A 20-year-old man has been sentenced to 69 years in the 2016 fatal shooting of a Mundelein man during a party near the University of Illinois in Champaign.
Patton was convicted in September of first-degree murder for killing 22-year-old George Korchev. He also was convicted of aggravated battery with a firearm for wounding three others.
Police say the shooting followed a disagreement at a party in the 300 block of East Green Street in Champaign that led to a fight. None of the four victims were involved in the fight.
Champaign County Judge Roger Webber sentenced Robbie Patton on Thursday.
Assistant State’s Attorney Scott Larson sought a 115-year sentence and tried to show a pattern of wrongdoing by citing an incident in which Patton, then a minor, pleaded guilty to aggravated discharge of a firearm.
But defense attorney Tony Allegretti recommended 51 years, saying it wasn’t a preplanned mass shooting and Patton was young.
Korchev graduated from Mundelein High School in 2012 and recently had earned a degree at the College of Lake County. He was set to start a nursing job at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville the week after the shooting.
Korchev had gone to Champaign to visit a friend he had known since eighth grade. Korchev was in a group walking back to the friend’s apartment when the shooting occurred. The friend and another friend were among the others who were shot.
The two, in addition to Korchev’s girlfriend, who was also with him at the time of the shooting, testified at Patton’s trial.
Patton had completed a four-month stint in a boot camp two weeks before the shooting, according to records. He was granted boot camp instead of serving an eight-year prison sentence for discharging a weapon at a Steak ‘n Shake restaurant in December 2015.
