Sentencing postponed for Sycamore 17-year-old guilty in Kaleb McCall fatal stabbing

A judge on Wednesday postponed an expected sentencing for a teenager guilty in the 2023 fatal stabbing of Sycamore 17-year-old Kaleb McCall, ruling after she said the defense filed a last-minute motion and apologizing to the victim’s family.

A prison sentence was set to be handed down Wednesday for Hamza Khatatbeh, 17, found guilty after a three-day trial in February of second-degree murder in McCall’s death.

But Associate Judge Stephanie Klein said she was bound by the law, which requires her to give specialized consideration for minors facing sentencing. She said Khatatbeh’s lawyers filed a motion to continue the sentence at 7:02 p.m. Tuesday, about 18 hours before the sentencing hearing was set to begin.

“I do want to take a moment to address the family and friends of Kaleb McCall,” Klein said in her ruling. “I know this is hollow and largely, I suspect, meaningless, but I apologize. I have to grant this motion.”

The sentencing has been rescheduled to 1 p.m. on June 10.

Kaleb D. McCall, 17, of Sycamore, had just started his senior year at Sycamore High School when he died after a stabbing Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023. His death is being investigated as a homicide by the Sycamore Police Department, and a classmate, 15, is charged in McCall's death. — Kaleb D. McCall, 17, of Sycamore, had just started his senior year at Sycamore High School when he died after a stabbing Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023. (Photo provided by Scott McCall)

McCall’s loved ones, including his parents, had filled Klein’s courtroom by 1 p.m. Wednesday. Gasps were heard in the courtroom at Klein’s ruling.

McCall died from a single stab wound to the chest in a downtown Sycamore bank parking lot on Sept. 7, 2023. He was in his senior year in Sycamore School District 427. Loved ones remembered him as an eager-to-graduate teenager who liked spending time outside and with his family and friends.

Defense attorney Jim Ryan told Klein that he needed more time to review a mental health evaluation filed as part of Khatatbeh’s pre-sentencing report. The report is often used while judges consider sentencing lengths, including whether a person is fit for rehabilitation.

Ryan said the defense received the report on Friday. He and fellow defense attorney Brandon Brown filed a motion to reconsider Tuesday night.

“I apologize to the victim’s family as well,” Ryan said. “Mr. Brown and I feel terrible about – we didn’t do this on purpose, judge."

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Hamza Khatatbeh, (left) along with one of his lawyers, Jim Ryan, listens to special prosecutor Derek Dion as he makes a point to Associate Judge Stephanie Klein Wednesday, May 27, 2026, during a hearing at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Sycamore. Khatatbeh, who was found guilty of second-degree murder in the 2023 stabbing of Sycamore 17-year-old Kaleb McCall, was scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday but that has been postponed until June 10. (Mark Busch)

Charged as an adult with first-degree murder in McCall’s death, Khatatbeh was instead found guilty on Feb. 20 of second-degree murder, significantly reducing the maximum prison sentence he faces.

After the three-day trial, the jury also found him guilty of armed violence and aggravated battery.

Klein, on April 23, denied a request for a new trial filed by Khatatbeh’s defense lawyers. They’d asked the judge to consider a new trial on a second-degree murder charge only, filings show. Klein also ruled that Khatatbeh’s case remain in adult court for sentencing, court records show.

In October 2024, more than a year after McCall’s death, DeKalb County Circuit Court Judge Joseph Pedersen ruled in favor of a request from the DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office to try Khatatbeh as an adult. At the time, Pederson – who’d presided over Khatatbeh’s juvenile case – said Khatatbeh “continued to act aggressively” despite attending counseling sessions at a juvenile detention center.

On Wednesday, Klein again denied efforts by Khatatbeh’s lawyers to have a new trial or to be sentenced as a juvenile instead of an adult.

Ryan argued that Khatatbeh should be sentenced as a minor, not an adult, pointing to a lack of criminal history and a report that listed him as likely to be successfully rehabilitated.

The judge said records show Khatatbeh has been involved in multiple fights and physical altercations while held at River Valley Juvenile Justice Center in Joliet, including in January.

“The most recent one was just shortly before the trial, which did make an impression on the court,” Klein said.

Ryan argued that Khatabeh was struck first during that Jan. 3 altercation, which occurred inside a math classroom at the center.

But special prosecutor Derek Dion argued that Jan. 3 “was not the only incident of violence or fighting or threats that the defendant was involved in.” Dion listed seven times between December 2024 and November 2025 when the juvenile center reported incidents involving Khatatbeh’s behavior.

“The reports do show he goes to his counseling, he goes to his services, he participates, and yet made, still, a choice to engage in physical violence when it was not necessary,” Klein said of Khatatbeh. “What the court weighed most heavily … while he lacked any record of juvenile delinquency, the seriousness of the offense outweighed that fact.”

Khatatbeh was 15 and a sophomore at Sycamore High School when he stabbed McCall in the chest in the parking lot outside Old National Bank in downtown Sycamore on Sept. 7, 2023. Khatatbeh testified during the trial that he did the stabbing. He said he didn’t know McCall before he stabbed him with a pocket knife.

Testimony from witnesses during the trial showed that the altercation came amid tension between two separate groups of teenagers who were seen on surveillance video in the bank parking lot as the stabbing occurred.

He’d have faced at least 20 years in prison on a first-degree conviction. Guilty of second-degree murder, Khatatbeh faces between four and 20 years in prison.

This story was updated at 6:07 p.m. May 27, 2026.