A teenager guilty of second-degree murder in the 2023 fatal stabbing of Sycamore 17-year-old Kaleb McCall was denied a request for a new trial, court records show.

Hamza Khatatbeh, 17, is expected to be sentenced at 1 p.m. May. 27.

After a three-day trial and facing a first-degree murder charge, Khatatbeh was found guilty of second-degree murder on Feb. 20 by a jury.

He also was found guilty of armed violence and aggravated battery. All convictions were for adult charges.

Khatatbeh’s defense lawyers, attorneys Brandon Brown and Jim Ryan, filed a motion on March 20 asking Associate Judge Stephanie Klein for a new trial, court records show. They argued he should be tried on the second-degree murder charge only. They also asked that he be transferred back to juvenile court for sentencing, according to the filing.

Klein denied that motion on April 23 “after consideration of the written motions and arguments of the parties,” according to court records.

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.

Klein also ruled that Khatatbeh’s case must stay in adult court for his sentencing.

The sentencing range for second-degree murder is significantly less than first-degree murder.

He’d have faced at least 20 years in prison on a first-degree conviction. Guilty of second-degree murder, a lesser offense, Khatatbeh now faces between four and 20 years in prison. And since he’s a minor and won’t turn 18 until August, he likely would serve his initial time at a juvenile detention facility.

He’s been held without release at River Valley Juvenile Justice Center in Joliet since his August 2023 arrest.

During the trial, Khatatbeh’s lawyers argued that the then 15-year-old acted in self-defense in fear of his life after he was bullied by a group of older teenagers.

But special prosecutor Derek Dion argued that the stabbing should’ve never happened. He argued that the death of McCall, who was unarmed, was avoidable, and Khatatbeh unfairly brought a knife to an apparent fist fight watched by teenagers who didn’t get along.