Judge acquits man in gun case stemming from the night 13-year-old Adam Toledo was fatally shot by a Chicago police officer
A man who prosecutors said fired a gun while with Adam Toledo before the 13-year-old was shot and killed by a Chicago police officer was found not guilty of weapons charges Friday by a Cook County judge after a two-day bench trial.
Ruben Roman, 23, stood trial this week before Judge Charles Burns on three felony counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and one felony count of recklessly discharging a firearm. The charges were not directly related to the death of Toledo, whose killing by Officer Eric Stillman roiled the city and spurred calls for reform to the Chicago Police Department’s foot pursuit policies. Instead, the charges stemmed from Roman’s alleged actions while he was with Toledo just before the shooting.
Burns delivered a lengthy explanation before reading his verdict, stating that the case was not about whether the shooting of Toledo was justified, or whether Roman should have been out on the streets with Toledo at 2:30 a.m.
“That is not my duty here when addressing these matters,” Burns said from the bench at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.
Rather, he said his role was to determine whether the state proved Roman fired a weapon prior to Toledo’s shooting — a case that both prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed was circumstantial. Though Burns said prosecutors made logical inferences based on available evidence and noted that circumstantial evidence is considered evidence, he did not find that it was enough to meet their burden of proof.
“I do not believe Mr. Roman is innocent. There is a difference between calling somebody innocent and saying not guilty,” Burns said as he acquitted Roman. “The state has failed to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Prosecutors argued that Roman was captured on video firing a weapon at a passing car while standing with Toledo in the 2400 block of South Sawyer Avenue in Little Village in the early morning hours on March 29, 2021. They also said gloves he dropped tested positive for gunshot residue.
Roman’s defense attorneys, though, countered that no witnesses or forensic evidence definitively tie Roman to the weapon. They argued Toledo could have been the person who fired the gun, which they said creates reasonable doubt.
“Even in light of all of this evidence, it is not enough to show Ruben Roman actually possessed or fired a weapon,” said Karin Talwar, Roman’s attorney, during closing arguments on Thursday. “There is evidence of a possible other theory.”
Some of what was presented during the trial could point to different scenarios, the judge said. The gun was found near Toledo, not Roman. It’s possible the gun could have passed between the two while they ran from police, but no proof of that was presented, he noted. Gunshot residue can be present because someone fired a weapon, witnesses testified, but it can also find its way onto clothes if someone is in the presence of gunfire. Casings collected from the area of 24th and Sawyer matched the gun found near Toledo, but there’s no way to say when the bullets were fired, or who fired them.
When it came down to it, Burns said, the case “turns on video.”
Defense attorneys had argued that it was not possible to discern facial features or physical characteristics from the surveillance videos, but prosecutors maintained that Roman and Toledo could be distinguished based on the clothes they wore that night.
Prosecutors said surveillance video showed that while Toledo and Roman stood on a corner, Roman stepped forward to fire as a car passed while Toledo moved backward. But ultimately Burns said one could not even definitively say that what happened in the video was a shooting, with no audio or visual signifiers like a muzzle flash or a clear picture of the gun.
“I do not feel, at this point in time, the evidence presented ... while compelling I admit, is not proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said.
Earlier in the trial, Stillman’s partner Corina Gallegos testified that the two were called to 24th and Sawyer because gunfire triggered a ShotSpotter detection. The officers didn’t see anyone at the corner when they arrived, Gallegos said, but saw Roman and Toledo later when they drove into an alley.
The officers started chasing Roman and Toledo, Gallegos said. Stillman pushed Roman to the ground and continued after Toledo. Gallegos stayed behind and handcuffed Roman, when she heard a gunshot.
Gallegos testified that she went to her partner and saw officers giving chest compressions to Toledo.
After the shooting, video released by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which investigates police shootings, showed Toledo tossing a gun behind a fence before he was fatally shot by Stillman. Gallegos testified she later found the gun on the other side of the fence.
After tossing the gun, Toledo turned toward the officer raising his hands, according to the video. When announcing her office would not charge Stillman, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said the actions happened “almost simultaneously.”
Roman was not immediately released after his acquittal, due to a pending probation violation in a 2019 case. A court date is scheduled for Monday.
A spokesperson for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office said in a statement that the case was prosecuted to the “fullest extent.”
The office “will continue prosecuting cases based on the law and the evidence as we strive to increase safety in our communities across Cook County,” the statement said.
The Police Department’s policy on foot pursuits came under scrutiny after the shooting of Toledo and others, including from the independent monitor reviewing CPD’s progress in complying with a sweeping consent decree that orders reforms.
The department released its final, revised foot pursuit policy earlier this year.
