A West Chicago teenager was sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted first-degree murder in the brutal 2023 beating of an autistic man.
Sebastian P. Kegebein, 17, was one of two teens charged in connection with the attack on the 19-year-old autistic man on July 23, 2023, near a home on the 0N700 block of Old Kirk Road on West Chicago’s far southwest side.
Prosecutors said Kegebein and codefendant Jacob Berrera, 19, of West Chicago, “mercilessly punched and kicked the man hundreds of times in the face, head and body, and forcefully and repeatedly stomped on his head while the victim laid on the ground in a fetal position trying to protect himself from their repeated blows.”
Prosecutors added the pair “high-fived” each other following the attack, with one commenting to the other, “He’s gonna die.”
While the victim did not die, he continues to suffer from permanent brain damage, cognitive impairments and seizures after spending days in a hospital’s intensive care unit following the attack, authorities said.
“Kegebein was three days shy of his 16th birthday when he committed this heinous crime,” Kane County 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.”
Kegebein will have to serve 85% of his sentence and will receive credit for a year already spent behind bars since he was initially arrested in connection with the attack.
Barrera, who was 18 at the time of the attack, is still awaiting trial. He remains jailed in Kane County.