Sentencing delayed for killer of 3-year-old Waukegan boy
A Waukegan man will have to wait two weeks before learning whether he'll spend his life in prison for brutally beating a 3-year-old boy to death for swearing.
Thomas Albea, 22, of the 1700 block of McAree, was found guilty March 3 on multiple counts of first-degree murder for killing X'Zavion Charleston in his mother's apartment on Sept. 14, 2011.
Albea was scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday, but in an unusual move, Judge Mark Levitt chose to review the law of the case before making a decision. Both sides are to return to court May 22 for a final ruling.
Family members in the courtroom cried out after learning sentencing would be delayed two more weeks.
Lake County prosecutor Eric Kalata said X'Zavion was "viciously beaten about the chest and abdomen" after Albea became upset when the child said a swear word while playing a video game.
Kalata said Albea - who was dating X'Zavion's mother, Qachelle Charleston - punched the boy several times in the stomach. The boy was taken to Vista West Hospital, then transferred to Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, where he died the next day.
Kalata said Wednesday that X'Zavion was beaten so viciously that his internal organs "ruptured."
"X'Zavion Charleston died from multiple blows that connected with accuracy and without mercy," he said.
Hospital workers contacted police about boy's injuries. When questioned by investigators the next day, Albea admitted hurting the child, authorities said.
In a statement read in court Wednesday, Qachelle Charleston said she was devastated at the loss of her son.
"How can you say you love someone then hurt their child?" she wrote in the statement, read in court by county prosecutor Victor O'Block.
Kalata requested Levitt sentence Albea to the maximum of life in prison for the "brutal and vicious nature" of the attack.
Defense attorney Gillian Gosch said, while the death is "certainly a horrible crime," it was not a premeditated murder. She asked for the minimum 20-year sentence.
"This is not somebody who should be in prison for natural life," Gosch said.