Joliet man found not guilty of 2009 murder

A jury found a Joliet man not guilty of fatally shooting a man in the head in his second trial.

After two days of deliberation, the jury found Jesus E. Zambrano, 28, not guilty of killing Robert Gooch with a handgun in May 2009, according to court records. The jury reached its verdict at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday.

Zambrano’s second trial began on Aug. 22 after the 3rd District Appellate Court reversed his first-degree murder conviction from his first trial.

The appellate court reversed Zambrano’s conviction after finding his previous attorneys failed to impeach a witness with evidence that he received immunity to testify, as well as failing to tender a jury instruction for accomplice testimony.

Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow said in a statement that his office obtained a conviction in Zambrano’s case when it was first tried in 2013.

“It is always difficult for witnesses to testify a second time, especially in a case such as this one where literally a decade has passed since the alleged conduct at issue occurred. We respect the decision reached by the jury in the retrial,” Glasgow said.

Zambrano’s attorney, Neil Patel, said the prosecution’s case used testimony from Christian Lopez, a witness he said was not credible.

Patel said Lopez testified at the trial about being present during the incident that led to Zambrano’s arrest, but he gave inconsistent testimony that was not supported by video evidence.

“It’s very vague testimony about what happened,” he said.

A jury found Pedro Sanchez, 40, guilty of killing Gooch in 2011. Sanchez is serving a 61-year sentence in prison.

His conviction was upheld by the appellate court in 2013.