Erin Zilka Hearing: Convicted Inmate Rodrigo Marin Testifies

Joliet IL

14 July, 2021

9:49 PM

Description

JOLIET, IL — As Joliet police officer Erin Zilka sat in the front of Will County Courtroom 405, Rodrigo Ortega Marin underwent a barrage of questions from Zilka's lawyer Jeff Tomczak at Wednesday afternoon's pretrial hearing. Tomczak blames Marin —the recently sentenced Plainfield man — for causing the deadly Jan. 19, 2020 crash along Interstate 55 near Joliet that killed Zilka's passenger, off-duty Berwyn police officer Charles Schauer. Yet following an 11-month investigation by the Illinois State Police into the deadly crash, special prosecutor Bill Elward charged Zilka last December with two counts of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol and one count of aggravated driving under the influence of a combination of alcohol and drugs. "Our theory of the case has always been that Rodrigo Marin's initial accident was truly the cause of Mr. Schauer's death in this case, so we think it's crucially important that the judge in this matter hear the testimony of Mr. Marin," Tomczak told Joliet Patch's editor following Wednesday's hearing at the Will County Courthouse. "We have large concerns that he might not be in the country or available at the time that this case might go to trial, so we did a very rare procedure in criminal court law, which is called an evidence deposition," Tomczak added. Over the objections of Marin's criminal defense lawyer from Chicago, Will County Circuit Judge Dave Carlson allowed Zilka's criminal defense lawyer to depose Marin, who does not speak English and is not a U.S. citizen. Will County Sheriff's deputies led the now 44-year-old Marin into Courtroom 405. Marin wore a tan jail jumpsuit that read "POD WORKER." The Plainfield man was kept in handcuffs and leg shackles the entire afternoon during his pretrial deposition for Zilka's criminal case. Rodrigo Marin of Plainfield was sentenced in March to four years prison for causing a crash that happened just before a fatal collision involving two off-duty police officers. Mugshot via Will County Jail A woman named Maria served as the courtroom interpreter. Before Tomczak's line of questioning began, the special prosecutor trying to convict Zilka presented the courtroom with an immunity agreement. That way, any testimony from Marin that was self-incriminating would not be subject to additional prosecution in connection with the death of Zilka's passenger. Zilka has remained free while awaiting her trial. Tomczak has insisted that Zilka's blood-alcohol concentration after the fatal crash was below the Illinois legal limit of 0.08. Back in March, Marin pleaded guilty to aggravated driving under the influence for his role in the events of Jan. 19, 2020. Several other charges were dismissed under his plea bargain with the Office of Will County State's Attorney Jim Glasgow. Marin got sentenced to four years at the Illinois Department of Corrections, and he may be subject to deportation after serving his sentence, according to the Will County judge. Back in March, Patch reported it was Marin's fourth DUI conviction. Wednesday's Testimony Around 6 a.m. on Jan. 19, 2020, Marin testified, he was driving home in his wife's Nissan Titan pickup truck from his friend's house along Central Street in Chicago. Marin had been at his friend's place for several hours that Saturday night, consuming several Modelo beers. Marin testified he consumed the beers from 9 p.m. to midnight. "I didn't consume anything after 12 at night," Marin testified. According to testimony, Marin got on the road and headed for Plainfield around 5 a.m. As Marin drove southbound along I-55, he crashed into a Hino box truck on the side of the interstate. After striking the box truck, Marin brought his Nissan Titan to a stop. He got out of his truck and decided to walk to his house in Plainfield in the 2500 block of La Brecque Drive. Marin estimated the walk to his home would have taken him one to two hours. Tomczak asked Marin why he chose to run away from the crash scene along I-55, leaving his damaged truck behind. "I don't know," Marin testified. "Is it a fact or not that you exited the Nissan Titan at the Route 30 exit and began to walk away," Tomczak inquired. "Yes," Marin agreed. Marin remembered it was a cold January morning. There was snow on the ground as Marin wore a winter coat. "Why did you walk away?" Tomczak asked. "I don't know," Marin answered. "Because I was afraid. I had a lot of fear." "Our theory of the case has always been that Rodrigo Marin's initial accident was truly the cause of Mr. Schauer's death in this case," Erin Zilka's lawyer Jeff Tomczak told Joliet Patch. Image via John Ferak/Patch In Carlson's courtroom, Tomczak reminded Marin he had a duty to check on the Hino box truck to make sure the driver was not injured, and that Marin had a duty to notify the police of his I-55 crash. In both instances, Marin did nothing, Tomczak reminded him. "Did you take any measures to see if anyone was hurt?" Zilka's lawyer asked. "Like I said, I was just real scared," Marin responded. "I don't know what happened. I was going home. I didn't look back." As Marin began to walk home shortly after 6 a.m., he heard a crash about five minutes later. That was Zilka's 2019 Dodge Durango slamming into the Hino box truck blocking the southbound lanes along I-55, just north of the Route 30 exit for Joliet and Plainfield. Zilka's crash killed her passenger. "Tell us what happened?" Tomczak asked. "I just heard a hit," Marin testified. "It was after I left the car that I heard it. About five minutes ... I was walking." "Prior to getting out of the Titan, do you remember seeing a white box truck?" Tomczak asked. "I saw it," Marin answered. Tomczak pressed Marin to answer why he was so full of fear, so afraid, after being involved in his initial collision along I-55? "True or false, you left ... because you were driving while intoxicated, and you were involved in an accident with that white truck?" Tomczak asked. "I was not intoxicated at that moment," Marin testified. Marin eventually testified he had at least two prior DUI convictions, both out of Skokie. Finally, observers in Courtroom 405 heard that Marin was full of fear because he knew he was driving without a license. "That was my fear," he testified. "Does it have anything to do with any prior DUIs?" Tomczak asked. "Yes," Marin agreed. "Was your license revoked?" Zilka's attorney followed up. "Yes," Marin replied. "Why?" Tomczak inquired. "For driving," he answered. By late afternoon, Tomczak informed the courtroom that a Mexican identification card was recovered from Marin after the deadly chain-reaction crash. Reluctantly, Marin was compelled to testify Wednesday that he currently has family living in a certain town in Mexico. "I don't know why you want to know about my family in Mexico," Marin told Tomczak. "It's a little town." Wednesday's 1:30 p.m. hearing ended at 4:15 p.m. The next pretrial hearing for both Marin and Zilka was set for late August. Outside the courthouse, Tomczak said the deposition from Marin was favorable to his client's defense. "And I think also that he somewhat admitted the first accident, and the fact that he ran away from the scene without caring about anybody or anyone involved," Tomczak said. "I think those are important considerations that the jury will take into consideration whether my client is responsible for what happened," Tomczak continued. "And I want everyone to remember, my client was clearly under the legal limit at the time that this accident occurred. There's no evidence otherwise, so I think this testimony of an actual drunken driver causing an accident is crucially important." In recent months, Zilka has returned to work at the Joliet Police Department, performing desk duty assignments at the police substation on Caton Farm Road in Kendall County, according to Joliet City Manager Jim Capparelli. Capparelli is a Joliet lawyer who worked in private practice until being made city manager in January. He watched more than one hour of Wednesday's courtroom proceedings. A special prosecutor presented Rodrigo Marin with this use immunity agreement for criminal defendant Erin Zilka's pretrial hearing. Image via John Ferak/Patch