Oswego Man Punched Woman In Face On Trail In Wheaton: Prosecutors

OSWEGO, IL — An Oswego man will remain in jail ahead of his trial on allegations of punching a woman in the face on a trail in Wheaton, according to the DuPage County State's Attorney's Office.

Marvin Carter, 48, faces two counts of aggravated battery in a public place, two counts of resisting a police officer causing injury, one count of aggravated assault on an officer, and one count of misdemeanor battery after the July 11 incident in the 700 block of West Liberty Drive in Wheaton, near the entrance to the Illinois Prairie Path.

According to a news release, police were dispatched at 5:37 p.m. to the path—considered the country's first successful rails-to-trails conversion—for a report of a battery. Officers learned the victim was sitting on a bench near the entrance to the trail when Carter approached her, officials said.

"It is alleged that Carter stood directly in front of the victim and when she stood up, Carter punched her about her head and neck with a closed fist, causing her to fall down to the ground," prosecutors said.

Carter then kicked the victim's property, which had scattered as she fell to the ground, then walked away eastbound on Liberty Drive, officials said. Officers quickly found Carter and, after a brief struggle, took him into custody, according to the release.

"The allegations that Mr. Carter walked up to an innocent woman and, for no discernable reason at all, beat her, are extremely disturbing and will not be tolerated in DuPage County," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said in a statement. "... We are all thankful that the victim in this case is expected to recover from her injuries."

At the time of the incident, prosecutors said Carter was already on pre-trial release for previous charges of aggravated battery, battery, resisting a police officer and criminal damage to government-supported property.

In the Prairie Path case, Carter was initially granted pre-trial release on electronic monitoring, with conditions including that he must remain at least 5,000 feet away from the victim since the new charges are considered non-detainable. After he refused to appear in court on multiple occasions, Judge Jeffrey MacKay granted the state's motion to revoke his release, Berlin said.

"What I find troubling and frustrating, however, is the fact that under the Safe-T Act, this defendant was afforded the opportunity to allegedly beat an innocent, unsuspecting woman after he had been released pre-trial on previous non-detainable aggravated battery and battery charges," Berlin said. "This fact illustrates the need for improvements to the State’s Safe-T Act to give judges more discretion. Too often, we are seeing cases where a defendant accused of a serious crime is released pre-trial because the Act does not allow judges to use their discretion for certain offenses."

Carter is due to next appear in court on Aug. 26.