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Rogelio Cantu (McHenry County Sheriff’s Office)
A state court judge in Illinois last week admonished a 54-year-old man who admitted to cutting up a 52-year-old woman’s face with a knife, not over the violent attack, but because the defendant showed up to court noticeably drunk.
Following the drunken incident, McHenry County Circuit Court Judge Mark R. Gerhardt found Rogelio Cantu Jr. in contempt of court and later ordered him to serve 4 1/2 years in a state correctional facility for the 2022 slashing, records show.
According to a report from the Lake & McHenry County Scanner, Cantu was initially arrested in January 2022 and charged with one count of aggravated domestic battery, two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, one count of interfering with the reporting of domestic violence, and two counts of enhanced domestic battery.
The newspaper reported that Cantu last month reached a deal with prosecutors in the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office in which he agreed to plead guilty to one count of felony aggravated domestic battery. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dropped all of the additional charges.
Cantu, who had been out of detention since posting bond about two weeks after the attack, showed up to the courthouse on Thursday, Feb. 29 for his sentencing hearing and was reportedly intoxicated. Gerhardt quickly ordered Cantu to report to the Department of Court Services and submit to a drug and alcohol screening test.
Cantu reportedly took a Breathalyzer test that showed his blood alcohol content was 0.187, more than double the 0.08 legal limit for driving in the state, and Gerhardt subsequently ordered him taken into custody for contempt of court.
According to a report from the Northwest Herald, Cantu returned to court again on Friday where he apologized to Gerhardt for appearing in court drunk, saying he was “ashamed and remorseful” about the ordeal. Cantu, who was facing between three and seven years in prison, was then handed the 4 1/2-year sentence.
Cantu’s plea stemmed from a Jan. 8, 2022, incident in which he cut his then-live-in girlfriend’s face while the two were arguing.
The Scanner reported that officers with the McHenry Police Department at about 9 p.m. responded to a call about a stabbing at a residence in the 1900 block of Concord Drive, which is about 55 miles northeast of Chicago. Upon arriving at the scene, officers made contact with the victim, who said that she and Cantu were involved in a domestic dispute when Cantu swung a knife at her, striking her in the face.
After the stabbing, Cantu reportedly took the victim’s phone from her so she couldn’t call the police, but she was able to get to a neighbor’s home and call for help. She was transported to Northwestern Medicine Hospital for treatment and was released several hours later.
Prosecutors told the Herald that the plea deal with Cantu only came about after “extensive consultation with the victim.”
Cantu will be required to serve at least 85% of his sentence before he is eligible for release.
