A Rock Falls man whose plea agreement on home invasion and sex assault charges was turned down last week in Whiteside County Circuit Court is asking a judge to dismiss the case, claiming his right to a speedy trial has been violated.

Daniel J. Yanes, 48, is charged with home invasion, criminal sexual assault, aggravated battery and aggravated domestic battery in connection with an Illinois State Police investigation that began in February 2022. He was charged April 6, 2022, with home invasion and criminal sexual assault in connection with an incident that is alleged to have happened Oct. 1, 2021. He was taken into custody on April 11, 2022.

Since that time, the charges have been amended twice, once on Oct. 28 when the aggravated battery charge was added, and then again two days later, when the aggravated domestic battery charge was added.

Yanes was in court Dec. 11 for a negotiated plea hearing when Judge James Heuerman refused to accept the plea deal. The case was then scheduled for a pretrial conference set for 1 p.m. Monday, Dec. 15. About two hours before that conference was set to begin, defense attorney Jim Mertes filed a motion to dismiss, claiming Yanes’s right to a speedy trial had been violated by six days.

He said Yanes’s written demand for a speedy trial was filed on April 12, 2022. Under Illinois law, every person on pretrial release or recognizance is to be tried within 160 days from the date a defendant demands trial, unless “the delay is occasioned by the defendant,” according to the motion.

Mertes included a breakdown of dates and the number of days that have elapsed since Yanes demanded the speedy trial, exclusive of delays occasioned by Yanes. That list accounts for 166 days that have elapsed, and includes the four days that passed from when the plea agreement was turned down on Dec. 11 through Dec. 15, when Mertes filed the motion to dismiss.

“The defendant has therefore not been tried by the court having jurisdiction within 160 days from the date defendant demanded trial, exclusive of delays occasioned by the defendant,” the motion states.

In response, Heuerman said he wanted to give Whiteside County State’s Attorney Colleen Buckwalter time to review the motion to dismiss, with Buckwalter agreeing that she wanted to take a closer look at the timeline.

Over Mertes’s objection, Heuerman set a hearing for 1:30 p.m. Dec. 26 to address the motion to dismiss. The jury trial is still set to begin at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 13.

Home invasion carries a sentence of 6 to 30 years in prison. Criminal sexual assault carries a 4- to 15-year prison sentence.