Prosecutor: Man had abused child before killing her

Oak Forest girl, 3, died in ’13; death ruled a homicide

A Chicago man had physically abused a 3year-old Oak Forest girl in the past before killing her five years ago, a prosecutor said.

Jessie Rodriguez, 48, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Gina Presley. He was baby-sitting the girl when the attack happened, Assistant State’s Attorney Cheryl Galvin said in her opening statement Wednesday to a jury at the courthouse in Bridgeview.

Presley had been in the care of her great-aunt Kimberly Debartolo, who was dating Rodriguez.

“The whole world failed Gina Presley in her short three-year life,” Gavin said.

She said Debartolo may have failed Gina the most.

“It’s Kimberly who brought this man into her life,” Galvin said.

She said Debartolo and Rodriguez met through an internet dating site and had only been dating for three months.

Galvin said that before Gina’s death, Gina had suffered from the stomach flu, and Debartolo brought Gina to work with her on March 25, 2013.

Not wanting to bring Gina with her to work two days in a row, Debartolo left the child in the care of Rodriguez on March 26, Galvin said.

That night paramedics were called to the Oak Forest house because Gina was choking. She was pronounced dead at 12:15 a.m. March 27 at Palos Community Hospital.

Debartolo took the witness stand Wednesday to corroborate prosecutors’ findings.

Galvin said Debartolo took a deal for immunity from charges for anything she would testify to in court.

Galvin said the Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled Gina’s death a homicide after finding hemorrhaging on her brain due to bluntforce trauma from child abuse.

She said there were old injuries and new injuries.

“The weapon that killed Gina is sitting in this courtroom right here,” Galvin said, referring to Rodriguez.

Rodriguez’s defense attorney Patrick Campanelli argued that Gina had been abused before Rodriguez came into her life and that her death was possibly the result of an old injury.

“It could’ve happened four days earlier, or it could have happened a year earlier,” he said of Gina’s injury.

Campanelli said Rodriguez, who has a daughter who was 10 years old at the time, had tried to save Gina by administering CPR during the call to 911.

He argued that Debartolo’s family was dysfunctional and that Gina possibly was abused by other family members.

“The state will not prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt,” Campanelli said.