Ex-Heights Man Accused of Manslaughter Cries On Witness Stand

CHICAGO HEIGHTS, IL — A former Chicago Heights man charged in the shooting death of his live-in girlfriend in 2012, testified in his own defense Wednesday. George Kleopa, 40, now residing in Oak Forest, is facing a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter, reduced from first-degree murder. If convicted, Kleopa faces a sentence of 3 to 14 years.

Kleopa, who is currently free on $2 million bail, is accused of shooting his 30-year-old girlfriend Michele Peters in the Chicago Heights home they shared with their two young sons the night of March 6, 2012. Kleopa claimed that the Springfield XE .40 caliber handgun discharged when Peters handed it to him.

Under questioning by his attorney David Sotomayer, Kleopa described how he came home after a 12-hour shift at the Tinley Park Convention Center, where he was a banquet manager. Kleopa said he was laying on the couch watching television after the children had been put to bed around 9 p.m. While Peters was upstairs putting their youngest son to bed, Kleopa asked her to bring his gun down from upstairs, so he could clean it.

>>> Trial Begins For Man Accused Of Shooting Girlfriend in 2012

“I was in negotiations to sell the gun legally and wanted to wipe it down,” Kleopa told the jury.

In an often tearful testimony, Kleopa told the court the gun was Peters’ gun, because they lived in a “rough neighborhood.”

“I see her coming down the stairs as I was laying on the couch, I sat up,” Kleopa testified. “As Michele approached, she put the (gun) magazine on the coffee table and the firearm went off.

Pushing the coffee table away, Kleopa said he called 911 and begged police and paramedics to come to their house. He opened the front and back doors for the paramedics.

“I went back to Michele,” Kleopa sobbed. “I gave her CPR but blood was coming out of her mouth.”

For the next 20 minutes, Kleopa said he prayed as paramedics worked on Michele. He was taken into the kitchen by Officer Alfredo Salinas, who took swabs and a photograph of a blood-drenched Kleopa.

When Kleopa returned to the living room, Peters’ body was still on the floor.

“All the cops were staring at me,” he said.

Police allowed Kleopa to change out of his bloody nightclothes before taking him to the Chicago Heights police station. Kleopa was left on his own sitting on a bench. Approximately an hour later, Salinas took Kleopa into an interview room, where he denied making statements to police that the gun was passed side to side and his finger pulled the trigger.

Kleopa surmised that he thought the gun was unloaded because Peters put the magazine on the coffee table before it discharged in his hand. He spent the next two days in the Chicago Heights police lock-up. Four months later, Kleopa was arrested on his thirty-third birthday.

Under cross-examination, Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Nick D’Angelo asked Kleopa about another gun found in the house, a Mossberg shotgun, as well as a bulletproof vest.

“You asked Michele to bring down the gun,” D’Angelo asked.

“I said bring down my handgun.”

“You told police and your attorney that you said ‘bring down my gun,’” D’Angelo asked.

D’Angelo also challenged Kleopa's statements to police about passing the gun from side to side in his hand with his finger on the trigger.

“When the shooting occurred you didn’t have your finger on the trigger,” D’Angelo asked.

“Correct,” Kleopa said.

“You were holding the gun when it discharged?”

“Yes.”

Jurors also heard from John Larsen, a former FBI agent and shooting reconstruction expert testifying for the defense. Larsen said he conducted experiments using Styrofoam heads and imagery from the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office and based on police reports. Larsen said he concluded that Peters was shot at a 45-degree angle from 4-feet-9-inches away.

Measuring off the length using Larsen’s tape measurer, D’Angelo asked Larsen to hand him his pen.

“I can’t.”

Family members have contended that Peters was planning on leaving Kleopa and moving to Hometown, where she was raised. Closing arguments will take place on Thursday and then to the jury for deliberation.