Domestic battery has landed a Kankakee man in prison for four years. 35-year-old Allen Smith man was sentenced in Iroquois circuit court (Tuesday) to four years in prison for repeatedly punching a woman in the face.

Prosecutors said it happened in front of the woman's children at a rural Chebanse residence in March 2013.

Iroquois County judge Gordon Lustfeldt found Smith guilty of domestic battery during a bench trial on August 8th.

State's Attorney Jim Devine's news release stated witnesses said they saw Smith holding his girlfriend down in a chair and striking her in the face.

Iroquois County sheriff's police had been called to the couple's rural Chebanse address 14 times during an 18-month period, according to assistant State's Attorney Alex O'Brien. At the sentencing, O'Brien said Smith and the victim continued to live together despite being ordered by the court to stay away from each other.

"We are past the point of talking about rehabilitation," O'Brien said in the news release. "If nothing changes, nobody really doubts that we are going to be in this courtroom again, or in a courtroom in Kankakee, talking about new charges with another victim or maybe the same victim."
Smith has eight prior felony convictions and has been sent to prison six times. He has two prior domestic battery convictions.

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