A Chicago man has been given a five-year prison sentence for shooting a bouncer outside a downtown strip club, but because the state automatically reduces most sentences by 50% and he already spent nearly 2½ years under a nighttime curfew at home, he is expected to be released after serving 13 days in an actual prison.
The case against Guadalupe Martinez, 29, appeared weak from the beginning. Prosecutors said at an initial court hearing that Martinez and two other men were ejected from Deja Vu Showgirls, 750 South Clinton Street, around 4 a.m. on November 9, 2023. During an argument between the men and club staff members outside the club, Martinez allegedly motioned toward his waistband before the trio climbed into a white Tesla.
Once the men were inside the vehicle, someone raised a gun through the car’s sunroof and started shooting toward the staff members, prosecutors said. One of the employees returned fire, and another was shot in the leg.
Surveillance video showed flashes coming from the gun, but the footage did not show which of the three men inside the Tesla fired the weapon, prosecutors said.
Police compared video footage with IDs provided by customers that night to quickly identify the three men and the Tesla’s license plate number.
Cops found Martinez sitting alone inside the bullet-riddled Tesla in the 1700 block of South Lake Shore Drive about 90 minutes after the shooting. They allegedly found a gun under his seat and shell casings inside the car.
A witness identified Martinez as the man who motioned toward his waistband during the altercation outside the club, but no one identified him as the shooter.
After confirming with prosecutors that nobody saw Martinez with a gun and that there was no video, eyewitness, or other evidence that he fired the weapon, Judge Charles Beach found at Martinez’s initial detention hearing that the state failed to provide “clear and convincing” evidence of his responsibility. Beach said that while Martinez was “part and parcel” of the shooting, state law prohibited him from being detained.
Martinez was released from custody with a daily curfew from 8:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. Under state law, however, observing the curfew earned him day-for-day credit toward his prison sentence.
On April 8, Martinez, who faced attempted murder charges, pleaded guilty to a reduced count of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon before Judge Tyria Walton, records show. She sentenced him to concurrent terms of five years and three years, respectively, and credited him with 881 days already served.
According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, he entered state custody last Tuesday, April 14, and is scheduled for release next Monday, April 27.
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