2nd Illinois man in killing of 2 Pinoys face death

CHICAGO – The second defendant in the 1993 killing of two Filipinos and five others in the US state of Illinois could be covered by the death penalty, according to a jury. James Degorski, who was convicted Tuesday (Sept. 29) by the jury of multiple murders, will hear on Friday (Oct. 2) on the second day of deliberation whether or he would be doomed to die. Both the family members of the victims and the convict were allowed to testify Thursday on their feelings on the imposition of death penalty on the 37-year-old Degorski. Mary Jane Crow, sister of Filipino victim, Michael Castro, told Degorski, “I want you to look at me and all the other families and your own family. God works in mysterious ways. What goes around comes around. All the pains and sufferings that you have caused will come back to you." A sister of another Filipino victim, Rico Solis, also testified at the deliberation presided over by Cook County Circuit Judge Vince Gaughan. The other relatives of the victim are to continue testifying Friday, along with Degorski’s relatives. Defense prosecutors were to present evidence why Degorski deserves life sentence. They said Degorski, who was 20 years old during the commission of the crime. Under Illinois’s law, an accused is eligible for the death penalty if he or she is above 18 years old and has killed two or more people while committing another felony. Michael Mayfield, Degorski’s lawyer, insisted there was no evidence that Degorski planned to kill in a cold, premeditated manner. But prosecutors observed that Degorski packed a gun and a knife at the Palatine restaurant and loaded a caliber-.38 gun for co-accused Juan Luna. Last Tuesday, it took the jury 90 minutes to come up with its decision, finding Degorski “guilty" seven times in the murder of seven workers at Brown’s Chicken restaurant in Palatine town in 1993 after a month-long trial. It took the jury 12 hours in 2007 to find Degorski’s co-accused, Juan Luna, and was sentenced to life in prison after a lone juror refused to impose the death penalty. A fingerprint and a DNA also tied Luna to the murder,s while there is no physical evidence to place Degorski in the crime scene. Only the testimonies of his former girlfriends appeared to link Degorski to the crime scene. Anne England and Eileen Bakalla told police in 2002 that Degorski confessed to them the Palatine massacre. A prosecutor and a police officer testified during the trial that Degorski confessed in 2002 to the killing of two of the victims. The prosecution did not use a short video statement he had given. Restaurant owners Richard Ehlenfeldt and his wife, Lynn, and employees Tom Mennes, Marcus Nellsen, Guadalupe Maldonado, Rico Solis and Michael Castro were found dead inside the coolers of the restaurant in January 1993. GMANews.TV