Man gets 75 years in prison for Aurora murder, where victim was mistaken as gang target
An Aurora man essentially was given a life sentence Thursday for murdering a man who was mistaken for a gang member in January 2021.
Kane County Judge John Barsanti sentenced 25-year-old Daniel Aguirre to 75 years in prison for first-degree murder - 50 on the murder charge, plus a mandatory extra 25 years because a gun was used.
Aguirre will have to serve all of the sentence before being eligible for parole.
On Jan. 15, 2021, Fernando Carapia, 32, was working on his car outside his home in the 300 block of Spencer Street. Aguirre got out of a vehicle, ran through a yard and shot Carapia.
Authorities say Carapia did not belong to a gang and was not the intended target.
"Nobody had a beef with him," Barsanti said at the sentencing hearing on Thursday.
Barsanti said that, despite Aguirre saying during his hearing that he was "sad and sorrowful" about killing Carapia and intended to turn his life around, that didn't jibe with what Aguirre did between the crime and when he was arrested nearly a year later. He violated probation and conditional discharge on several other cases and got arrested on a drug charge, Barsanti noted.
"He did not change his life at all," Barsanti said.
Aguirre could have been sentenced to as little as 20 or as much as 60 on the murder charge. Barsanti said aggravating factors he considered included Aguirre's criminal history as a juvenile and adult and that Aguirre was in a gang.
The man who drove the vehicle, Ivan Valles, was charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. He pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.