Happ pleads ‘guilty but mentally ill’ in Carpentersville attack, rape
Daniel Happ pleaded guilty but mentally ill Friday to bludgeoning a woman, raping an 8-year-old-girl in her care, and stabbing a dog in a March 2012 attack at the victims’ Carpentersville apartment.
Kane County Associate Judge Clint Hull found sufficient evidence that Happ, 29, of Carpentersville, was mentally ill at the time of the attack. According to medical records and Kane County Diagnostic Center evaluations dating back to 2005, Happ has schizo-affective disorder, major depression, bipolar disorder, and possibly borderline personality disorder. He has been hospitalized in psychiatric institutions 28 times since his age 8, according to the records, and been treated with a variety of medications.
Happ told Hull he takes Depakote and the antipsychotic Risperdal. When defendants plead guilty, judges ask them if they are under the influence of any drugs, alcohol or prescription medications. Hull asked him if the drugs helped him to focus and understand to what he was agreeing.
“I’d be willing to accept full responsibility,” Happ said.
The victim and a man and woman who accompanied her to court declined to comment.
Kane County Assistant State’s Attorney Greg Sams declined to comment, saying it would inappropriate to do so until Hull pronounces sentence.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled Oct. 15.
Happ is not eligible for probation on the attempted murder or predatory criminal sexual assault charges. He faces a minimum of 6 to 30 years on the attempted murder charge, with the possibility of an extended sentence of 60 years. He faces a minimum of 6 to 60 years on the sexual assault charge. He will have to serve at least 85 percent of the sentences and serve them consecutively.
Happ was an acquaintance of the 23-year-old woman, who lived with her boyfriend and his four children. Happ was at the apartment with the victim and the children, all of whom had gone to bed for the evening. Sams said it was not clear whether Happ stabbed the dog first or bludgeoned the woman with a claw hammer. He then entered the children’s bedroom, took the 8-year-old and showed her what he had done to the woman and the dog. He told her if she didn’t do what he wanted, the same would happen to her and the other children, and then he raped her, according to the synopsis Sams presented.