Article: Man who pleaded guilty to murder mentally fit, judge rules.(News)

A former Hoffman Estates man's attempt to get his guilty plea to a 1992 murder thrown out ran into a brick wall Tuesday.

Cook County Judge Richard Kavitt shot down the request, ruling 54-year-old Pablo Estrada was mentally fit when he pleaded guilty to murdering his live-in girlfriend in front of her two children.

Estrada was sentenced to 40 years in prison in 1993.

Estrada argued he was on prescribed mind-altering drugs at the time he pleaded guilty in 1993 and now should be allowed to take back his plea and go to trial.

In 1996, the judge declined to hold a hearing on whether Estrada was mentally fit when he entered the plea.

But an appellate court sent ...

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