Ex-Chicago police officer pleads guilty in fatal shooting of husband in 2021

CHICAGO (WGN) — A former Chicago police officer pleaded guilty Tuesday in the death of her husband.

Jacqueline Villaseñor is charged with one felony count of involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors said she shot and killed her husband, German Villaseñor, who was also a Chicago officer.

Police said Villaseñor and her husband were arguing in their home on the 8500 block of West Winona Street on the evening of November 2, 2021. According to court records, an affair by Jacqueline came up during their argument, and documents state she then threatened to kill herself.

Prosecutors said German Villaseñor tried taking a nine-millimeter handgun from his wife, and during the struggle, the gun fired, and he was shot in the heart.

An arriving officer said Jacqueline Villaseñor smelled of alcohol but denied a breathalyzer test, according to court documents. Officers recovered three firearms from the bedroom.

But Cook County prosecutors and a county judge in court Tuesday agreed with investigators that the deadly gunshot that killed German Villaseñor inside the couple’s Northwest Side home was unintentional.

Villaseñor accepted a nearly six-and-a-half-year prison sentence, but with three years already served on electronic confinement, the former cop is expected to only serve another seven to eight days in prison, to the dismay of German Villaseñor’s family.

Speaking with WGN News after the judge’s ruling, family spokesperson Julie Contreras said loved ones of the late German Villaseñor remain heartbroken about the 2021 tragedy.

“I will never see his beautiful smile again, whose voice I will never hear,” said Leticia Villaseñor in a written victim impact statement. “Jacqueline is evil and knew exactly what she was doing when she shot my son right in his heart.”

Contreras said that while loved ones of German Villaseñor respect the judge’s decision, they are not “100% in agreement with it.”

It’s why loved ones say Villaseñor’s sentence is not long enough.

“Six years and a few days serving in the Illinois Department of Corrections?” Contreras said. “We’ve seen again the special treatment today for Jacqueline Villaseñor and her crocodile tears.”