An Aurora man charged with fatally shooting another man in June is set for a jury trial in December.
Martin Garcia, 23, of the 600 block of North Root Street, has also asked to substitute a different judge for Kane County Circuit Judge David Kliment, who’s assigned to the trial, court records show.
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Garcia, who demanded a speedy trial in September before his trial was ordered last month, is one of two men charged in the death of Rodolfo Rocha, 34, of the 1100 block of Superior Street.
Charging documents accuse both Garcia and Anthony C. Medina, 23, of the 1100 block of Gates Street, with personally shooting the gun that killed Rocha.
Garcia is charged with six counts of first-degree murder and two counts of unlawful use of a weapon.
Medina was charged in June with two counts of first-degree murder. A grand jury indicted him on additional charges in July.
Prosecutors are asking the court to order both men to submit to DNA samples to be taken using a cheek swab, according to motions filed last week.
Rocha had been with a group of friends when two men walked up to the group, made gang-motivated statements and started shooting from handguns, police said.
About 12:35 a.m. June 10, police responding to a reported shooting said they found Rocha on the ground in front of a home on the 1100 block of Grove Street. Rocha had several gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
A patrol officer saw Medina, who matched the description of one of the shooters, walking in the area about 1:55 a.m., stopped him, and brought him in for questioning.
Meanwhile, Garcia walked into an Aurora hospital with gunshot wounds. Police said early on they believed the wounds were probably related to the East Side shooting. Aurora detectives and agents with the U.S. Marshal’s Service Great Lakes Fugitive Task Force arrested Garcia in September at his home.
Three days after the shooting, Garcia was admitted to Stateville Correctional Center in connection with 2015 charges for illegally possessing a gun in a vehicle, according to Illinois Department of Corrections records, which show he was released on parole June 30.
Medina’s prior convictions include felony gun charges in 2012 and 2015, according to Kane County and Illinois Department of Corrections records. He was paroled from Menard Correctional Center, a state prison, in December 2016.
Medina is in Kane County jail with bail set at $3 million and is next due in court Wednesday for a motion or petition hearing. In August, he pleaded not guilty to charges of armed violence, being an armed habitual criminal and at least two counts of murder, and has also requested a jury trial.
Garcia’s case is scheduled for his last pretrial hearing on Dec. 7 with a jury trial beginning Dec. 11. He’s in the county jail on $4 million bail, and is also next to appear in court Wednesday.