Disappointing.
That’s how Richard Ebey described the 55-year prison sentence handed down Friday to the man who stabbed Ebey’s 83-year-old father, Roscoe, to death in 2007.
Originally sentenced to 60 years for the brutal murder he pleaded guilty to, Hector Mauricio, 27, appealed Judge Timothy Sheldon’s original sentence. The Second District Appellate Court ruled that Sheldon appeared to put too much emphasis on Ebey’s character and life story when determining how long Mauricio would spend in prison.
Roscoe Ebey, a World War II veteran, was asleep in his Aurora Township home on May 29, 2007 when Mauricio broke into the man’s home looking for things to steal.
Medical examiners concluded that there were 79 wounds on Ebey’s body when he died, and prosecutors said Mauricio attempted to set Ebey and Ebey’s home on fire to cover up the crime.
“Mr. Ebey was violently stabbed on almost every part of his body,” Assistant State’s Attorney Jody Gleason said Friday in Kane County Court.
She asked Judge Susan Clancy Boles to issue an extended term sentence above the 60-year maximum because the crime was “exceptionally brutal and heinous.”
Boles agreed that Maurcio’s crime was heinous in nature, but said she did not believe it was indicative of an extended sentence, which could have landed Mauricio in prison for life. Instead, Boles pointed to several mitigating factors which she weighed when issuing the 55-year sentence.
Boles said Maruicio’s childhood could be compared to an “urban war zone.” That, and Maruicio’s alcohol abuse on the day of the crime, were explanations for what happened, defense attorney Julie Yetter said Friday.
“It is an explanation for how someone you heard is a kind, thoughtful, introspective person … could get to the point where these events could happen,” Yetter said.
She said there was no premeditation in Ebey’s murder, and that her client has shown complete remorse.
“There is hope and there is potential for Mr. Mauricio to become a productive member of society,” Yetter said. “He has not thrown up his hands and given up. He is continuing to work to better himself, which speaks to the strength of his spirit and his willingness to change.”
Richard Ebey hopes that Mauricio does change, he said outside the courtroom after Boles issued the 55-year sentence.
“I hope that he can better himself,” Ebey said. “But, what he did to my father, he didn’t have to do. All he had to do was ask and my dad would have given him anything he wanted.”
As details of the 2007 murder were rehashed over Mauricio’s sentencing hearing this week, Ebey said it was like reliving the nightmare.
He said it is “unimaginable” how anyone could do what Mauricio did to his father.
“And to think, he could get out of prison and be back in public.”