URBANA — A teenager has been convicted in the shooting death last year of a 22-year-old man from Mundelein, an innocent bystander whose death followed a fight at a party near the University of Illinois campus.
A Champaign County jury found 19-year-old Robbie Patton of Champaign guilty Thursday of first-degree murder in the killing of George Korchev.
Korchev had gotten his nursing degree from the College of Lake County in December 2015, recently passed his nursing board exam and was about to start a job as a registered nurse at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville. He was in Champaign to visit friends, the Daily Herald reported.
Korchev, a 2012 graduate of Mundelein High School, “was always smiling and laughing and making sure everyone around him was as well,” a friend, Justin Konieczny, said after the shooting, calling him “an all-around amazing guy who cared deeply about his family, school and work.”
He was born in Ukraine, and his family moved to the United States when he was 7, his girlfriend’s mother told the Daily Herald.
Korchev died after being shot outside a party on Green Street, an area near campus known for bars and restaurants. Three other people were wounded.
Patton also was convicted of three counts of aggravated battery with a firearm. He faces 45 to 85 years in prison for murder when he’s sentenced Nov. 8.
Police say the shooting followed a disagreement that started when a woman spilled a drink on another woman leading to arguments and a fight, including the beating of a man who the police said was a friend of Patton. Neither Korchev nor any of the three other shooting victims was involved in the fight, according to the police.
Assistant Public Defender Tony Allegretti maintained that investigators ignored leads that could have implicated someone else.
