Drama follows trial at criminal courthouse

            Armando Serrano Jr. knew something was different when three tall security guards blocked access to the courtroom viewing area, he said. He had been to many of his father’s hearings at the criminal courthouse at 26th Street and California Avenue but he had never seen security guards bar access to the crowded courtroom, as they did Oct. 17.

            Serrano's father, Armando Serrano Sr., and his codefendant Jose Montanez, were convicted in the 1993 murder of a Humboldt Park man. Since their arrest 20 years ago, both men have claimed they are innocent and have attempted to overturn their conviction many times.

            As Judge Maura Slattery Boyle of the Cook County Criminal Court announced her decision to dismiss, Serrano Sr. and Jose Montanez’s request for a retrial, the families of both men began to choke-up and cry.

            The three security guards began to usher out the sobbing families when Armando Serrano Sr., who was prohibited from testifying at his trial, began to shout at the judge.

            “I didn’t kill that man,” he said. He continued to yell even after the judge quickly turned off the speakers in the viewing area. Audience members still heard him through the glass windows telling the judge she had perverted the criminal justice system.

            Armando Serrano Jr. and his brother Joel watched red faced and teary eyed as their father was removed from court; his ankle prison chains clanged and dragged across the court’s carpet.

            Outside the courtroom, defense attorneys of both men attempted to comfort the crying families. Defense attorney Russell Ainsworth and Jennifer Bonjean lamented the judge’s decision and told the disappointed families that they would appeal it.

            They cautioned the families that the appeal process could take up to a year or more but they would not give up proving both men’s innocence. Both families vowed not to give up either.