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Three Years And Still No Justice For Natasha McShane, Stacy Starl Jurich

Natasha McShane
Natasha McShane, 24, was brutally beaten with a baseball bat on North Damen Avenue in April 2010. (Credit: CBS)

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Tuesday marks three years since Natasha McShane's life took an unexpected, and tragic turn for the worse.

McShane, 26, was beaten with a baseball bat while walking in the 1800 block of North Damen Avenue, after a night out in the Wicker Park-Bucktown area.

McShane is unable to speak and is confined to a wheelchair.

McShane's friend, Stacy Starl Jurich, was also brutally attacked.

Heriberto Viramontes Marcy Cruz,
Heriberto Viramontes, and Marcy Cruz are charged with aggravated battery and armed robbery in the beating and robbery of two women in Bucktown.

The alleged assailants, Heriberto Viramontes and Marcy Cruz are now charged with two counts each of attempted murder, armed robbery and aggravated battery. They are awaiting trial.

Lawyers are expected back in court today to discuss motions.

The actual trial is expected to begin some time this summer.

At the time of the attack two years ago, McShane was an exchange student from County Armagh, Northern Ireland, attending the University of Illinois at Chicago. She was also a part-time waitress at Butch McGuire's tavern on Division Street.

It was 3:30 a.m. when McShane and Jurich were attacked as they walked home from a Wicker Park bar.

The alleged assailants had come to Bucktown with the intention of robbing someone because Viramontes needed quick money and drugs, and Cruz allegedly suggested targeting the "drunk a**holes coming out of the bar," prosecutors said after the defendants were charged.

Viramontes allegedly bludgeoned McShane and Jurich with the baseball bat and took their purses. Following the attack, McShane was placed on a ventilator and into a drug-induced coma.

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