Algonquin man gets eight years for party house stabbing

An Algonquin man with a history of post-traumatic stress disorder was sentenced Thursday to eight years in prison after pleading guilty but mentally ill to allegations he nearly killed a man during a 2006 fight witnessed by dozens of onlookers.

Jonathan R. Rainbolt, 24, admitted to one count of attempted murder stemming from the Nov. 5, 2006, knife attack. The victim received his last rites while undergoing treatment for a punctured lung and about eight stab wounds.

The stabbing also helped bring an end to a notorious party house on the fringe of downtown Algonquin that was the source of numerous police complaints of loud noise and underage drinking.

McHenry County prosecutors said the plea bargain was appropriate given the circumstances of the case, which include Rainbolt's mental health issues, intoxicated eyewitnesses and evidence the victim, Adrian Blach of Lake in the Hills, may have thrown the first punch.

"It's absolutely undisputed that this was not a premeditated attack," said Rainbolt's attorney, Troy Owens. "This was a spontaneous fight where Mr. Blach dished out blows of his own."

According to a psychiatrist and psychologist who examined Rainbolt since the stabbing, he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health problems, Assistant McHenry County State's Attorney David Johnston said.

"They said he was experiencing the disorder at the time of the occurrence and it likely affected his behavior," Johnston said.

As a person found guilty but mentally ill, Rainbolt will serve his time in a regular prison, but corrections officials must monitor his condition and provide treatment if necessary.

Besides Rainbolt's mental illness, prosecutors said they also might have had to contend with an uncooperative victim who might not have appeared sympathetic in front of a jury. Blach, 22, is a registered sex offender, a fact that might have been the reason for the fight between him and Rainbolt, prosecutors said.

"If he had been called to testify, his credibility would have been affected by his own criminal history," First Assistant State's Attorney Thomas Carroll said. "It certainly would have been a factor the defendant would have been able to bring out at trial."

Nonetheless, Blach and his mother were angry about what they perceived as a light sentence for a man who nearly killed him.

"His doctors say he's lucky to be alive," Blach's mother, Delphia Blach, said. "I'm just very upset about this whole thing."

Blach said her son also is out almost $12,000 as a result of the stabbing. A state fund for crime victims, prosecutors said, paid only about $28,000 of her son's $40,000 in medical bills, leaving him on the hook for the rest.

As part of his plea deal, Rainbolt was ordered to make up the difference in restitution, but it's unlikely he will be able to do so anytime soon, if ever.

Rainbolt and Blach were among as many as 100 people inside a house at 438 W. Algonquin Road at 3:49 a.m. when the fight erupted in its basement, authorities said. During the altercation, police said, Rainbolt pulled out a folding knife he had brought to the party and repeatedly plunged it into Blach's chest, abdomen and neck.

The stabbing intensified local officials' interest in the home where it occurred. The home's renters held frequent parties with alcohol at the residence, some of which were advertised online and drew guests from across the suburbs.

Some of those guests, police said, were underage but received alcohol anyway. Drug use also took place during the parties, authorities said.

After Algonquin officials sought an injunction barring parties at the residence, McHenry County last year purchased the property and tore down the home to make way for a proposed bypass around the village's downtown.