Probation For Son Who Accidentally Killed Mother With Bat: Plea

ST. CHARLES, IL — A 23-year-old Campton Hills man pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter last week after prosecutors said he beat his mother to death with a baseball bat during what he thought was a home intrusion in 2019.

According to the agreement, Thomas Summerwill will serve four years probation, including 200 hours of community service. He will not be allowed to consume alcohol for a year during this time and will be required to attend grief and drug counseling.

Attorneys for Summerwill said the then 21-year-old was acting in self-defense on the morning of March, 24, 2019, when he grabbed a baseball bat after he heard a noise in his bedroom. Prosecutors said he then struck the person he thought was an intruder multiple times with the bat, not realizing it was his own mother, Mary Summerwill.

Summerwill was home on spring break at the time of the incident. In addition to having trace amounts of marijuana in his system and registering a .270 blood alcohol content, according to prosecutors, his attorneys also said Summerwill had just gotten back from a trip to Europe and could have been jet-lagged from travel.

"Thomas Summerwill must live with the fact that, accidental or not, he is responsible for his mother's death," said Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser. "He will never again be able to hug her, seek advice from her, or tell her he loves her. Sending him to prison – sending anyone to prison under these circumstances – serves no purpose."

Summerwill's defense attorney Liam Dixon said Mosser spoke to the family, who assured her they did not want to see him incarcerated.

Mary Summerwill, 53, died shortly after the incident at Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital in Geneva. The Kane County Coroner's office said she died from cranial injuries consistent with Thomas Summerwill's account of hitting her with the bat.

At the time, Sumerwill was a University of Wisconsin-Madison student. The charges against him were dropped from second-degree murder to felony involuntary manslaughter of a household member in exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors said.

"What is appropriate is that Thomas Summerwill understand what went wrong, why it happened and that he work to ensure he has a safe and productive life," Mosser said. "Along with the tools to ensure he is never again involved in such a preventable tragedy."