Convicted murderer fights former lawyers

YORKVILLE -- The attorneys who lost the 2003 murder trial of a Joliet man charged with strangling his next-door neighbor and torching her duplex claimed they left it up to their client to waive his right to a jury and denied keeping him from taking the witness stand.

Law partners Tom Breen and Todd Pugh, of Chicago, both said 36-year-old Vincent Trevizo was the one who wanted a judge to decide his fate. The two lawyers also said Trevizo was in no hurry to testify at his own trial.

Trevizo is serving 40 years for murder, concealing a homicide and aggravated arson in connection with the September 2000 slaying of Edward Hospital nurse Melissa Plut. Trevizo was back in court this week on a post conviction petition, which is likely his last chance at getting another trial.

Plut's body was found by firefighters responding to a blaze at her Kendall Ridge townhouse. She was slumped just inside the door of her burning bedroom. A plastic gasoline container had melted on her bed, and investigators determined Plut had been strangled and the house set on fire.

Plut had attended a wedding in Tinley Park the night before she was found dead. On the way home, she stopped off at a party thrown by Trevizo and his family, who were celebrating his son's first birthday.

Trevizo and a cousin were drinking in his driveway when Plut stopped by. She left the two men and returned to her home next door, where she was slain some time later. The Trevizos and Plut lived in townhomes with a common wall. The arson conviction means he essentially set fire to the same structure in which his family was sleeping.

In his petition, Trevizo is arguing that he was denied the right to testify at his 2003 trial, that he was denied the right to a jury trial, that he was not informed of his right to have a judge removed for cause and that his attorneys were ineffective.

Both Breen and Pugh said they had no issues with the judge at Trevizo's bench trial and do not recall their client raising any concerns.

On Monday, Trevizo, his parents, an uncle and his wife testified to having conversations with the two lawyers that led them to believe the attorneys decided to waive Trevizo's right to a jury trial and to stop him from testifying.

Trevizo also said he was troubled that the judge at his trial, Leonard Wojtecki, had conversations about the case before he was assigned to it, and supposedly had a friendly relationship with Assistant State's Attorney Jean Fletcher, with one watching the other's cats at some point.

On Monday, Trevizo's father, David Trevizo, said he hoped to tell the court that the Joliet police had shown him a photograph of a car that he remembered seeing in the subdivision where he and his wife, Vincent Trevizo and his family, and Plut all lived.

David Trevizo said he spotted the car twice in the early morning hours in the week prior to Plut's murder. David Trevizo went on to say he learned the car was driven by Plut's boyfriend, Michael Hir. Hir was initially investigated by police as a suspect in Plut's slaying. Court papers allege that Hir, whose brother was a Joliet police officer at the time of the murder, failed a lie detector test in which he was asked about his knowledge or involvement in Plut's death.

The responses in which Hir attempted deceit, according to court papers, were when he answered no to the questions: "Did you plan with anyone to cause the death of (the victim)" and "Did you yourself cause the death of (the victim" and "Were you present at the time of (the victim's) death?"

The results of the lie detector test were not admitted at Trevizo's trial. David Trevizo said the Joliet police later denied showing him the photograph of the car.

David Trevizo's testimony went unheard because his son's lawyers never called him to the stand. Breen said the information about the car was not relevant due to Hir's police officer brother living in the same subdivision as the Trevizos and Plut.

The police dropped Hir as a suspect when he produced a time-stamped receipt from a Target store about six miles from the crime scene. A store surveillance camera reportedly put Hir in the Target from 8:01 a.m. to 8:09 a.m., which, according to the police, somehow cleared him from killing Plut or setting the fire in her townhouse that was discovered at 8:10 a.m.

Trevizo will return to court on Feb. 2, at which time his attorney, Public Defender Victoria Chuffo, and State's Attorney Eric Weis will argue the case. Judge Clint Hull plans to hand down his ruling the same day.