16-year-old La Salle boy admitted to a stabbing Tuesday and will serve an indefinite sentence — his second in 20 months — in juvenile lockup.
The youth was adjudicated Tuesday in La Salle County Circuit Court on one count of aggravated battery, a Class 3 felony. An adult could face 2-5 years in prison for the same crime.
The teen, however, faces a “full commitment” to the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice. That means he can be held indefinitely though not past his 21st birthday.
Judge William P. Balestri accepted the disposition but won’t order the youth sent to IDJJ until the county probation office completes a social history outlining the youth’s personal and criminal record, due before the next hearing on Oct. 26.
The youth was picked up Sept. 11 in Peru following an investigation into a verbal confrontation that ended in a stabbing at 7:42 p.m. Sept. 10 in the 300 block of Wright Street in La Salle. The victim was held overnight at Illinois Valley Community Hospital, Peru.
Notably, the teen suspect still was on parole for a 2008 shooting in which he, 14 years old at the time, shot and wounded two La Salle men in the 400 block of Central Street in La Salle. (A second suspect, a 13-year-old at the time, also carried a rifle but did not fire it and received a lesser disposition. Two adults also were charged, convicted and imprisoned for ancillary roles in the shooting.)
The young shooter was found to be delinquent on Jan. 27, 2009, and sentenced to a “full commitment” in IDJJ for aggravated battery with a firearm, a Class X felony. An adult would have faced 6-30 years with no possibility of probation.
La Salle County state’s attorney Brian Towne called the shooting “so outrageous that we had no choice but to lock the minor up for as long as we possibly can.”
Tuesday, Towne said he was “relatively pleased” with the disposition that will send the youth back into juvenile custody — though he criticized IDJJ for a “haphazard” review process and for prematurely letting the youth out of lockup.
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