Murder Arrest Illegal in 2007 Case — ‘This is Still America,’ Says Appellate Judge

The arrest of a Chicago man convicted of a 2007 killing in Plainfield was illegal and should have been quashed by a Will County judge, the appellate court has ruled.

“This is still America, where federal and state constitutional principles inform and direct law enforcement activities,” Appellate Judge Mary McDade wrote in a special concurring opinion. “We do not live in a police state where law enforcement agents can descend en masse in the wee hours of the morning to awaken private citizens in their homes and take two people into custody — all without benefit of either a warrant, demonstrable exigent circumstances, or probable cause.”

The ruling will send 27-year-old Ricardo Gutierrez’s murder case back to Joliet. Gutierrez was sentenced to 68 years in prison for the October 2007 killing of Javier Barrios.

Gutierrez’s girlfriend, Gabriela Escutia, 27, also was found guilty of murdering Barrios. She was sentenced to 52 years in prison.

Escutia and Barrios were both 18 and romantically involved while Gutierrez, with whom Escutia was also romantically entangled, was doing time in juvenile prison. When Gutierrez's sentence was done, Escutia picked him up at the gates of the Illinois Youth Center in Joliet and they rekindled their relationship. A month later, they hatched the plot to kill Barrios.

Escutia testified that they set up Barrios' murder because she feared him.

"I asked the police for help on more than one occasion," she said during her sentencing hearing, telling how she believed she might only get the law's attention after she died.

Two and a half weeks prior to setting her murder plot in motion, Escutia obtained an order of protection against Barrios. In her petition for the order she claimed Barrios pushed her down, slapped her, and broke her car window and a headlight. Escutia also accused Barrios of harassing her and "calling and leaving messages."

Escutia supposedly feared not only for herself but for her baby daughter, whose father apparently is neither Gutierrez nor Barrios. Barrios' sister, Virdinia Barrios, said her mother helped Escutia take care of the baby while she was dating Javier Barrios.

On the day of the killing, Escutia orchestrated a meeting with Barrios near the Plainfield Meijer service station. She brought along Gutierrez and a woman identified only as "Troubles," as well as a gun and a glove to keep her fingerprints off the weapon.

Escutia walked up to Barrios' car and shot him once in the side before her pistol jammed. She then gave the gun to Gutierrez. He cleared the weapon and put another two bullets in the back of Barrios' head.

One of Gutierrez’s attorneys, Paul Napolski, said the young man was "led by his nose" into helping Escutia carry out the murder.

The police tracked Escutia and Gutierrez down at Gutierrez’s home in Chicago. The couple was sleeping together when the cops showed up early in the morning. Gutierrez was taken in handcuffs to a Chicago police station and then the Plainfield Police Department. He was not in handcuffs during the ride to Plainfield.

Gutierrez’s attorneys had tried to have his arrest quashed prior to his trial. They based their motion on the lack of an arrest or search warrant, and the absence of probable cause. Judge Carla Alessio Policandriotes denied the motion.

The appellate court voted 2-1 that Gutierrez’s arrest was illegal. In his dissenting opinion, Justice Daniel Schmidt said Gutierrez was not under arrest when he was taken from his home, or during his travels to the Chicago station or the Plainfield Police Department.

“There is no evidence that the police were coercive or implied defendant’s presence at the police station was mandatory,” Schmidt. “In spite of this, the majority finds that the police violated the fourth amendment, illegally seizing defendant when he accepted their request to assist them in a murder investigation.”

After they arrived at the Plainfield Police Department, Escutia and Gutierrez confessed to killing Barrios, according to the appellate court decision.

Gutierrez case will now return to Will County Court where it will be determined whether the “subsequent statements from the taint of the illegal arrest” should still be held against him.

photo via Illinois Department of Corrections