Guilty verdict in home invasion; prison sentence in DUI injury case

February 29

JOLIET – Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow announces that a Joliet man was found guilty of home invasion at the conclusion of a jury trial earlier this week.

In addition, a Chicago woman was sentenced to two years in prison for a drunken driving collision that seriously injured a woman in Romeoville last year.

Home Invasion

Tobias Payton, 26, was found guilty on two counts of home invasion and one count of aggravated battery with a firearm on Monday.

Payton got into a fight with a 35-year-old man at his home in Joliet Township on March 17, 2007. Payton left the home after losing the fight, but returned later with his brother, Xavier Payton, forced open the locked door and cornered the victim in a den.

Payton shot the victim four times, wounding him in both legs and in his hand. The original fight began because the victim refused to allow Payton to use his mother’s bedroom to have sex with a girl, according to testimony.

Xavier Payton is awaiting trial on the same charges for his role in this case.

Payton faces between 31 years and life in prison when he is sentenced before Circuit Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak on April 3. He cannot receive probation.

State’s Attorney Glasgow credited Assistant State’s Attorneys Frank Byers and Mike Fitzgerald for securing a conviction that will put a violent criminal behind bars for many years.

“These two prosecutors demonstrated first-rate trial work,” Glasgow said. “Tobias Payton is a ruthless criminal with an utter disregard for the rule of law. This is a critically important conviction that will make Will County’s streets safer for everyone.”

Aggravated DUI

Lorena Baylon, 21, of Chicago, was sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty in November to two counts of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol.

On April 17, 2007, Baylon drove her vehicle into oncoming traffic on Illinois 53 near Taylor Road and struck another vehicle in a head-on collision. The driver of the other vehicle, a 56-year-old New Lenox woman, suffered two broken legs, broken ribs and a broken tailbone and is still undergoing rehabilitation.

Baylon, who had left a party on the night of the crash, had a blood-alcohol level of .114 and alcohol in her car. Circuit Judge Richard Schoenstedt said there a too many DUIs in Will County and that a prison sentence in this case was necessary to deter others from drinking and driving.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorney Mark Fleszewski.