Carpentersville man pleads guilty to attempted murder
A 44-year-old man admitted to the 2009 attempted murder of his girlfriend as part of a plea deal with McHenry County prosecutors Friday.
Esteban Callejas of Carpentersville agreed to a negotiated sentence of six years in prison for stabbing his 38-year-old girlfriend in the back and chest during a fight in her Crystal Lake-area home on July 25, 2009. Callejas could have faced up to 30 years in prison.
Other traffic charges against Callejas were dropped.
In late 2009, Callejas posted bond and was to be turned over to U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement for deportation, almost avoiding prosecution altogether. But McHenry County Judge Joseph Condon raised Callejas’ bond, which kept him locked up over the course of the trial.
ICE currently has a hold on Callejas’ deportation, according to Christopher Harmon, a McHenry County assistant public defender.
“What they do subject to him serving his sentence or in the interim, I’m not sure what they’re going to do,” Harmon said.
Callejas was found fit to stand trial last week, after spending weeks at an Elgin mental health facility.