A press release from the State’s Attorney’s Office:
McHENRY MAN GUILTY OF ALL COUNTS IN HOME INVASION JURY TRIAL
Louis A. Bianchi, McHenry County State’s Attorney, announces that thirty year old Vincent E. Smith, of McHenry, was found guilty today of
- Home Invasion,
- Armed Robbery,
- Armed Violence and
- two counts of Aggravated Unlawful Restraint
after a four day jury trial.
Sentencing is scheduled for April 1, 2011 and the defendant faces up to 30 years in prison.
Evidence at trial revealed that in the early morning hours of October 16, 2010, Vincent Smith and Josh Crandall entered a home in unincorporated McHenry.
Both defendants were masked, and witnesses described both as being armed with knives.
Crandall held up one man at knifepoint and stole $7,000 in one hundred dollar denominations.
Crandall superficially cut the man’s throat and stabbed him in the sternum area.
Another man was stabbed three times outside of the home while the two masked men were exiting the home.
Both victims survived the attack.
At trial, four witnesses in the home were able to point to the defendant as one of the masked men.
McHenry County Sheriff’s deputies were able to determine the identity of the perpetrators and apprehended both suspects on the date of the offense.
Search warrants of the defendant’s residence yielded forty-two $100 bills found in the defendant’s closet hidden in a DVD case.
Josh Crandall pled guilty on February 7, 2011 to Armed Robbery and Home Invasion, and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 11, 2011.
The cases were prosecuted by Assistant State Attorneys Ryan Blackney and David Johnston.