Retiring Judge Mocks Teen Girl's Killer and the 'Idiotic Smirk on His Face'

By Joseph Hosey | Patch Editor

Erick Maya’s murder case was the last trial for retiring Will County Judge Robert Livas. And when Maya came up for sentencing Monday, the judge mocked him before sending him off to do 122 years in prison.

But 122 years wasn’t the sentence Judge Livas really wanted to hand down to the Cicero man who killed 15-year-old Romeoville High School student Briana Valle.

“True justice, real justice, would be putting him and Briana’s father in a room together, but I can’t say that,” said Livas. “I can’t even think that—it violates the oath I’ve sworn to.”

Maya, 24, met Briana on Facebook when she was 13. They carried on romantically until he shot her to death Feb. 13. He also shot Briana’s mother, Alicia Guerrero, in the neck. Guerrero survived and still carries the bullet lodged near her spine.

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Maya became enraged after Briana broke off their love affair. Briana’s family moved from Chicago’s Little Village to Romeoville to escape him. She began dating another high school student and had plans to go out with him on Valentine’s Day. Maya killed her the day before the big date.

Prior to handing down his sentence—and telling everyone how he would rather let Briana’s father fight Maya—Judge Livas let the convicted killer know how much he disgusted him.

“I had to look at that defendant walk in with that idiotic smirk on his face,” Livas said, recalling how he was forced to “hide (his) revulsion” from the jury.

“I’ve seen some cretinous things crawl into my courtroom,” the judge said, as he mocked Maya’s stature, lack of schooling and employment, as well as his apparent poverty.

“Five-four, 130 pounds, no education, no job, lived in the apartments of others, didn’t even own a cell phone, no car,” the judge said. “Could women his own age find him as pathetic as I do?”

Livas also had some words of advice for Briana’s family.

“What I need you to do is, live again,” Livas told them.

Maya took the opportunity to speak during the hearing. He explained that he was framed by the police and that someone else actually killed Briana.

“I am destined to spend my life in a cage for a crime I did not commit,” Maya said.

Maya told how he was actually the victim of a police conspiracy and that prosecutors worked to “railroad” him.

“I was not the shooter and they were going to any lengths to frame me,” said Maya. “They just wanted a conviction so they could move on to the next innocent victim.”

Maya’s cousin, Karen Carrera, said the Cicero police harassed Maya’s mother. Maya said the police threatened to put immigration on his mother so she would be sent back to Mexico.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had wanted to send Maya back to Mexico after he was charged in October 2011 with beating a different 15-year-old girlfriend. He allegedly used a beer bottle and a metal pipe in the attack.

ICE placed an immigration detainer on Maya, according to an agency spokesman, but the Berwyn police released him without notifying them.

Maya ended up getting sentenced to 60 days in the Cook County jail and 30 months probation. He missed a court date for a probation status check exactly one week before he murdered Briana.

On the day Maya failed to appear, Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Kristin Piper asked Judge Gregory Ginex to issue a warrant for his arrest but the judge refused, according to a court transcript. Ginex pointed out the “weather has been very bad” and scheduled another date.

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