Carol Stream man awaits sentencing in sexual assault case
A convicted Carol Stream sex offender is ready to be sentenced later this month after a judge denied his motion Thursday for a new trial.
Joel Augustine, 36, faces a minimum of 28 years in prison when Judge George Bakalis sentences him on Oct. 22.
A DuPage County jury deliberated less than two hours on April 22 before finding Augustine guilty of two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, two counts of criminal sexual assault of a child and one count of child pornography.
Jurors concluded Augustine routinely assaulted one of his girlfriend's teenage daughters from the fall of 2009 through the fall of 2012.
During the three-day trial the girl, now 16, testified Augustine molested her routinely until the final assault on Oct. 11, 2012, when she contemplated hanging herself to end the abuse.
The teen testified she never told anyone about what was happening because she was intimidated by Augustine, who allegedly threatened to break her jaw if she ever talked.
Augustine changed attorneys after the guilty verdict. His new attorney, Marc Wolfe, on Thursday argued that 22 errors occurred during the trial, including the basic argument that prosecutors did not prove Augustine guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Bakalis ruled in favor of prosecutors and set the Oct. 22 sentencing date.
When sentenced, Augustine faces between six and 60 years in prison on each of the two predatory criminal sexual assault charges and between four and 15 years for each of the three criminal sexual assault charges and the child pornography charge.
Any sentences handed down will be served consecutively.
Augustine previously served time in prison and became a registered sex offender after he was convicted of attacking his then-17-year-old girlfriend near her workplace in 1999, when he was 21, according to court records. He also has prior arrests for marijuana possession, drunken driving, domestic battery and failure to register as a sex offender, among other offenses.