A Chicago man accused of brutally beating two exchange students with a baseball bat in 2010 faces trial on Tuesday.
Heriberto Viramontes and alleged accomplice Marcy Cruz were charged with 25 felony counts in connection with the April 23 attack that left Natasha McShane and Stacy Jurich critically injured.
Viramontes is accused of striking Jurich and McShane, knocking them unconscious and stealing their purses under a railroad viaduct in the 1800 block of North Damen Avenue. Cruz allegedly waited in a vehicle during the attack, according to authorities.
In July Cruz agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for a 22-year prison term.
Surveillance video at a nearby gas station after the attack captured the pair trying to buy gas with the victims' credit cards, police said. Investigators said they tracked down the suspects using the credit card records.
The attack left McShane with severe brain damage, which led Chicago doctors to place her in a medically induced coma. She spent more than a month in the coma and, after doctors removed a portion of her brain, she was able to use her arms and to talk in whispers, her parents said.
She returned to Ireland in July 2010. According to reports in Ireland, McShane cannot walk and only utters a few words.
Bobby McGuire hired McShane to work at Butch McGuire's and has helped raise money for her care since the attack. He'll be watching the trial closely.
"Nice girl. She was sweet and worked hard, very personable," McGuire said. "If we can keep him off the street so he doesn't do this to anyone else, that's something."
Though her father reportedly is on the witness list for the trial, he told the Chicago Tribune his daughter won't make the trip and her family has decided not to discuss the trial with her.
Jurich, the Sun-Times reports, is not on the witness list.
