2 cases create legal thicket for Elgin teen
The Elgin boy accused as a juvenile in the stabbing of a teacher in one county and as an adult in the rape of a young girl in another has put the legal system in uncharted waters.
"We've certainly had cases where a kid has a juvenile case and adult case going at the same time ... but cross-jurisdiction like this I haven't seen," Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Kevin Frey said Thursday.
Angel Facio, 16, was charged in Cook County as a juvenile with attempted murder in the Jan. 18 stabbing of teacher Carolyn Gilbert at Elgin High School.
In Kane County, Facio is charged as an adult with 12 counts of criminal sexual assault and abuse in the August 2007 rape of an 8-year-old neighbor.
Facio also faces aggravated battery and unlawful restraint charges in Kane County Juvenile Court, accused in the attempted Jan. 16 abduction of a 13-year-old Larsen Middle School student.
Legal experts say myriad sentencing possibilities lie ahead if the teen is convicted.
"It's like a little Rubik's Cube," said public defender James Martin, who represents Facio in Cook County. "It's all timing issues."
If Facio's Cook County case settles first and he is convicted, he will initially serve time in Cook County's juvenile department of corrections, Frey said.
In this case, Judge Paul Stralka has granted extended juvenile jurisdiction. Under this provision, teens convicted of serious crimes receive both juvenile detention and adult prison sentences.
Facio would face anywhere from 18 months to five years in a juvenile detention facility if found guilty of attempted murder charges.
If he commits another offense before his term is up, he would be then sent to a prison to fulfill the adult sentence.
If Facio is later convicted as an adult in Kane County, he would serve more time in a state prison, Martin said.
"This is where it could get interesting," Martin said. "Would he be allowed to begin the second sentence and have it run concurrently with the first? Would he serve it after? I don't have any answers to that."
Kane County Assistant State's Attorney Christine Bayer said a judge could order Facio to serve as much time as possible in a juvenile facility and then go to prison to finish his adult sentence.
"There's no way to know how it will play out," Bayer said.
Facio's next court date in Cook County is May 6 before Judge Edward Pietrucha.
He is scheduled to appear in a Kane County court again May 28 before Judge Allen Anderson.
"The determination of which sentences are served when and where are just going to have to be negotiated on a wait-and-see basis," Martin said.