Killer's Gal Wanted to Talk But Lawyer Threatened to Walk: New Filing

Ricardo Gutierrez was convicted of gunning down a man who supposedly threatened his girlfriend and her baby.

Court papers field this week claim that same girlfriend wanted to testify at Gutierrez's trial but her lawyer threatened to walk out on her if she did.

Gutierrez's attorney, Jeff Tomczak, presented the allegation to Will County Judge Carla Alessio Policandriotes during a Friday morning hearing. Gutierrez was scheduled to be sentenced to prison Friday but that was pushed back by Tomczak's motion.

Gutierrez, 24, was found guilty in March of murdering Javier Barrios in October 2007. Barrios was 18 when he was killed.

Gutierrez's girlfriend, 24-year-old Gabriela Escutia, was arrested and charged with Barrios' murder along with him. She remains in the county jail awaiting her trial.

Escutia actually shot Barrios first, Plainfield police said. She allegedly set up a rendezvous with Barrios in a field on Route 59 near a Meijer service station. Gutierrez reportedly joined her for the meeting.

Barrios, a Romeoville resident, ran away after Escutia shot him, police said. Gutierrez chased after him and shot him in the back, then shot him again while he was lying face-down on the ground, prosecutors said.

Tomczak's filing said he learned that Escutia told her mother at some point in the last week "that but for her attorneys threatening to withdraw from her case, she would have testified as requested by the defendant."

The filing mentions the conversation may have been recorded "as a consequence of (Escutia) being incarcerated in Will County jail."

Tomczak said he will subpoena the recording of the telephone conversation between Escutia and her mother. The attorney representing Escutia, Neil Patel, told Judge Alessio-Policandriotes he wants her taken from jail to court when the matter is further argued next month.

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