Closing Arguments Set For Thursday In Bucktown Bat Attack Trial
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Closing arguments are set for Thursday in the trial of the man accused of the baseball bat beating of two young women in Bucktown in 2010
The attorneys defending Heriberto Viramontes took only a day on Wednesday to present their case that someone else committed the crime.
Chicago Police Officer Elise Middleton testified that she interviewed one of the victims, Stacy Jurich, shortly after the assault.
"I asked her if the offender could have been Black. She said yes," Middleton said.
Later, Middleton sent out a radio flash with the full description Jurich gave: Male, Black, 5-7 to 5-9 in height, medium build.
While walking through a viaduct at Damen and Bloomingdale in April 2010, Jurich and her friend, Irish exchange student Natasha McShane, were brutally attacked with a baseball bat, and robbed of their purses.
Another police officer, Del Pilar, testified she questioned, but didn't arrest, two black men she encountered near the crime scene.
"They were in the vicinity of the crime. They fit the description and they had a small amount of blood on their clothes."
But Detective Robert Carrillo testified that Jurich, who'd suffered brain injuries, later changed her description, saying the defendant may also have been a male Hispanic.
Viramontes faces 25 felony counts, including attempted murder and armed robbery. Late Wednesday, he decided not to testify in his own defense.
Just after the prosecution rested, defense attorneys asked the judge to dismiss the most serious charge, attempted murder, arguing there's no evidence the attacker intended to kill the women, just rob them. The judge rejected that motion.
Closing arguments are set for Thursday morning.
