Judge to issue verdict Thursday in Mundelein kidnapping, sexual assault trial

Closing arguments on Friday concluded the trial of Jose Reyes for the alleged kidnapping and sexual assault of a 3-year-old Mundelein girl, but the presiding judge said he will rule on the case Thursday.

Following emotional arguments from both prosecutors and defense attorneys, Judge Mark Levitt said he would take time to review the large amount of evidence in the case before issuing a verdict.

Just before the trial started Oct. 18, Reyes, 31, of Chicago, opted for a bench trial in front of Levitt instead of a jury trial.

On Friday afternoon, Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Eric Kalata and Assistant State’s Attorney Fred Day said evidence in the case was “voluminous and overwhelming,” while defense attorney Eric Rinehart said all of the main points of evidence from the state were flawed at some point during the police investigation and prosecution.

Kalata said Jose Reyes “is a sexual predator so brazen that he just snatched her up as if she were an item at the grocery store” while her two sisters looked on, “stunned.”

“He picked her up, tossed her over his shoulder and put her in the car,” Kalata said.

Reyes is charged with aggravated kidnapping, predatory criminal sexual assault, and possession and production of child pornography for the alleged Sept. 30, 2013, kidnapping and sexual assault of the girl, who prosecutors said was taken from in front of the Mundelein apartment complex where her family lived. She was returned to the parking lot of the complex less than an hour later.

Kalata said that while DNA taken from the girl’s shorts matched Reyes’ DNA, and eyewitnesses identified Reyes, it was the defendant himself who provided the strongest evidence by allegedly recording the assault on his cellphone.

“He taped it. The defendant wanted a trophy to relive the experience, her cries of pain,” Kalata said.

Rinehart attacked all aspects of the case against Reyes, including contending that the search and seizure of his cellphone was illegal. In a pretrial motion, the defense argued a motion to suppress the cellphone video, claiming that it was illegally searched by the Lake County state’s attorney’s office, but the motion was denied. Prosecutors said police obtained a search warrant for Reyes’ car and phone prior to entering the car at his former workplace in Libertyville and finding the phone.

Rinehart nevertheless told the judge that he does not believe the recording should be considered as evidence.

He also claimed that the graphic definition of predatory criminal sexual assault was not met by the depiction on the video and that because the state did not include other potential charges that would have been more easily proved by the video, that charge should be dismissed.

Day disagreed with the assessment that the video didn’t depict enough evidence to reach the definition of the charge.

Rinehart also called eyewitness accounts “shaky,” from the testimony of the girl’s sister who was only 9 at the time of the alleged abduction, to the testimony of a mechanic who identified Reyes’ car in a picture but had previously said in a written statement that the car he saw driven by the suspect dropping off the girl after the alleged assault was a Nissan Sentra. Reyes’ car is a Hyundai Accent.

Rinehart acknowledged that the Reyes trial is a “big, big case” and very emotional, and he asked the judge to review the evidence analytically, not emotionally, saying that the laws that protect everyone must be upheld, even if they involve “technicalities.”

“Principles only matter when it’s hard (to apply them),” he said.

The cellphone video was shown Oct. 21 in court, and the apparent assault was seen in brief glimpses before the phone was apparently placed down and the screen went black, but audio continued, and music inside the car and cries from the girl could be heard.

The video, as well as still pictures taken from it, were admitted into evidence.

Also testifying earlier in the trial was Dr. Patrick Dolan, a pediatric emergency room director and sexual assault forensic examiner who examined the girl at Advocate Condell Medical Center on the evening of the alleged assault.

Dolan said he had since viewed the video, and he concluded that the trauma observed on the girl was consistent with actions he saw on the video.

Defense attorney Katharine Hatch argued that Dolan should not be considered an expert witness on the case after viewing the video one time years after the exam and that the injuries mentioned by the doctor could have had numerous other causes.

Reyes faces a sentencing range of 24 to 120 years in prison if convicted.