Knife-wielding man sentenced in incident downtown
BY BILL BIRD wbird@stmedianetwork.com November 23, 2012 6:04PM
Daniel R. Paul, 32, of the 900 block of Mortonsberry Lane in Naperville, faces trial for aggravated assault, attempted disorderly conduct and a weapons charge following a disturbance last week in the city's downtown. | Courtesy of Naperville Police Department
Updated: December 26, 2012 6:35AM
A man from far west-central Naperville has been ordered to perform community service work after being found guilty in an incident last summer, in which police said he threatened and chased another man with a knife.
Daniel R. Paul was convicted of a misdemeanor charge of attempted disorderly conduct/breach of peace in the July 12 disturbance at a downtown Naperville bar, according to records on file in DuPage County Circuit Court.
Judge Bruce R. Kelsey ordered Paul to perform 50 hours of public service work as part of his sentence, which was imposed Nov. 14. Court records indicated Kelsey also ordered Paul to serve a day in the Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program (SWAP), spend a year on court supervision and pay fines and legal costs totaling $354.
Companion charges of aggravated assault using a deadly weapon and attempted weapons involving clubs, switchblades, stars, knuckles, blackjacks or slingshots were dismissed, court records showed.
Paul, 32, lives on the 900 block of Mortonsberry Lane in the Westwind area. He and another Naperville man, Brian D. Goldman, were arrested at 22 E. Chicago Ave., in a strip mall that features a bar, restaurants and other businesses.
A Naperville police spokesman in July said officers responded to a report of a fight in the mall’s alley, with one of the subjects possibly in possession of a knife.
Paul was detained first, as he and a woman were leaving one of the businesses. Paul at the time carried a black, 5-inch knife with a folding blade, the spokesman said. Goldman was located and taken into custody shortly thereafter.
The spokesman said police did not know what triggered the fight. Paul reportedly brandished the knife and threatened Goldman with it before chasing him inside the business.
Paul between 1999 and 2003 was ticketed or charged at least five times by Naperville police, according to court records. That included a July 1999 arrest on charges of disorderly conduct and unlawful possession or consumption of alcohol by a minor; an August 1999 charge of disorderly conduct; a June 2000 arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol; a June 2001 charge of disorderly conduct; and a July 2003 arrest for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Records indicated Paul pleaded guilty in all of the cases and was assessed fines and court costs each time. He was also placed on supervision in the August 1999 disorderly conduct matter, records showed.
The judge who presided over the drunken-driving case placed Paul on supervision and ordered him to enroll in SWAP, according to records.
In the aggravated assault with a deadly weapon case, Paul was again ordered to enroll in SWAP, placed on two years of conditional discharge and fined $415.
Goldman, 35, lives on the 3000 block of Kewanee Lane, in Naperville’s Tall Grass neighborhood. He was charged with attempted battery/making physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature, records indicated.
Prosecutors on Nov. 15 dismissed the case, “after the complaining witness failed to appear” in court to testify against Goldman, records showed.
