Judge: Joliet Rapist Had ICE Deportation Order
The confessed rapist should have been deported in 2012, Judge Dave Carlson declared Friday.
By John Ferak, Patch Staff | | Updated
JOLIET, IL - In a dramatic turn of events in Will County Courtroom 405, Judge Dave Carlson abruptly announced on Friday afternoon he was not ready to sentence a Joliet man who gave the police a detailed confession to committing multiple rapes along the I&M Canal trail near Route 6. The judge was just minutes away from issuing the sentence for Joliet resident Miguel Luna when he announced that he was not really sure who the confessed rapist was. Carlson, sounding perturbed, called for a five-minute courtroom recess. When he returned to the bench, the judge announced that the sentencing was being postponed until 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 20.
Raising his voice at times, Carlson told his fourth-floor courtroom that the pre-sentence investigation for Luna indicated that the defendant should have been deported from the United States on March 1, 2012. Carlson also read into the courtroom record the ICE fugitive number for the man believed to be Luna, who is now 37.
The rapes committed by the defendant occurred in 2015 and 2016.
In preparation for sentencing, the probation department uncovered at least three known aliases that the confessed rapist has commonly used over the years, the judge revealed.
Luna has also been going by the names of Francisco Deluna,Pedro Flores and Enrique Zanchez, Carlson announced. The judge made this revelation just moments after the attorneys for the prosecution and the defendant were debating in court whether the defendant's name of Miguel C. Luna was really perhaps Miguel Luna Castaneda.
On Friday, the prosecution and the defense lawyer were trying to sort out whether Castaneda was his real last name and whether Luna might be his middle name. No one in the courtroom seemed to know.
"We are going to find out who this person is who pled guilty to these offenses," Carlson told everyone. "I just want to find out who the gentleman is sitting to your right," he told defense attorney Marzell Richardson of the Mitchell Law Group. The defendant was seated in the courtroom Friday afternoon wearing a red Will County jail jumpsuit, flanked by his lawyer and a Spanish speaking interpreter.
Between 2 and 3 p.m., Will County prosecutors played several excerpts from a long videotape interview where Luna gave a detailed confession to one of his rapes on the I&M Canal trail. The crime occurred near Route 6 and Brandon Road, just outside Joliet.
When Luna attacked his first victim on Sept. 6, 2015, he jumped off a bike, tackled the woman from behind, dragged her into the woods and tied her up.
The videotape showed Luna talking in English with the Illinois State Police about how he was constantly being tempted by the forces of evil. He told the police that he knew from reading the Bible that his actions were sinful and displeasing to God.
He told the investigators how he rode his bicycle to the I&M trail, and that when he came upon a hill, he saw an attractive young woman in "sexy short shorts" out for a jog.
"I don't want to defend myself," Luna told the two veteran investigators, a man and a woman who were questioning him back in 2016. "I just want to make justice in this case. But, yeah, she was running down the hill. I was just pedaling my bike, and once I saw (sic) I stopped. I let things came into my mind.
"I saw her, and she was wearing those sexy shorts; you understand?" Luna asked the male detective.
Luna told the investigators that the demons and demonic forces were tempting him and tempting him.
He started racing on his bicycle, faster and faster, toward the young woman. She was a college student and a stranger.
"I jumped off (the) bike and tackled her," Luna told the detectives. "I told her to shut up ... I punched her. I told her to shut up, and she was trying to scream. I punch (sic) her one time in face, and she stopped."
Terrified, the woman being attacked kept asking Luna whether he intended to kill her. He was wearing dark sunglasses to conceal his identity.
"I told her, I'm not going to kill you, but I have a knife, and if you do something wrong ... I wanted to scare her."
He told the State Police that the sexual assault lasted about an hour, and took place in a wooded area near the trail.
"When I started doing the bad things to her, I started to feel the pain" in my arm, he told the police.
When the police asked him why the rape lasted an hour, Luna explained that "since I got to this country, they didn't let me do as much as I wanted," referring to the women he had met and pursued romantically.
As for the young woman he raped along the canal trail, "I was not trying to hurt her," he told the police.
"You just wanted to have sex with her?" one of the investigators asked.
"Yeah," Luna agreed.
Luna told the police that he hid his still-tied-up victim's clothes over near a tree about 10 to 15 feet away from the attack. He wanted to give himself more time to make a safe getaway. After riding his bicycle back toward Route 6 and Brandon Road, he told the police he then saw another young woman out jogging alone.
"I saw another girl, she was heading to Route 6. She was hotter ... I say, 'I don't have to do this.' A lot of things went through my mind."
After he finished with his confession, the female investigator from the Illinois State Police calmly asked him, "Is there anything else you want to tell us, Miguel?"
He paused for at least 15 seconds.
Then he said, "I want to say that I deserve the time that you guys, that you're going to put me in jail ... I know I've done many wrong things ... I'm going to ask God for forgiveness. I hope he forgives me after what I did to this girl."
Luna faces between 32 and 80 years in prison, when he is sentenced on Monday afternoon.
Back in May, Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow issued a press release announcing that Luna had pleaded guilty to the violent rapes in the Joliet area. "Miguel Luna is in this country illegally. This ruthlessly violent sexual predator should never have had the opportunity to brutally prey upon these innocent young women," Glasgow declared.
Prosecutors say that Luna committed a total of three rapes, but under his plea agreement in May, the charges in his third rape case were dropped. The victim of that crime had recently died, officials said.
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From the Chicago Tribune
Will County judge delays sentencing amid questions about confessed serial rapist's identity
Ted SlowikContact ReporterDaily Southtown
A Will County judge on Friday delayed sentencing for a confessed serial rapist amid last-minute questions about the undocumented immigrant’s identity.
Judge David Carlson directed prosecutors to consult with the Will County Probation Department to determine alleged aliases for defendant Miguel C. Luna, 37, of Joliet.
“I want to know who that person is,” Carlson told prosecutors. “Find out how they ascertained who that person is and who pled guilty to these offenses.”
Luna pleaded guilty in May to multiple counts of felony criminal sexual assaults of women on or near the I&M Canal State Trail. In videotaped interviews with investigators played in court, Luna confessed to raping three women in 2015 and 2016 near Rockdale and Channahon.
One of the women has since died. The other two read victim-impact statements in court on July 31 when the sentencing hearing began. Luna faces 32 to 80 years in prison for 12 counts related to the violent sexual assaults of the two surviving women.
Carlson directed prosecutors to clear up questions about Luna’s identity before the sentencing hearing resumes on Monday.
“On Monday afternoon we’ll finish this up, or maybe we won’t,” Carlson said.
Carlson was set to hear arguments prior to handing down the sentence Friday when Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Fillipitch and defense attorney Marzell Richardson told the judge a pre-sentence investigation report revealed discrepancies about Luna’s identity.
Luna’s middle initial stands for Castaneda, which is his actual last name, Richardson said in court.
Carlson then read from the pre-sentence investigative report and said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement assigned Luna a fugitive deportation number on March 1, 2012.
“He should have been deported in 2012, according to the PSI,” Carlson said. “Now there are questions about who he is.”
Will County court records show 36 different charges between 2001 and 2015 related to a Miguel Luna listed with dates of birth as May 5, 1981 or May 6, 1981. All the charges were for nonviolent, driving-related offenses.
Carlson said the PSI report showed Luna allegedly also may have used the aliases Francisco J. Deluna, Pedro Flores and Enrico Zanchez.
The judge said he could resolve the discrepancies by amending court documents with the “also known as” aliases allegedly used by Luna, but he wanted someone from the probation department to explain the report’s findings to the court.
Prosecutors have cited Luna’s immigration status in statements about the case.
“Miguel Luna is in this country illegally,” State’s Attorney Jim Glasgow said in a statement when Luna pleaded guilty in May. “This ruthlessly violent sexual predator should never have had the opportunity to brutally prey upon these innocent young women.”
On Friday, prosecutors concluded presenting evidence in the sentencing hearing. They played in court about 20 additional minutes of a videotaped confession Luna gave to investigators in May 2016. On July 31, about 90 minutes of the confession was played in court.
The tape showed Luna telling investigators he was worried about how God would judge him for his actions.
“I know I’ve done wrong things,” Luna said in the interview. “I don’t care what happens to me in this world. I don’t want to go to hell. I’m going to ask God for forgiveness.”
Richardson presented Carlson with two letters on behalf of Luna’s defense. A former coworker of Luna’s wrote one of the letters and the pastor of a church Luna attended wrote the other, Richardson said.
On July 31, Richardson presented Carlson with other evidence that indicated mitigating factors for consideration of leniency in sentencing.
The documents submitted are impounded, according to court records. But Richardson said in court on July 31 that Luna was sexually abused as a boy and also witnessed the rapes of his mother and two young sisters.
Luna is being held at the Will County Adult Detention Facility and has appeared in court wearing a red jail jumpsuit indicating he is being kept in the jail’s medical unit.
“Is there anything about your current condition that would cause you to not understand what is going on here today?” Carlson asked Luna at the start of Friday’s hearing.
“No,” Luna responded, through a Spanish language interpreter.
The 12 counts listed in the court file include multiple counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault with a weapon, causing bodily harm and using force. He also was charged with one count of unlawful restraint.
In testimony, the three women said their hands and feet were bound with articles of clothing during the sexual assaults and that they were punched and beaten during the attacks.
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