Kenneth Seplak, 40, of Round Lake Beach.

A Round Lake Beach man was sentenced Wednesday to 78 years in prison for murdering a romantic rival just before Christmas three years ago in Libertyville.

Kenneth Seplak, 40, was convicted of fatally shooting David Gorski, 30, of Libertyville, on December 23, 2016 along Milwaukee Avenue in Libertyville.

Seplak was sentenced to 53 years in prison on a first-degree murder charge and an additional 25 years in prison for using a firearm to commit first-degree murder. Seplak was found guilty by a Lake County jury in June.

The man will be required to serve the entire 78-year sentence before being eligible for parole, Lake County Circuit Court Judge Mark Levitt said.

“We are extremely satisfied with the judge’s imposed sentence,” Lake County State’s Attorney Michael Nerheim said. “We hope this sentence brings some measure of peace and closure to the entire Gorski family.”

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Gorski was found slumped over the wheel of his vehicle on Milwaukee Avenue near Hollister Drive in Libertyville around 11 p.m. December 23, 2016. He was transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Just prior to being shot, prosecutors said that Gorski had been on a date with a Wauconda woman that Seplak was accused of stalking.

Assistant Lake County State’s Attorney’s Jim Newman and John Brown said at trial that Seplak followed the woman to the AMC Hawthorn 12 movie theater in Vernon Hills and saw her go inside with Gorski.

Seplak left the theater and went back to his home in Round Lake Beach where he picked up a revolver. Seplak then drove back to the movie theater and waited for Gorski and the woman to come out, prosecutors said.

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Seplak then followed Gorski from the theater, shooting him in the chest when the two vehicles were moving side-by-side on Milwaukee Avenue a short time later, prosecutors added.

During the sentencing hearing Wednesday, Newman said Seplak made “hundreds of bad decisions” the night of the shooting and that there was “no justification for the actions” Seplak took that night.

Newman said the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force and the Libertyville Police Department did an exceptional job investigating the case.