Bolingbrook man sentenced to prison for second-degree murder of stepson

A Bolingbrook man who initially was charged with the first-degree murder of his stepson has been sentenced to prison after a judge found him guilty of second-degree murder in the incident.

On Tuesday, Will County Judge Carmen Goodman sentenced Harold Robinson, 57, to serve 50% of a 28-year prison sentence. He was credited with serving about six years and eight months in jail. That may put Robinson’s actual prison time at seven years and three months.

Robinson was arrested on a charge of first-degree murder of his stepson, Corey Spradley, 23, on June 4, 2017, in Bolingbrook. At the conclusion of a bench trial Nov. 28, Goodman instead found Robinson guilty of second-degree murder, a less serious offense.

Robinson had stabbed Spradley twice, then “chased him around the home while the victim bled out,” according to an official statement of facts filed by prosecutors.

Spradley died from his injuries.

Before the stabbing, Robinson and Spradley had gotten into an argument after Spradley went to Robinson’s home to work on his laundry, prosecutors said.

Under Illinois law, a person commits second-degree murder when they acted under sudden and intense passion from a serious provocation but either negligently or accidentally caused the victim to die.

A second-degree murder charge also would apply in a situation in which a person had an unreasonable belief that the circumstances would justify the killing.

In a Dec. 20 motion for a new trial, Robinson’s attorney, Jason Strzelecki, said Goodman had acquitted his client of the first-degree murder charge but found him guilty of second-degree murder after finding there were mitigating circumstances in the incident.

Strzelecki argued that prosecutors “failed to prove that [Robinson], at the time of the incident, possessed the requisite mental state.” The attorney argued that prosecutors’ failure to prove the elements of the first-degree murder charge meant Robinson could not have been found guilty of second-degree murder.

Goodman denied the motion for a new trial Tuesday.

In a statement, Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow said Robinson “snuffed out the life of his stepson,” who was a a young man in his 20s “with his life ahead of him.”

“The sanctity of human life is the cornerstone of our civilized society,” Glasgow said.