[DeFrancisco sisters] Witness `forgot' to tell of gun

[Anne Warfield]

From the Chicago Tribune--

Witness `forgot' to tell of gun

By Hal Dardick
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 2, 2004

Though she faced a murder charge, Veronica Garcia waited nearly four
years to mention that the victim in her case was toting a handgun,
Garcia testified Thursday in the trial of two Chicago sisters accused
of killing one of their boyfriends.

A month ago, when meeting with Cook County prosecutors preparing their
case in Oscar Velazquez's slaying, Garcia first mentioned the gun--a
fact defense attorney Ed Genson zeroed in on while cross-examining
Garcia, 19, Thursday in the murder trials of Regina and Margaret
DeFrancisco.

"I forgot about the gun," Garcia told Genson in the courtroom of
Circuit Judge James M. Schreier. "I don't remember if I brought it up
or they brought it up."

Genson, representing Margaret DeFrancisco, who is on trial with her
sister, Regina, asked Garcia about the deal prosecutors offered her.
Though she faces a murder charge with a minimum 20-year sentence, she
expects to get a 5-year sentence for homicide concealment in exchange
for her testimony, she said.

The gun carried by Velazquez, a 22-year-old truck driver killed on
June 6, 2000, is key to the case. Genson argued that Margaret
DeFrancisco shot Velazquez only after he pointed the gun at her.

Garcia, 15 at the time, said Margaret DeFrancisco, then 16, called her
the day of the murder and asked "if I could get my boyfriend's gun."
She got the gun from her boyfriend, who was a gang member, and took it
to the DeFrancisco home in the 700 block of West 21st Street, she
said.

Garcia thought "that they were going to stick him up and rob him," she
said. After Velazquez arrived, "Margaret asked him if anyone knew [he
was going to the sisters' house]. Oscar said, `No.'"

Regina DeFrancisco, then 17, called Velazquez, who was her boyfriend,
into the basement, Garcia said. Margaret DeFrancisco, holding Garcia's
boyfriend's gun behind her back, followed him down the stairs, Garcia
said.

"After they walked down the stairs, I heard a gunshot," Garcia said.

At the bottom of the stairs, Garcia found Margaret and Regina
DeFrancisco rifling Velazquez's pockets, she said.

"He's dead, bleeding through the ears," she said. "And then Margaret
found a gun on him."

The gun, Garcia said, was in Velazquez's rear waistband. After the
sisters wrapped the body in sheets, all three girls dragged it
outside, put it in the back of Velazquez's Chevrolet Camaro and drove
it to an alley behind the 5200 block of South Laflin Street, where
they dumped it. The body was set on fire..

The two sisters also are accused of stealing Velazquez's wallet, keys,
cell phone and gun.

Garcia said she refused to take some of the stolen money, which she
said amounted to $1,100. Though she initially said she knew nothing
about the incident, she gave a videotaped statement on June 18, 2000,
in which she never mentioned Velazquez's gun.

Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0407020275jul02,1,4687483.story?coll=chi-newslocalchicago-hed

[Anne Warfield]

From the Chicago Tribune--

Teen shot, kicked victim, ex-pal says
2 sisters on trial in trucker's death

By Hal Dardick
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 3, 2004

After shooting her sister's boyfriend, Margaret DeFrancisco kicked him
in the head "so he could die faster," DeFrancisco's one-time friend
testified Friday.

Jessica Benitez, 23, also said Margaret and her sister, Regina
DeFrancisco, stole $600 from 22-year-old trucker Oscar Velazquez,
after calling him to their house and killing him.

Her testimony came before two juries in the courtroom of Cook County
Judge James M. Scheier on the last day of the prosecution's case
against the DeFrancisco sisters, who are accused of killing Velazquez,
who was Regina DeFrancisco's boyfriend, on June 6, 2000. Prosecutors
say Velazquez was killed, dumped in an alley, doused with nail-polish
remover and set on fire.

Benitez said she found Margaret DeFrancisco mopping a blood-stained
floor with bleach at her home a day after the murder. Regina
DeFrancisco then talked about the kick, stolen money and call to
Velazquez, Benitez said.

Regina DeFrancisco, then 17, also told her they had spread plastic at
the bottom of the basement stairs where Velazquez was shot in the back
of the head and found a pistol in his waistband after killing him,
Benitez said.

A day later, Margaret DeFrancisco, then 16, and Benitez went to buy
blond hair dye so Margaret could change the color of her hair, Benitez
testified. She said Margaret DeFrancisco compared the blood that came
from Velazquez's wound to oozing cheese and showed no remorse.

On cross-examination by John DeLeon, Regina DeFrancisco's attorney,
Benitez said she had watched "America's Most Wanted" TV shows on the
case--before police interviewed her two years after the murder. She
also said the sisters never said they called him to the home with the
plan of killing and robbing him.

DeLeon and Ed Genson, the other sister's attorney, contend Margaret
DeFrancisco shot Velazquez in self-defense after he pointed a gun.
Prosecutors contend the sisters plotted the murder and robbery.

Luciana Macias, 21, who was close with Veronica Garcia, 19, who also
has been implicated in the case but has testified on behalf of the
prosecution, later testified that Margaret DeFrancisco admitted
killing Velazquez five days after the murder.

Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0407030191jul03,1,6508487.story?coll=chi-news-hed