A man serving a life sentence for the 2015 baseball bat murders of his wife and her son failed to show that racial bias affected the choice of the jurors that found him guilty, a Lake County judge ruled Monday following a hearing.
An appellate court this fall ordered the hearing for Armando Trejo Jr., agreeing with the Beach Park man that his trial court failed to follow the correct procedure for determining whether potential jurors at his 2019 trial had been excluded for racial reasons. The appellate court ordered Judge James Booras to reconduct what is called a Batson hearing, and to do so within 30 days of the appeals court’s late September ruling.
But after hearing evidence from Trejo’s attorney during that hearing Monday, Booras ruled that Trejo had not presented enough evidence at first impression to move the hearing forward. During jury selection in 2019, Booras also had not found any evidence of racial bias.
Trejo had been found guilty for the murders of Lailani Uy Trejo and her son, Patrick Uy, 14, in November 2015 at their Beach Park home. At trial, prosecutors suggested that Trejo attacked his wife and stepson, beating them to death with a baseball bat, because he feared Lailani was planning on leaving him. A jury found Trejo guilty, and he was sentenced to life in prison.
On appeal, Trejo argued that racial bias played a role in the peremptory challenges made by Lake County prosecutors during jury selection. Both the defense and prosecution are allowed a certain number of challenges where they are allowed to dismiss a potential juror without stating why the juror is being released. Although trial attorneys do not disclose the reasons for these peremptory challenges, the dismissals cannot be based on race or ethnicity.
Trejo, who is Hispanic, argued that racial bias played a role in three of the four peremptory challenges during jury selection made by prosecutors, who excluded three jurors who may have been of Hispanic descent.
But after hearing the evidence, the judge said he was not convinced that there was any racial bias. His ruling that Trejo had not met the legal burden at first glance meant the prosecutors did not have to present any evidence that justified their challenges.
However, Assistant State’s Attorney Jason Humpke said during the hearing that the potential jurors were excused for nonracial reasons — one had been previously prosecuted in Lake County on battery charges, and the other two were crime victims.
The jury that convicted Trejo did have three people of Hispanic descent, both sides noted, a percentage that roughly matched the racial makeup of the 49-member jury pool.
