaks Spanish, went to the detention room at approximately 3:30 p.m. Detective Thezan advised defendant of his Miranda rights in Spanish prior to speaking with him. Schorsch and defendant had a conversation, with Thezan translating, until Thezan was assigned to a different case. Officer Centano was then sent to Area 3 to translate at approximately 5 p.m. Defendant was moved into a conference room, and Officer Centano translated a conversation between Schorsch and defendant. During the conversation, Schorsch learned that Brito had been located. Once Brito arrived at the station, Schorsch contacted the felony review unit, and Assistant State’s Attorney (ASA) Frank Andreou responded and spoke with Brito. After the interview, Brito viewed a lineup at 1 a.m. on August 5, 1999, and positively identified defendant as the shooter.

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People v. Salgado, 852 N.E.2d 266, 366 Ill. App. 3d 596 (Ill. Ct. App. 2006).

852 N.E.2d 266 (People v. Salgado) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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