Schaumburg man who pleaded guilty in Gilberts killing gets 2½ years probation
If the saying "no good deed goes unpunished" is true, then Su Won Kil is your testimonial.
The 50-year-old former Gilberts man, who ready had a penchant for helping others and volunteering, took in a man who needed help and had nowhere to live in early 2010 that he met through the Cornerstone Church in Elgin.
But after Kil opened his townhouse - rent free - in early 2010 to Dae Hae Kwak, a 61-year-old South Korean national who worked as an independent cabdriver, things changed.
Kwak became erratic, secretive and aggressive, refusing to leave after Kil asked him to move out in July 2010.
On Aug. 18, 2010, Kwak asked Kil, an information technology worker, to help him with his computer and attacked him with a stun gun.
The struggle ended after Kil shot Kwak four times with a .38-caliber handgun - killing him.
"I am sorry for that person, and I have to live with it," Kil said after court Wednesday. "I sorry I couldn't help him more, better."
Kil, 50, who immigrated from South Korea in 1995 and now lives in Schaumburg, was sentenced to 2½ months probation in after pleading guilty earlier this year to second-degree murder.
Kane County Judge Clint Hull noted Kil's history of helping others and community service, his lack of a criminal record or even a speeding ticket, and noted that, in his 10-plus years as a judge, he had never seen a defendant with a lower risk score to reoffend.
"Mr. Kwak was volatile, he was aggressive and he was putting you and other church members in fears based on his behavior," Hull said. "This happened in your home."
Kil initially was charged with first-degree murder, a crime that carried a punishment ranging from 45 to 85 years in prison if jurors determined he fired the fatal shot.
After years of delays in his case, Kil entered a "blind" or "cold" plea on the reduced charge of second-degree murder, which has a punishment ranging from probation to up to 20 years in prison, and left it to a judge to weigh aggravating and mitigating factors in deciding his fate.
Wednesday, defense attorney Patrick Crimmins called numerous witnesses to testify to Kil's kindness and character and more than 50 friends and church members attended.
A letter from the church pastor corroborated Kwak's behavior.
Crimmins noted Kil's glasses were knocked off and he had marks from the stun gun and bruises all over his body.
"He was attacked. During the struggle, he was blind," Crimmins said. "He took Mr. Kwak in when no one else would. He gave him a room."
Kil called authorities and waited for them to come to the scene; he spent 111 days in jail until posting bond.
Prosecutors argued for prison time, saying Kil could have asked police to help evict Kwak and suggesting Kil finished him off by placing a gun to his neck and firing.
Kwak's death was Gilberts' first homicide since 2007, when Frank Hill killed his girlfriend and burned down her townhouse.