Prosecutors and the attorney for Michael Luciano laid out their plans as he returned to a Kane County courtroom Monday for resentencing in a 1990 murder.
Assistant State’s Attorney Kelly Orland made it clear that Luciano deserves to remain in prison for life for his role in two murders as a teenager a quarter century ago. She suggested the variety of Latin Kings’ tattoos he still bears illuminate the idea Luciano isn’t someone who went through a gangbanger phase in his younger years.
Luciano’s attorney, however, began painting a different picture of 43-year-old Luciano. He was a victim of the environment of his youth growing up with a violent gang culture as a way of life. Yet, attorney Viviana Ramirez said Luciano overcame those odds to become a devoted family man with many skills, from a “talented roofer” to fisherman and artist. For that, he deserves only the minimum 20 years, she said.
A 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling is the reason Luciano faces sentencing for the second time in the Halloween 1990 killing of Albert “Psycho” Gonzalez. Found guilty in 2008 for his part in Gonzalez’s death, Luciano earned a mandatory life term in prison under Illinois law which made such punishment automatic for anyone convicted of two murders. However, the Supreme Court decision deemed that portion of the law unconstitutional in cases involving juveniles. Luciano was only 16 when he shot Willie Arce, a fellow gang member, to death in June 1989. He was just 26 days away from his 18th birthday when Gonzalez was killed on orders from Luciano.
The Second District Appellate Court later cited the Supreme Court ruling in its decision to vacate Luciano’s sentence tied to Gonzalez’s death, although he continues to serve a 38-year prison term for the Arce murder.
Although the appellate decision granted Luciano a new sentencing hearing, Judge Linda Abrahamson could still send him to prison for the rest of his life. Orland and Ramirez indicated they would provide Abrahamson with comprehensive views to support their respective sentencing recommendations.
“You’re not sentencing a juvenile. You’re sentencing an adult man,” Orland said, noting how Abrahamson would hear details of both murders and other aspects of Luciano’s criminal life.
Ramirez countered by saying Luciano’s case was on point with what the Supreme Court intended to fix. Luciano built a business to support his family over an 11-year span prior to his 2007 indictment for the murders as part of the Operation First Degree Burn sweep that involved multiple arrests of gang members in cold case killings. Luciano’s crimes as a teen do not reflect irreparable corruption of his life, Ramirez explained, referring back to his upbringing as a factor.
“The greatest influences in his life (were) his father and the members of the Latin Kings,” she said, adding Luciano sat “humbly” in court on Monday.
Ramirez plans to call as witnesses “people who actually know Michael as a person” and a psychologist to present mitigating evidence during the hearing which is expected to last at least through Tuesday. Orland began the state’s presentation by calling former Aurora police officers to recount details of the two killings based on their readings of thousands of pages of trial transcripts.
The witnesses also offered something of a short history of gangs in Aurora in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
“Gangs had really taken off around that time,” said David Johnston, who spent 26 years with Aurora police before retiring in 2014.
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Gonzalez’s brother is expected to read a victim impact statement Tuesday.
Dan Campana is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News