Jury Finds Man Guilty Of Murder In Niles North Student's Shooting

SKOKIE, IL — A jury found Dzevad Avdic guilty of the first-degree murder of Max Gadau and the attempted murder of his companion. Both were 17-year-old students of Niles North High School when they were shot on Sept. 28, 2014 during a marijuana robbery in the 9200 block of Kedvale. Avdic admitted arranging the deal but insisted he had never intended it to involve the use of force. The Cook County jury found that Avdic was legally responsible for the killing because it took place during a violent crime in which he had participated, even though he did not pull the trigger or intend for anyone to die.

Avdic, 23, mouthed something to himself silently before the seven women and five men of the jury returned with a decision after about six hours of deliberation. Gadau's friends and family quietly sobbed as the verdict was announced – guilty of first-degree murder and guilty of attempted first-degree murder.

Speaking after the verdict, the parents of the murdered teenager expressed relief. Patricia and Peter Gadau have been coming to court every month for the past three years as the cases of those accused of killing their son have progressed through Cook County court.

"If it had gone the other way, I think our hearts would have been more broken than they already are. There are no winners in this," Patricia said. "I'm just thankful Dzevad will not be out there to do this to another child." She said justice was served in the case.

Throughout last week, the jury heard from prosecution witnesses, including three confessed co-conspirators, cops and the surviving victim. Defense attorneys called Avdic, their only witness, to the stand Monday.

Avdic, who donned makeup throughout the trial to conceal a teardrop face tattoo, testified that the shooting was the result of "bad luck." He said his plan had been for one of the three teens he drove to Skokie from a South Side party to snatch $500 worth of marijuana from a girl who attended Niles North. She had asked her acquaintance, Gadau, to come along to provide protection and support during the transaction, according to investigators.

Antonio Hicks shot both the teenagers, the defense and prosecution agreed. Hicks, then a 17-year-old Chicago resident, was released after his initial arrest but charged as an adult last February.

The jury was asked to decide if the shooting was the result of a robbery that Avdic participated in. But prosecutors pointed to messages he had sent to friends for days speculating about robbing drug dealers.

"Me and Nick in need of a stain, u think Jeanette is sweet?" Avdic asked.

Nicholas Smith, "Nick", pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of aggravated battery involving a firearm in exchange for his testimony and a sentence of about 20 years. "Stain," witnesses testified, is a slang term for a robbery.

Two of the other five people were who initially charged with murder, Jeremy Ly and Myles Hughes, have also accepted plea deals and testified at trial.

Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Michelle Gemskie said Avdic had put the whole plan in motion. She listed each of his actions that led to the double shooting.

Avdic texted the victim 49 times to set up the deal, agreeing to the time and location but moving it when she suggested a spot that was too "hot" because it was near a fast food restaurant. He assembled a team, and drove them all up to Skokie from a West Englewood barbecue. He identified himself as a Niles North student named "Tyler", according to text messages. Prosecutors said he picked out Hughes to pretend to be the student and then parked his car nearby, ready for a getaway.

"He was ready and waiting to whisk those individuals away from that crime scene," Gemskie said. She said Avdic had not intended for Gadau to die or planned to kill him but was nonetheless responsible for his murder and the shooting of his companion, whose life may well have been saved by a witness who ran out to the street to hold her neck up. That allowed her to breathe after Hicks shot her in the face before running back to Avdic's Chevy with Hughes, who needed to be reminded to grab the drugs.

The victim, now a college student, was able to point out Hughes in a photo array in the aftermath of the shooting while hooked up to a respirator and unable to speak. Gadau was shot first, suffering a gunshot wound to the back. His companion was shot in the face and survived after a lengthy hospital stay.

Avdic's attorney Damon Cheronis presented the closing argument for the defense. He said Gadau's death was a tragedy, that "shouldn't happen to anyone."

Cheronis placed the responsibility for the killing entirely on the shoulders of Antonio Hicks, saying the forensic evidence left no doubt. He suggested prosecution witnesses had all agreed that Avdic had not intended to carry out a robbery.

"Antionio Hicks decided to turn it into one without telling anybody," Cheronis said. "The issue is whether or not [Avdic] knew a robbery was going to occur," which, he said, prosecutors had failed to prove.

"There are questions left unanswered in this case." He said Avdic was a "witness to something that was horrible," but said his client did not foresee it and was not legally responsible for it.

"There is a difference between hustling somebody out of weed and pointing a gun at someone," Cheronis said. He said Avdic had wanted to use counterfeit cash to steal the weed, as he had done in the past, but was unable to get ahold of the bills beforehand.

"Nobody wants you to say, 'You've got a great, genius idea," the defense attorney told jurors. "In fact, you should be disgusted by that." Nonetheless, he argued, the prosecution had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Avdic intended to take the marijuana by force or the threat of force. "This started as a scam to get marijuana. No force," he said.

Delivering the prosecution's rebuttal, Assistant State's Attorney Robert Heilingoetter said that Avdic had assembled his "A-Team" of accomplices ahead of the robbery. They were all involved, and they all shared responsibility for Gadau's death, he said.

"Who brings one extra witness to a crime unless he's a part of the crime?" Heilingoetter asked the jury. "Who brings a complete stranger to share the proceeds of your two-ounce crime if you're not part of the plan? Come on."

Although Avdic said if he had wanted to steal weed from the victim he would have done it alone, the prosecutor suggested he had recruited others to take part out of fear.

"He's a coward. He hides behind another name," Heilingoetter said. "He's afraid to get out of the car."

Peter Gadau, the victim's father, said he believed the state had a strong case and the defense had been trying to offer up a "Hail Mary" by arguing the plan had never been to commit a robbery.

"It became pretty clear, at least to me, that this was pretty well planned out. It was pretty well thought out," he said.

The defense argued the fatal results of the drug deal Avdic admitted arranging were unforeseeable.

"He made up this cockamamie idea to take marijuana without using force," Cheronis said. "This was not a planned robbery." Instead, at some point, Hicks decided to carry out an armed robbery on his own without telling anyone that he had a gun.

The felony murder rule in Illinois, among the broadest in the country, holds anyone who combines to carry out a "forcible felony" such as robbery, whether armed or not, responsible for any foreseeable deaths. Those found to be involved in certain felonies can be charged with the murder of an unarmed confederate, even if that person was shot by an armed bystander or killed by police in a fleeing vehicle.

Judge Lauren Edidin rejected a request by the defense to mention the "foreseeable" element in instructions to the jury, according to Avdic's attorney Ralph Meczyk. A 2006 Illinois Supreme Court opinion involving an armed robber's conviction for murder of his accomplice at the hands of an off-duty officer appears to side with the judge.

"[Dzevad Avdic] is the poster child for the law of accountability," Gemskie said during the state's closing argument. "He is the poster child for the law of felony murder."

When called by the state to testify last week, Avdic's three admitted accomplices said that he had arranged the deal. None of them said they saw Hicks with a gun, although Smith said he knew the accused shooter to carry a firearm and noticed him grabbing at an item in his waistband that night.

Cell phone records and surveillance video indicated Avdic near the scene on the night of the murder, and photographs of the girl's blood-stained phone indicated he had called her right before the deadly encounter.

Crime scene photos of the bloody interior of the victim's Honda showed a replica handgun left behind after the shooting, although it was not established whether or not the victim had drawn the weapon when she was shot. The murder weapon has never been recovered, although ballistic evidence found both shots were fired by the same 9 mm handgun.

Hicks' fingerprints were found on the rear passenger side of the victim's car, and a spent shell casing was found nearby in the grass. He is awaiting trial on charges of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder and did not testify at trial.

Avdic, who has remained in jail since his October 2014 arrest, faces a sentence of up to life in prison. His lawyers say they will file an appeal at his next scheduled appearance in court on July 18.

"This whole thing has been indescribable. Emotionally, physically, mentally. What it boils down to is my son was murdered over a hundred dollars worth of weed," Peter said. "Trying to reconcile a kid who had everything going for him – lovable, fun, caring – to have your life reduced to a hundred dollars worth of weed. How do you come to terms with that?"

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