ST. CHARLES-- Kane County prosecutors have to drop charges in two "cold case" Aurora murders after a major witness was murdered in Rockford.
Jamaal "Isaac" Delville Garcia was slated to testify against Jesse Lopez and Quentin Moore as part of the Aurora cold case operation, a joint FBI and local police venture dubbed “First-Degree Burn.”
On Sept. 23, police found Garcia's badly burned body in a secluded wooded area near Rockford's airport. He had been shot multiple times, police said.
Three people face charges in connection with the killing, which rose out of a dispute over a gun, according to Rockford police Deputy Chief Greg Lindmark.
"It turns out we have two [cases] where he was a major witness," Kane County State's Attorney John Barsanti said. "We cannot prove these cases without him."
Because a defense attorney wouldn't be able to question Garcia, any statements or grand jury testimony he provided are not admissible in a trial, Barsanti said. He added that all of the cold cases witnesses went before a grand jury.
As such, prosecutors will soon dismiss a 2003 murder charge against Lopez in the shooting death of Juan Carlos Rodriguez in Aurora. He is already in prison on an unrelated felony conviction.
Moore still has two pending murder cases after the state drops charges against him in the 2003 murder of Jorge Uriostigue.
Garcia, on parole for a 2005 burglary conviction, did not have a deal with prosecutors for his testimony and had been a state witness in a non-cold case trial earlier this year, Assistant State's Attorney Jody Gleason said.
"He didn't have any pending cases," she added.
Police have no evidence linking Garcia's death to his role as a witness in the Aurora murders, Lindmark and Barsanti said.
"From what we can tell, [Garcia's death] does not appear to be related to [his testimony] at all," Barsanti said. "It doesn't appear to be gang-related."
Lindmark added Garcia and the three men charged knew each other.
Carl Choppi, 18, of Rockford, is charged with murder, accused of shooting Garcia. Emmanuel Lira, 17, of Rockford, and Clay Harshbarger, 20, of Loves Park, are alleged to have moved Garcia's body from Choppi's house to the field. They are charged with concealing a homicide.
Unlike TV and movies, where witness protection involving name changes and relocation appears commonplace, local authorities don't have the broad ability to keep someone completely under wraps or out of harm's way. Barsanti said those extreme measures require the federal government's help.
"We do what we can to protect these people. We don't have those kinds of abilities or the funding," Barsanti explained. "[Witnesses] have to keep themselves out of situations like this."
Prosecutors are now reaching out to other informants and witnesses to assure them Garcia's death wasn't tied to his cooperation.
Copyright 2008 STNG Wire, The Chicago Sun-Times. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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