In their second day of deliberations, jurors on Friday found a teenager guilty of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of 17-year-old Sycamore teenager Kaleb McCall.

Hamza Khatatbeh, now 17, was 15 when he stabbed McCall in the chest during a fight in the parking lot outside Old National Bank in downtown Sycamore on Sept. 7, 2023. Khatatbeh himself testified Thursday that he did the stabbing.

He also was found guilty of armed violence and aggravated battery.

For nearly 30 months since the stabbing, Khatatbeh has been held without release at River Valley Juvenile Justice Center in Joliet.

Associate Judge Stephanie Klein gave lengthy instructions to jurors Thursday as they began deliberations about 5:08 p.m. They didn’t recess for the night until around 10:45 p.m.

Deliberations picked back up shortly after 10 a.m. Friday. A verdict was reached almost two hours later, with loved ones called back into the courtroom about 11:45 a.m. for the verdict.

Klein said that jurors had asked two questions late Thursday: Were they allowed to leave as the night grew later? And what happens if they can’t come to a decision?

Khatatbeh was charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery and armed robbery. He was charged as an adult.

Both prosecution and defense attorneys hadn’t disputed that Khatatbeh stabbed McCall, who’d been in his senior year with Sycamore School District 427. Khatatbeh was a sophomore at Sycamore High School.

What was up for debate – and ultimately for the jury to decide – is whether Khatatbeh’s actions were justified or not. He’s charged as an adult with first-degree murder in McCall’s killing. McCall died from a single stab wound to the chest.

The prosecution had argued Khatatbeh made a conscious decision to use a potentially deadly weapon against an unarmed person, alleging an excessive use of force not necessary in an apparent adolescent fist fight.

“Ladies and gentlemen, what we have here is not some sort of unavoidable tragedy,” special prosecutor Derek Dion said during closing statements Thursday. “This was a crime. And it’s a crime based on choices.”

Defense attorney Brandon Brown had argued Khatatbeh and two girls he was with at the time were “minding their own business” and were unfairly targeted by a group of older teenagers.

Brown argued on Thursday that Khatatbeh was “aggressively approached” by McCall and McCall’s friend, a boy who Khatatbeh specifically said he was afraid of.

Trial began Tuesday

Friday marked the third day of trial proceedings. Jury selection began Tuesday. On Wednesday, special prosecutor Derek Dion presented nearly a dozen witnesses to the jury: Sycamore police officers who responded to the stabbing and five teenagers who witnessed it.

On Thursday, co-defense attorneys Brandon Brown and Jim Ryan brought forward two of their own witnesses and then called Khatatbeh to the stand.

Khatatbeh told a jury that he’d been “tormented” for months by McCall’s friends – but didn’t mention McCall specifically. He testified that he’d never met McCall before, in fact.

Khatatbeh, in testimony, said that he stabbed an unarmed McCall with a pocketknife.

He said he used a knife because he was afraid for his safety.

“Were you defending yourself?” his defense attorney, Brown, asked Thursday.

“Yes,” Khatatbeh said.

Witnesses from both teenage groups suggested to the jury on Wednesday that they didn’t have any significant connection to each other, some saying they didn’t know McCall or Khatatbeh at all.

But the prosecution has argued that there was “mutual animosity” between Khatatbeh’s group and the teenagers in the car.

Shaw Local has identified Khatatbeh publicly since he is charged as an adult, and the case documents are unsealed. A judge also granted Shaw Local permission to cover the trial and proceedings.

This is a developing story and will be updated.