URBANA – A Mahomet man with a history of mental illness was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for entering an Urbana woman's home more than two years ago and attacking her as she showered.

Dale Castor, 57, had pleaded guilty but mentally ill on June 28 to residential burglary and criminal sexual abuse.

The charges stemmed from a Jan. 10, 2004, incident in which Castor entered the home of a now 64-year-old woman on Kenneth Street in northeast Urbana, grabbed her by the throat and touched her breast while she was in the shower. He then left the home.

According to the facts laid out at the time Castor pleaded guilty, weeks later the woman saw him driving in her subdivision, got his license plate number and contacted police. He was arrested by Champaign County sheriff's deputies and admitted to them that he used a screwdriver to get in her home.

Castor sat in the county jail for 10 months with his case being continued by his attorney, Carol Dison of Urbana, and the state's attorney's office. In January 2005, special prosecutor Michael Vujovich was appointed because then newly-elected State's Attorney Julia Rietz used to work with Dison in the same firm.

Dison and Vujovich kept continuing Castor's case for months until in February of this year, Presiding Judge Tom Difanis intervened.

Upset that Castor had been sitting in jail for almost two years with no apparent resolution of his case on the horizon, Difanis released him on his own recognizance, removed Vujovich as prosecutor and appointed Champaign attorney Steve Amjad to prosecute Castor.

Amjad and Dison then worked out the agreement that led to Castor pleading guilty to residential burglary and criminal sexual abuse in return for a more serious charge of home invasion being dismissed.

Amjad argued Friday for the 10 years that he had agreed to ask for when he negotiated the deal with Dison. Castor faced a maximum of 15 years on the residential burglary charge. The victim was present in court, and Amjad read her victim impact statement to Difanis.

"One's home should be a place of refuge," the woman wrote. She acknowledged she knew nothing of Castor's past, only that he chose to look in her window and come in her home when she was alone, an action that she says now has her constantly looking over her shoulder.

Dison argued for a minimal term of four years, saying it was her tactical decision to keep Castor in the county jail for so long because there was no good place for him due to his mental illness.

"He is one of the type of persons the (criminal justice) system does not address. He's mentally ill," Dison said. "Putting him in prison is not going to alter his behavior."

Dison noted that the incident for which Castor was being sentenced happened not long after Castor's mother had been placed in a nursing home. Previously, she had supervised him, Dison said, noting that arrangement worked.

"This is not a defendant ... who chooses criminal activity," she said. "Because of his diminished mental capacity, his level of culpability is not the same."

Dison said she had tried unsuccessfully to find an appropriate residential placement for Castor, should the judge have given him the minimum four-year term. Had Difanis done that, Castor would have essentially been done with his sentence since he was in custody for 677 days.

But with the criminal sexual abuse that was an element of his crime, Dison said she couldn't find a place willing to accept him.

An evaluation by Champaign psychiatrist Dr. Larry Jeckel completed in May concluded that Castor was fit to stand trial and that he is mildly retarded, Difanis said.

In imposing the sentence, Difanis noted that Castor had been convicted in 1999 of misdemeanor criminal trespass to residence, for which he received court supervision. His only other conviction was for possession of cannabis in 1975.

"He entered a residence and committed a criminal sexual abuse. The (criminal) code doesn't say we need to specialize the sentence for those with ... mental impairment," Difanis said.