Sebastian P. Kegebein, a 17-year-old resident of West Chicago, has agreed to a sentence of eight years of imprisonment in the Illinois Department of Corrections in exchange for a guilty plea to the offense of Attempt first-degree murder, a Class X felony.
According to prosecutors, on the evening of July 23, 2023, Kegebein, along with another defendant, mercilessly punched and kicked a 19-year-old autistic man hundreds of times in the face, head, and body, and forcefully and repeatedly stomped on his head while the victim lay on the ground in a fetal position trying to protect himself. When Kegebein and his partner were through with their violent attack, they high-fived each other in a congratulatory fashion as they left the bleeding, motionless man lying alone on the ground. According to prosecutors, one commented to the other, “He’s gonna die.”
Kegebein was tried as an adult despite being three days shy of his 16h birthday at the time of the attack.
The victim suffered life threatening injuries, including an intracranial acute brain bleed, closed fracture of the nasal bone, laceration to the scalp requiring surgical repair, concussion, skull swelling, and multiple other injuries requiring him to be hospitalized in the intensive care unit of Northwestern Hospital to preserve his life. Today, he continues to suffer from permanent brain damage, cognitive impairments and seizures.
In accordance with Illinois law, Kegebein must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence and he receives credit for 366 days served in detention. The case against his codefendant is still pending. Because he was 18 at the time of the offense, his codefendant was charged directly in adult court and has remained detained since July 2023.
“Kegebein was three days shy of his 16th birthday when he committed this heinous crime,” Assistant State’s Attorney Debra L. Conforti said. “Because of the extreme level of violence and inexcusable conduct on the part of the defendant, the state transferred this case to adult criminal court where the defendant could be held accountable by receiving a sentence that reflected the severity of the crime he committed.”
