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Juan Luna, who has been held in the Cook County Jail since a jury convicted him in May in the slayings at Brown’s Chicken & Pasta restaurant in Palatine, now will be transferred to one of the state’s four maximum security prisons.
“It’s gratifying that Juan Luna will spend the rest of his life in prison,” said Cook County State’s Attorney Richard Devine, who had asked the jury to impose the death penalty.
Luna, 33, narrowly escaped death row when a single juror refused to vote in favor of the punishment. A unanimous vote is necessary to impose the death penalty.
“He has settled in with the idea that he’ll spend the rest of his life in prison unless we win on appeal,” Luna’s attorney, Clarence Burch, told reporters after the hearing.
During the trial, prosecutors contended that Luna, then 18, walked into the restaurant with high school friend James Degorski at closing time on Jan. 8, 1993 and stabbed and shot the victims during a robbery that netted less than $2,000. The bodies of the victims — the restaurant’s two owners and five employees — were discovered in a walk-in cooler and freezer.
Killed were restaurant owners Richard and Lynn Ehlenfeldt and employees Guadalupe Maldonado, 46, Marcus Nellsen, 31, Michael Castro, 16, Thomas Mennes, 32, and Rico Solis, 17. Their bodies were found in a walk-in cooler and freezer.
The Ehlfenfeldts formerly lived in Madison, Wis., and Richard Ehlenfeldt served as an aide to Wisconsin Acting Gov. Martin Schreiber in the 1970s. Another daughter, Rep. Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, serves in the Wisconsin Assembly.
Degorski, who was arrested along with Luna in 2002 after two women told police they knew who had committed the killings, has pleaded not guilty to the murders and will be tried separately. His trial date has not been set.
Prosecutors presented physical evidence linking Luna to the crime scene, including DNA recovered from a partially eaten chicken dinner and a palm print, as well as Luna’s videotaped confession.
