Carpentersville man sentenced in baseball bat beating

A Carpentersville man was sentenced to 16 years in prison Friday for hitting a man in the head with a baseball bat, prosecutors said.

Antwan D. Youngblood, 31, of the 1300 block of York Drive, was sentenced for the June 2008 incident that almost killed the 21-year-old victim.

On June 28, 2008, Youngblood was driving in the 2700 block of Hopi Lane then stopped when his car was hit with BB pellets from a nearby rooftop.

Youngblood got out of the car and he and the victim got into a verbal altercation that turned into a fistfight, prosecutors said.

Youngblood drove away from the scene, then returned with a bat, chasing the 21-year-old and a witness. He eventually caught up with the victim and hit him in the head three times with the bat, prosecutors said.

The victim sustained a shattered skull, and the incident left him with permanent memory, speech, balance and vision issues, in addition to seizures, prosecutors said.

On Jan. 12, a Kane County jury found Youngblood guilty of attempted murder, armed violence and two counts of aggravated battery.

Associate Judge Allen M. Anderson sentenced Youngblood to 16 years for attempted murder, seven years for armed violence and five years each for the two aggravated battery charges.

The sentences are to be served concurrently, said Chris Nelson, a spokesman for the Kane County State's Attorney's office.

Youngblood must serve 85 percent of his sentence and was given credit for 664 days he spent in the Kane County jail while the case was pending.

His previous criminal history includes convictions for aggravated battery, unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon and several drug-related crimes.