Alleged Getaway Driver Testifies In Bucktown Bat Attack Trial
CHICAGO (CBS) -- She admits she drove the getaway car after two young women were brutally beaten with a baseball bat. Today, that woman took the witness stand today to testify against the man charged in the attack.
28-year-old Marcy Cruz, a former stripper and mother of two young children, cut a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty, accepting a 22-year-sentence in return for the testimony she offered today against Heriberto Verimontes.
CBS 2's Derrick Blakely was in court for the dramatic testimony.
Dramatically pointing to the defendant, prosecutor John Maher asked Marcy Cruz, do you know who that man is?
Her answer: Yes. That's Heriberto Viramontes.
Viramontes is charged with the vicious baseball bat assault on Irish exchange student Natasha McShane and her friend, Stacy Jurich, in April of 2010.
Cruz testified that after having sex with Viramontes in her van, he launched the attack.
"He went to the back seat, grabbed the bat, and jumped out of the car," Cruz testified.
Minutes later, she said, Viramontes returned.
"He stated that the girls were very pretty and that he did some bogus (expletive)."
Then, said Cruz, she smoked pot as the two headed to a gas station at Augusta and Western, as seen in a security video.
"He said he was going to use the credit cards to pump people's gas and get money," Cruz said.
Later in the security video, Viramontes is allegedly seen doing just that.
But under cross examination from public defender Shondra Smith, cruz admitted she didn't witness the attack and never saw any blood on viramontes' face, hands or shirt.
Her father later told reporters he believes his daughter did the right thing in testifying against Viramontes.
"I think that she knows what happened is wrong and she is accepting it and she is up to it now," said Edwin Cruz.
In her testimony, Marcy Cruz said she and Viramontes shared what they found inside the purses of their two victims. He took the credit cards, and she took Christian Dior makeup and foundation spray.
