Crime & Safety
Hazel Crest Man Convicted In 2011 Beating, Murder of Evanston Man
Police say Brandon Hinton hit John Costulas in the head and knocked him to the ground, then stole $10 from his pocket and left him unconscious and bleeding in September 2011.
A Hazel Crest man was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder in the death of John Costulas, an Evanston man whom he hit in the head and robbed of $10 in September 2011.
Jury members at the Cook County Circuit Court in Skokie convicted Brandon L. Hinton, 28, in a trial Thursday morning; he will be sentenced on Oct. 22, according to a release from the Evanston police department.
Hinton was walking in the 500 block of Howard Street at 5:20 a.m. on Sept. 2, 2011, when he attacked John Costulas, hitting violently him in the head and causing him to fall to the ground, according to police. Hinton then took $10 from Costulas’ pocket, and walked away, leaving Costulas bleeding and unconscious, police said.
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Costulas was hospitalized in a coma for a week following the attack, and eventually died from his injuries on Sept. 10, according to police.
Prosecutors played tape from a police interrogation of Hinton in the courtroom on Wednesday, according to the Evanston Review.
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After learning what had happened to Costulas, he told detectives, "I didn’t want him to die, man,” the Review reports.
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