Man pleads guilty to attempted murder in hammer attack
An Aurora man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for attacking a neighbor with a hammer.
Johnathan. T. McDonald, 23, of the 400 block of North River Street, pleaded guilty Wednesday to attempted first-degree murder.
According to authorities, around 7:15 p.m. Nov. 20, 2021, McDonald knocked on the door of a neighbor in an apartment building.
When she opened the door, told McDonald to enter and turned around, he hit her in the head with a hammer.
She fell and passed out. When she came too, he hit her in the head a second time.
The woman sustained serious injuries, according to authorities.
McDonald must serve at least 85% of the sentence before being eligible for parole.
In exchange for his plea, other charges, including home invasion, aggravated battery and unlawful restraint, were dropped.
"There was no clear motivation for Mr. McDonald's heinous, violent and unprovoked attack. Their relationship before this brutal incident had been friendly," assistant state's attorney Mark Stajdohar said in a news release from the Kane County state's attorney's office.