With few details of the fatal shooting of Chicago police Officer Andrés Vásquez Lasso in dispute, attorneys on both sides of the case sought to probe into the mind of his accused killer during their closing arguments in the case Monday.
Steven Montano, 21, is charged with murder in the 32-year-old officer’s death, but in a win for the defense, Cook County Judge John Lyke Jr. found that the jury could have the option of rendering the less serious verdict of second-degree murder, over the objection of the prosecution. Lyke said the law leaves the decision up to the jury as to whether they find Montano’s testimony credible in support of a lesser offense.
The panel began deliberating in the case just after 3 p.m.
With the ruling on a lesser included offense, the closing arguments became centered on a “battle … between first degree murder and second degree murder,” prosecutors said, while both sides made arguments to the jury about Montano’s state of mind when he shot Vásquez Lasso.
On one side, prosecutors said Montano fired shots at Vásquez Lasso to avoid an arrest. On the other side, his public defenders said he shot the officer in a moment of stress and panic when he saw a gun, not realizing Vásquez Lasso was a police officer.
“Second degree is the … last lifeboat on the Titanic,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Kevin Nolan. “(Montano) is trying to jam the square peg of second degree murder into the round hole of these facts.”
But Assistant Public Defender Brett Balmer described Montano as an 18-year-old who was in a controlling and dysfunctional relationship with a 37-year-old woman who lied when she called 911 that day, bringing officers to the scene. She said he grew up in the Little Village neighborhood in an environment where he had multiple negative encounters with police officers.
“We know what happened. We unfortunately saw it happen,” Balmer said. “The question for you is … why did this happen.”
The attorneys closed their case after jurors for a week heard from more than a dozen witnesses and viewed body camera footage of the shooting that killed Vásquez Lasso on March 1, 2023.
Family members, police officers and prosecutors, including State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke, packed the courtroom at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. Chicago police Superintendent Larry Snelling came to court prior to the proceedings.
Prosecutors said Montano shot and killed the officer in the 5200 block of South Spaulding Avenue after he responded to a 911 call phoned in by Montano’s girlfriend. Vásquez Lasso and his colleagues responded to the area after the girlfriend reported that Montano threatened to get his gun during an argument, according to prosecutors. Officers chased Montano after they saw him leave the residence through a window.
During a final confrontation near Sawyer Elementary School, prosecutors said, Montano fatally shot Vásquez Lasso, who also fired at Montano and injured him.
On Friday, Montano took the stand in his own defense and told the jury he fired at Vásquez Lasso in self defense. After the first two officers who pursued him dropped off, Montano said, he did not know who was chasing him, and only saw a gun pointed at him.
“I was terrified,” Montano said. “I was in fear of my life.”
But during closing arguments, prosecutors laid out on a table all of the gear and clothing Vásquez Lasso wore that day, including his vest that said “Police,” his duty belt and handcuffs.
“This is what Andres Vásquez Lasso was wearing,” Assistant State’s Attorney Sara Grgurovic said. “It’s hard to miss.”
But, Grgurovic told jurors, even if they believe that Montano did not know Vásquez Lasso was a police officer, she said he was not justified in shooting at someone who had told him “stop.”
“Its not reasonable,” she said. “You don’t get to shoot someone for any of that.”
Balmer, though, said that Montano initially lost the first two officers who pursued him and did not know Vásquez Lasso was chasing him.
“Steven was terrified, panicked, an 18-year-old kid who was running for his life,” she said. “He did something unimaginable, something that shouldn’t have happened.”
Earlier in the week, emotional police officers took the stand and described rushing Vásquez Lasso to the hospital in a squad car.
“Officer down!” a officer yelled, according to footage viewed by the jury. “Officer down!”
After the shooting, Montano pleaded to the responding officers, according to footage: “Kill me. Kill me.”
Instead, though, Vásquez Lasso’s partner that day, Officer Miguel Enciso, used his Taser to subdue Montano.
Montano asked why Enciso didn’t kill him, the officer testified.
Enciso testified that he ordered Montano to “shut the f––– up.”
Montano responded, according to Enciso: “You shut the f––– up b––––. That’s why I killed your b–––– a–– boy.”
