A Coles County judge Friday handed down a 12-year sentence to a Mattoon man who pleaded guilty to raping his mentally disabled brother.

While Ernest Welch Jr. tapped his foot with his head buried in his hands, Judge Mitch Schick read through his sentence, which includes a four-year stint of probation in the Coles County Mental Health Center treatment program for sex offenders after serving time.

Welch, 42, pleaded guilty on June 25 to two counts of Class 1 felonies for the sexual assault of his brother, John, who has the mental capacity of a 6-year-old child.

Schick’s sentence sends Welch to state prison for a minimum of 85 percent of his sentence, or 10 years.

Despite the defense’s attempt to continue the sentence to a later date, Welch was sentenced for the sexual assault of his brother that occurred on Oct. 12, 2001.

On that date, Welch drove to Champaign to visit John for the first time where he lives at Residential Developers, a group home for disabled adults. That same day, Ernest Welch and his brother left the home for a weekend trip to Mattoon.

The incident occurred that day at Welch’s home on the 2500 block of Broadway Avenue.

When John Welch returned to his home in Champaign he told Jill Jurgensmeier, who worked with John on a daily basis, that his brother had hurt him.

In an interview with police, John could barely speak of the incident, using a lot of hand gestures speaking, “two, three words tops,” said Adam Wystock, Mattoon police officer and witness for the prosecution.

Defense attorney Lonnie Lutz battled Friday against State’s Attorney Duane Deters in hopes for a lenient sentence.

Deters argued that Welch should serve 15 years in prison for “one of the most heinous crimes a person could commit.

“He has literally betrayed his brother,” Deters said in court. “(John) will never be the same.”

Lutz contended, however, that Welch had cooperated with authorities, did not blame the crime on alcohol or substance abuse and had expressed remorse about the crime.

In a last effort, Welch himself fought off tears and pleaded for the court’s leniency.

“This was just a one-time incident,” he said. “I apologize to my brother, family, friends and to this court.”

However, Schick handed down a relatively stiff sentence providing that Welch had prior history for trouble with the law which contributed to his sentence, Schick said.

In 1991, Welch was arrested on charges of domestic battery because he pushed and knocked down his mother, June Welch.

June Welch was among the defense’s witnesses who asked for the court’s leniency.

“I couldn’t see him live out on the street,” she said.

June Welch also is the mother of John, the victim, but stated in court that without Ernest Welch around, “it would be an awful hardship.”