Former Little City employee gets 8 years for striking teenage residents
A former Little City employee convicted in June of aggravated battery asked the judge for probation Thursday, insisting he was defending himself and his co-workers when he struck two teens who had autism.
Cook County prosecutors requested prison, arguing a significant sentence would send a message about the consequences of mistreating people with disabilities.
Cook County Judge James Karahalios sent a message.
Karahalios sentenced David Sutton, 54, to a total of eight years in prison: three years for grabbing a 14-year-old by the hair and pushing him into a couch and five years for twice slamming a 16-year-old into a wall and putting him in a chokehold. Both instances, which occurred in September 2015 at the Palatine facility for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities, were caught on video.
"If a picture is worth 1,000 words, this video is a set of encyclopedias," said Karahalios, who ordered the sentences be served consecutively. "But for the cameras, these things would not have been discovered."
"These are children who, through no fault of their own, are prisoners in their own bodies," said Karahalios, who described Sutton as "their lifeline to the outside world."
Placed in a position of trust and authority, the Round Lake man behaved like a bully, said Karahalios, intentionally exerting "excessive, unreasonable force" against defenseless teens who cannot speak.
"That conduct has absolutely no place at Little City," he said, "or any other facility that deals with special needs children" who attend for "treatment, not torture or torment."
Sutton's wife, father-in-law and 86-year-old mother described him as a good man. Helpful and attentive to his family, Sutton never displayed signs of violence, said his wife Robin Sutton, who told the judge her husband undergoes treatment for bi-polar disorder.
Sutton claimed he was defending himself and his co-workers from the 16-year-old, who defense attorney Alan Lenczycki said had behaved aggressively in the past. With the 14-year-old, Sutton claimed he was just playing around.
"I really feel remorse. I feel sorry about the things that happened," Sutton said.
Cook County assistant state's attorney Karen Crothers questioned Sutton's remorse, pointing out he apologized to Little City, police and the boys' parents but offered none to the teens.
"To him they don't count," she said.