Man convicted of breaking into aunt’s Joliet home with ax sentenced to prison

A man who represented himself in a trial where he was convicted of breaking into his aunt’s home in Joliet with an ax was sentenced to serve what may end up being more than three years in prison.

On July 19, Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak handed down a 10-year prison sentence for Allen Gillaspie, 38, of Marysville, Washington, whom jurors found guilty of the Feb. 5, 2021 home invasion at a Pandola Avenue residence in Joliet’s West Side.

Bertani-Tomczak’s sentencing order said Gillaspie must serve at least 50% of his 10-year sentence and credited him with 487 days already served in the Will County jail since March 20, 2021.

That means Gillaspie may end up spending about three years and seven months in prison.

Gillaspie must also serve a year and half of mandatory supervised release, otherwise known as parole.

Following a two-day trial, the jury spent about 40 minutes in deliberations before finding Gillaspie guilty of home invasion, a class X felony that carries a penalty of 6 to 30 years in prison.

Gillaspie chose to represent himself during the trial. He referred to himself as either “defendant” or by his name. In closing arguments, Gillaspie said prosecutors did not place “the defendant” at the scene of the crime. He did not elaborate.

Yet Will County Assistant State’s Attorneys Dan Egan and Amanda Tasker pointed to DNA and fingerprint evidence obtained from the ax that forensic scientists linked to Gillaspie.

Police officers recovered the ax from inside of a broken curio cabinet that was in the home.

Tena Klimek, the aunt of Gillaspie, testified that she was at her home having coffee and waiting for her husband when she saw a vehicle quickly pull up to her driveway. She said she saw a man get out of the vehicle and open the gate that led to the rear side of her home.

Klimek said when the man approached the door, she saw he was wearing a face mask and had a beard. She said he was carrying an ax that he used to smash through the sliding glass door in the back of the home.

Klimek said she ran out the front door screaming, cried for help and fell into a snow bank outside.

“I thought it was the day I was going to die,” Klimek said.

In a statement about Klimek, Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow said she can “never be compensated for the sheer terror that Gillaspie put her through.”

“To her credit, her own resourcefulness prevented this from being more tragic,” Glasgow said.