Chicago Man Gets 68 Years For Murder of Romeoville Teen

By Joseph Hosey

Ricardo Gutierrez was "led by the nose" into a 2007 Plainfield murder, his lawyer said just before a Will County judge sentenced the killer to 68 years in prison.

"This is a young man who, for lack of a better term, was led by his nose by his girlfriend. I think we as adults can see that," attorney Paul Napolski said of Gutierrez, 24, prior to Judge Carla Alessio Policandriotes passing sentence Wednesday afternoon.

Gutierrez's girlfriend, Gabriela Escutia, 24, also faces murder charges in connection with the October 2007 slaying of Javier Barrios, 18, of Romeoville. Gutierrez and Escutia are both locked up in the Will County jail, biding time before he is hauled off to prison and she goes on trial.

Gutierrez's lawyers claimed Escutia lived in fear of Barrios. She and Barrios had a romantic liaison that she fit in between relationships with Gutierrez. Escutia and Barrios hooked up while Gutierrez was incarcerated, she reportedly told police, but the relationship soured.

Just two and a half weeks before the killing, Escutia obtained an order of protection against Barrios. In her petition for the order she claimed the 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."

On the night of the killing, Barrios called Escutia and demanded she meet with him, Gutierrez's other attorney, Jeff Tomczak, said during the March trial.

"He said to her, 'If you don't meet me, you know what I'm going to do to your daughter,'" Tomczak said.

In a written statement he gave to Plainfield police detectives, Gutierrez said he was at Escutia's Plainfield home when Barrios called her.

"We got the call and he started talking crazy to Gabby," he said in the statement. "That made me real mad."

Gutierrez and Escutia reportedly headed for a field next to the Meijer service station on Route 59 to rendezvous with Barrios. Tomczak said another woman, identified only as "Troubles," accompanied Gutierrez and Escutia.

In his written statement, Gutierrez said he and the women got there first and waited for Barrios.

"Then he came and Gabby was supposed to scare him by aiming the gun at him and told him to stop messing with her and her daughter," he said in the statement. "I heard the gunshot so I ran out of there."

The police said Escutia shot Barrios once before the gun jammed. But even after taking a bullet, Barrios continued to menace Escutia, Gutierrez said.

"Javier started threatening Gabby and her daughter," he said in the statement. "That pissed me off even more. Gabby ran up and we met each other and she gave me the gun. Then I shot him twice in the back."

Gutierrez said he ran back to the car and he and Escutia returned to his home in Chicago. On the way up, he said, he tossed away his gun.

"We went home. We then went to watch Saw 4," he said. "Then we went to sleep."

Gutierrez was released from juvenile prison only a month before the murder. Escutia picked him up from the maximum security Illinois Youth Center when he was released.

Tomczak attempted to win Gutierrez a new trial Wednesday on the grounds that Escutia's attorneys threatened to quit her case if she testified for her boyfriend. Judge Alesio Policandriotes denied Tomczak and said Escutia's attorneys represented that she would invoke her right not to incriminate herself if called to testify.

After the hearing, Tomczak said he would file to request the sentence be reconsidered. He also said he was going to appeal the case.

"This is a case truly where the appellate court will be wrestling with dozens of issues that I think will be significant," he said.

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