Final Defendant Gets 40 years in Waukegan Torture-Murder Case

At the end of a long and emotional sentencing hearing Wednesday, 24-year-old Nadia Palacios was sentenced to 40 years in prison for her role in the 2011 death of fellow Waukegan resident David Campbell.

Palacios, 24, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder this summer, must serve the term handed down by Judge George Bridges at 100 percent, but she will be given credit for the two-plus years she has spent in the Lake County Jail, the News-Sun is reporting.

Crying softly after hearing the sentence, Palacios turned to her mother and other family members to tell them she loves them before she was led out by court security officers.

Palacios was the last of four defendants sentenced in the 2011 torture-murder of Campbell in a Waukegan auto body shop. The crime was described by witnesses and officials as both a robbery and retribution for thinking Campbell had participated in a kidnapping and sexual attack on Palacios days earlier.

Assistant state’s attorneys Jim Newman and Robert Money stated repeatedly throughout the case that Campbell was targeted by his attackers on meager evidence such as the shoes he was wearing, and that there has been no proof that he was involved in an attack against Palacios.

Bridges told Palacios that while it has never been determined that Campbell was involved, “even if he was, vengeance and retribution don’t belong to you.”

Palacios used a blowtorch on Campbell’s legs and groin during his interrogation and murder. It was determined he was suffocated by plastic bags placed over his head after he was bound, beaten and held at gunpoint by the group.

While Bridges said there were no words to describe the acts against Campbell, he also called Palacios “a broken vessel” who had been sexually abused and had a troubled life.

“There are plenty of monsters to go around in this case,” the judge said. “What happened to you was sadistic, and what happened to Mr. Campbell — why you are here — was also sadistic.”

Palacios faced a sentencing range of 20 to 60 years in prison. Newman asked for a sentence “in the 50s,” while defense attorney Kevin Malia had asked for a sentence at the lower end of the range.

During the hearing, which spanned two afternoons beginning last Wednesday, the court heard victim impact statements from the Campbell family and testimony from family and friends in support of Palacios.

At the end of the hearing, Palacios addressed the court, her family and Campbell’s relatives.

She apologized and said she would take back her actions if she could.

“I ask for your forgiveness if you all can find it in your hearts,” she said to Campbell’s relatives. “I take responsibility for my actions. It was I who went astray.”

She also asked Bridges for mercy and “a second chance in life.”

In exchange for her guilty plea, the state dropped several other counts of first-degree murder against Palacios for the same killing, and an illegal discharge of a weapon charge from a separate case.

In addition to Palacios, three other defendants pleaded guilty or were convicted at trial in the July 5, 2011 murder of Campbell, 27.

The other defendants were Roberto Guzman of Waukegan, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 29 years in prison; Jose Horta of Waukegan, who was convicted by a jury and sentenced to 59 years in prison; and Eric Castillo of Beach Park, who was also convicted of first-degree murder by a jury earlier this year and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Palacios was arrested at Grand Liquors in Waukegan in 2012 after reports of shots fired traced back to a car identified as hers, and she was located by Waukegan police in the store. Police said they found two spent shotgun shells in her purse.

During subsequent interviews with Waukegan police, officials said she began talking about details of Campbell’s 2011 killing and was eventually charged with first-degree murder.

Campbell was lured to the body shop on the pretense of a cocaine deal, officials said, and the money he brought to the shop was divided among the defendants.