On March 24, 2019, Thomas Summerwill of Campton Hills beat his mother to death with a baseball bat.
According to prosecutors, Mary Bridget Summerwill’s head and body received numerous injuries, one so severe that brain matter was observed.
Thomas was in his home that evening, and had apparently been drinking (his blood alcohol content was .270%) and smoking (his blood registered traces of marijuana). According to his account, he “woke up in a daze” and thought his mother was an intruder in his bedroom. When police arrived, he was holding his bloodied mother’s head in his arms and crying that “I didn’t know it was her.”
Thomas Summerwill will walk without prison time, having reached a plea agreement with the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office, who agreed to reduce the initial charges of two counts of second degree murder down to involuntary manslaughter of a family member, in return for a guilty plea.
Ms. Summerwill was 53 years old when she died of the vicious beating.
Thomas Summerwill will receive no prison time, and will be on probation for 48 months. During that time he is required to perform 200 hours of community service and undertake various addiction recovery protocols and psychological counseling, including “grief counseling.”
It is worth noting that Summerwill worked as an intern in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office in 2017, among other activities related to his stated interest in “criminal justice reform.”
