Man loses appeal of third felony conviction, life sentence upheld

A west suburban man lost an appeal Wednesday to overturn his third felony conviction, meaning he will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Luis Moreta, 46, was sentenced March 30, 2015, to a term of natural life in prison for an armed robbery with a firearm on December 2, 2011, according to the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.

In 2011, a man drove to the parking lot of an Addison apartment complex to buy a motorcycle that Moreta, formerly of Northlake, had advertised on Craigslist, the state’s attorney’s office said.

After the man met one of Moreta’s accomplices, he and two of his friends were taken to the back of the parking lot, where Moreta and another man, both with their faces covered and wearing hooded sweatshirts, jumped out of a van and held guns to the heads of the victims, officials said. They robbed the man of the $3,700 he had brought to buy the motorcycle.

In his appeal, Moreta argued that the trial court shouldn’t have allowed a police officer to testify about cellular technology, and that prosecutors improperly argued during closing statements, officials said.

The appellate court found that, “Our review of the complained-of arguments does not reveal clear and obvious errors of any sort, let alone such seriousness that they affected the fairness of the defendant’s trial and challenged the integrity of the judicial process.”