Family hoping arrest in Mexico leads to justice

BUCKLEY – A Buckley family whose teen-age son was killed by an impaired driver almost four years ago is "cautiously optimistic" that they may finally get justice for their son and brother.

Fernando Nunez, 24, the man accused of killing Zachary Mingee, 15, of Buckley, on Sept. 11, 2004, is now in custody in Mexico City, Mexico, awaiting the possibility that he may be returned to Iroquois County for prosecution.

Zachary, the son of John and Brenda Mingee of Buckley, died from injuries he received after being knocked off a tractor on U.S. 45 in Buckley. He was riding with his friend Dustin Luhrsen through town when the tractor was struck from behind by Nunez, who lived in Rantoul at the time.

Nunez, who had alcohol and cocaine in his system, ran from the wreck scene but was found two hours later hiding in a field. He was immediately jailed and two days later charged with reckless homicide in Iroquois County Circuit Court.

On Oct. 12, 2004, Nunez posted $6,000 cash to be released from custody and fled the country. Since then, federal authorities have been working to extradite Nunez back to Illinois, a process mired in bureaucracy. On March 30, Nunez was arrested in Mexico City on a "provisional" warrant on the reckless homicide charges filed in Iroquois County.

"We had a big break," John Mingee said of the latest development, still a bit mystified that someone at the U.S. Department of Justice thought his son's death was serious enough to pursue Nunez.

"Peter Buckley, the FBI agent, said there's a lot more people involved than we knew. We come from a town of 600. It was bad for us, but how did this get to be so big? It got to be a big deal everywhere. There's a lot of people that were put in places to carry it. It's just been very humbling to us," Mingee said.

Iroquois County State's Attorney Jim Devine said it's his understanding that a Mexican judge could still decide that the crime isn't serious enough to warrant sending Nunez back for prosecution. But he is doing everything he can to make sure it happens.

"We have supplied affidavits from the arresting and investigating officers of the Illinois State Police, including crime lab employees who did the analysis of (Nunez's) blood and urine, and myself as the prosecutor. I had to give my qualifications and experience as a prosecutor. Then we had to, through my affidavit, provide all the charges, explain what the charges are, what the statute of limitations is," Devine said.

Devine said he had to lay out his whole case and explain why he thought Nunez would be convicted. That amounted to about 100 pages of documents, he said.

Since the initial charges, a grand jury added charges of aggravated driving under the influence alleging he caused Zachary's death while under the influence of cocaine, and leaving the scene of a personal injury accident involving death.

Devine said all those affidavits are being translated into Spanish by the Department of Justice. The deadline for that is May 23.

Some time after that, attorneys from the Department of Justice will argue to a Mexican judge why Nunez should be returned to Illinois.

"Hopefully the judge will see it our way and they'll order an extradition. It could go against us. The judge could say we don't believe it meets our laws and he'll be released," Devine said.

The prosecutor said Nunez was picked up in Mexico City. He was living with his mother in a province just north of the capital, he said.

"After May 23, I don't know for sure how fast things will occur. I do know the Department of Justice has made this one of their top-priority cases to get resolved. I don't expect it to be much longer after that," Devine said, adding that he's just as puzzled as the Mingees as to why the case is getting the attention it is from the federal authorities.

"I've never had a circumstance where we had this serious of a charge and somebody made bail and jumped bail to another country. It's a painful education, hopefully one not to be repeated," Devine said, adding that the new bond on Nunez's current warrant is $250,000.

"I'm happy because it's moving along and hopefully we can do justice for the Mingees and that's my focus now," he said.

John Mingee said his family is aware the extradition is not a done deal.

"It's just a step in the right direction. There's still a lot that could happen. We are cautiously optimistic. The system takes time. I've learned a lot of patience," he said.

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