Elgin Teen Pleads Guilty To Stabbing Teacher
ELGIN, Ill. (STNG) ― A 16-year-old northwest suburban boy accused of a vicious knife attack that cost an Elgin High School teacher her eye pleaded guilty on Tuesday to attempted murder.
Angel Facio of Elgin entered the blind plea, meaning there was no sentencing deal with prosecutors, in Cook County Juvenile Court.
Attempted murder carries a possible 18- to 22-month juvenile sentence. A juvenile court judge is scheduled to sentence Facio in June. Other charges in the case -- aggravated battery and weapons counts -- were dropped.
On Jan. 18, Facio entered the classroom of Carolyn Gilbert at 11:15 a.m., shortly after the early dismissal of students after semester finals.
Witnesses said he initially engaged her in small talk, then threw a coat over her and stabbed the teacher with a steak knife four times in the back of her neck and once near her eye.
She lost her eye as a result of the attack.
Prosecutors had sought to have Facio tried as an adult, but a Cook County judge ruled April 30 he would remain in juvenile court.
Judge Paul Stralka cited Facio's turbulent home life, numerous pleas for help in a school journal and initial success with treatment as reasons for keeping the Elgin High sophomore in juvenile court. Attorneys have said juvenile corrections facilities more readily offer schooling, psychiatric medication and counseling, all of which Facio has responded well to, attorneys said.
It was not immediately clear whether Facio's plea would have an impact on unrelated charges in Kane County. He is charged as an adult with sexual assault of a child and as a juvenile in an attempted child abduction.
In late April, Facio pleaded not guilty to 12 charges against him in the sexual assault of an 8-year-old girl in her Elgin home last summer.
A conviction on any of the six counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault -- a Class X felony -- would carry a six- to 30-year prison term. Prosecutors also are arguing that if convicted, Facio could be eligible for an extended sentence -- of 30 to 60 years, or consecutive sentences -- due to the age of the victim and the allegedly violent nature of the crime.
Facio is also implicated in a third felony, charged with two counts of aggravated battery and one count of unlawful restraint in connection with allegations that on Jan. 16 he pounced on a girl near Larsen Middle School near his home. The battery case is being handled by a Kane County juvenile judge.