By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire
Jose Marroquin | Illinois Dept. of Corrections
An alleged gang member was sentenced to seven years in prison last week after he pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing Benito Juarez of Cicero in Little Village in 2014.
Jose Marroquin, 36, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder before Judge Vincent Gaughan on Friday, according to Cook County court records.
Prosecutors said Marroquin and several friends were inside the Las Delicias restaurant at 4142 W. 26th at 4:40 a.m. April 27, 2014, when Marroquin saw 40-year-old Benito Juarez walk by outside.
After exchanging gang signs, Marroquin ran out of the restaurant after Juarez, and stabbed him once in the throat with a knife, prosecutors said. Juarez was helped across the street by his friends, where he collapsed.
Benito Juarez | Facebook
Juarez, of the 2100 block of South 50th Avenue in Cicero, died at Mount Sinai Hospital less than an hour later, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
The stabbing was captured on the restaurant’s surveillance camera, prosecutors said.
Marroquin, of the 2700 block of South Kildare, turned himself in to Chicago Police after an arrest warrant was issued, according to court records.
Gaughan sentenced Marroquin to seven years in prison Friday, according to court records. He will receive credit for 282 days served in the Cook County Jail, and must also serve two years of supervised release.
He was booked into the Stateville Correctional Center on Monday, according to Illinois Department of Corrections records.