CHICAGO — Two years after he was stabbed while standing up for a same-sex couple under attack near Belmont Harbor, a former Cook County state's attorney says he's still in pain and his life will never be the same.
"The only thought that makes enduring all this worthwhile is that I kept the defendant from inflicting worse injuries on the couple I intervened to save," Jonathan Cesena said in a victim-Impact statement read at the sentencing hearing for one of the two men convicted in the case Wednesday.
Erin Meyer says the night Cesena was attack still haunts him to this day:
Edgar Diaz, 23, and Luis Cotto, 24, pleaded guilty to attacking Cesena, who was walking to the harbor to meet a friend and go fishing on Sept. 13, 2012, when he came upon the two of them accosting a gay couple, prosecutors have said.
He yelled at the aggressors to stop, and they turned on him, prosecutors said.
Diaz, accused of beating Cesena and stabbing him in the side and arm with the jagged end of a broken bottle, was sentenced to 25 years in prison Wednesday by Judge William Timothy O'Brien.
"I pictured myself enjoying a beautiful evening, fishing with a friend, and having fond memories of my night out," Cesena said. "Instead I found myself ... on a hospital table within inches of death."
Cesena, who joined the Cook County State's Attorney's Office in 1998 and described his post as "a dream job," resigned after the attack in order to move closer to his family.
"I have wanted to be a prosecutor since I was in high school," he said. "I knew I wanted to devote my life to public service and helping people."
Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Jim McKay, who handled Cesena's case, described his former colleague as a hero.
"Jonathan is a young many who practices what he preaches," McKay said. "He is one of those rare people in our community who doesn't wait to get involved. He didn't just watch it happen. He didn't stand there and wait for someone else to save these two people."
As a prosecutor, Cesena knew the risks, McKay added.
"He knew damn well what could happen," McKay said. "He disregarded the risks and did what few people would."
In Cesena's statement, he recalled the moment he realized he'd been stabbed.
"I can still feel the hot and flowing feeling of the excessive amount of my blood running down my legs that night," he said. "I remember grabbing onto every last bit of energy I had and forcing myself to stay awake. I knew that if I closed my eyes ... I wasn't going to wake up."
Cesena said he still suffers from shooting pain in his side and never regained the sense of security he once felt in public places.
"I still feel my heart race, my breath quicken, and the tingling from adrenaline rushing through my body whenever anyone gets too close to me from behind," he said.
He takes comfort in knowing that Diaz will be behind bars.
"I can only hope that all the physical and emotional pain I have endured will keep the defendant from victimizing someone else," he said.
Cotto was previously sentenced to four years in prison for his aggravated battery conviction by O'Brien.
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