Carpentersville man goes on trial for attempted murder

A 20-year-old Crystal Lake man testified Tuesday he was too drunk to remember how, or by whom, he was stabbed at a birthday party last year.

But a McHenry County prosecutor told a jury that all the evidence points to Carpentersville resident Jonathan Soto.

Soto, 22, went on trial Tuesday on charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery and aggravated assault stemming from the July 12, 2008 stabbing that left the victim with a severe puncture wound in his side.

Assistant McHenry County State's Attorney Robert Malen told jurors Soto and a group of friends went to the party at a Crystal Lake home looking for trouble.

"The defendant, the evidence will show, was acting aggressively that whole night, and so were his friends," Malen said, describing their actions as a "cycle of violence."

That cycle hit Chase Majszak, Malen said, when he attempted to play peacekeeper in a scuffle outside the home.

Soto, Malen said, grabbed Majszak in a headlock and "without warning" stabbed him in the side and cut his shoulder with a carving knife.

For his part, Majszak told jurors Tuesday he could not remember the stabbing.

"I don't really know what happened," he said. "I definitely was inebriated."

Soto's attorney, Senior Assistant Public Defender Christopher Harmon, told jurors to pay attention not only to the evidence prosecutors do present, but what they don't. For example, he said, the knife allegedly used in the stabbing did not have any of Majszak's blood on it.

"Once you listen to all the evidence, you'll come to a completely different conclusion (than the state)," he said.

Soto would face up to 30 years in prison if found guilty of all charges.