Plea deal negotiations are being explored for a man charged with murder after the January 2015 slaying of a woman in a Waukegan bar, authorities said.
Elpidia Munoz-Garcia, 33, was shot in the face just after 1 a.m. Jan. 2, 2015, inside the Buenos Bar in Waukegan, prosecutors said.
Roberto Romero, then 23, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, according to authorities, who said the shooting was captured on the bar’s surveillance camera and witnessed by Munoz-Garcia’s 9-year-old daughter.
On Tuesday, Assistant State’s Attorney Jason Grindel and defense attorney LaTonya Burton told Judge Daniel Shanes that a plea is being explored.
Romero’s trial is scheduled to start Sept. 26, and Shanes indicated he expected movement on a potential resolution if the trial is to be averted, noting a year and a half has passed with no plea deal offer being made. The original lead prosecutor in the case left the state’s attorney’s office for private practice last year.
“We’re working behind the scenes,” Grindel said.
He added that the state’s attorney’s office needed to speak again with Munoz-Garcia’s relatives about any possible plea deal, but said he believes there is a likelihood a trail won’t be needed.
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Burton added: “I think it will be resolved.”
The charges against Romero include a firearm enhancement, under which he would face a minimum of 45 years in prison and a maximum of natural life upon conviction if the case goes to trial.
Munoz-Garcia, who police and prosecutors described as Romero’s girlfriend, was the first Lake County homicide of 2015.
Prosecutors said Munoz-Garcia had texted Romero’s parents and told them Romero had taken their gun. When the parents arrived at the bar to take the weapon, Romero “took the gun and discharged it two to three times directly in the face of the victim,” Assistant State’s Attorney Carolina DeLeon-Bond said during a hearing following his arrest.
Romero allegedly told Waukegan police he had taken the gun from his parents’ house, and after he and Munoz-Garcia got into an argument, he pulled out the gun and shot her, according to prosecutors.
Romero has been held in Lake County Jail since his arrest with bail set at $3 million. Shanes set a next court date of Aug. 16.
Twitter @jimnewton5