Karen Hassan's family sat quietly Thursday as a prosecutor explained in detail the actions of the man who admitted to beating her to death with a hammer.
Nearly two and a half years after Hassan, the 41-year-old St. Charles mother of four, was found dead near West Chicago, Bradley Justice pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and aggravated robbery in her death.
Chris Hassan, Karen's now 24-year-old son, said after Thursday's hearing that he was relieved that the case is nearing an end. But he added that he wished prosecutors were seeking a death sentence in the case. State's Attorney Joe Birkett announced after the incident that prosecutors will not seek the death penalty in the case.
"I've been begging for a death sentence," Hassan said. "I'm curious to see what will happen next."
Justice will appear in court Tuesday for a hearing to determine his sentencing terms. At that time, DuPage County Judge Peter Dockery, who accepted Thursday's plea, likely will schedule a sentencing hearing. He could receive between 20 years and the rest of his life in prison.
Assistant State's Attorney Bob Berlin explained in court Thursday how Justice called Rosati's pizza in St. Charles at 7:47 p.m. on Nov. 2, 2006, from a phone belonging to a bouncer at Diamonds Gentlemen's Club at Powis Road and Route 64.
The bouncer told prosecutors that Justice walked across Route 64 and asked to borrow his cell phone. He then made two phone calls, walked back across the street, and later returned with a page torn from a phone book. The bouncer allowed Justice to use his phone again and overheard him place a $77.90 order of three pizzas, two orders of chicken wings and two two-liter bottles of Coke to Rosati's.
A Rosati's manager told prosecutors that Karen Hassan left to deliver the food about 8:30 p.m. to a business located on Powis Road, just north of Route 64.
When Hassan didn't return, her son, Nick, who also worked at the pizza parlor, became suspicious, prosecutors said. Hassan's manager called the cell phone number tied to the order and spoke with the Diamonds bouncer. Police later found Hassan's abandoned car near the Powis Road business, and in the early morning hours of Nov. 3, 2006, officers found Hassan's beaten body nearby hidden under a truck.
Prosecutors said Justice took Hassan's cell phone and the tips she made that day in the more than seven hours she worked in her shift. He then beat her on the head with a hammer and dragged her body under a truck, police said. Justice also placed several phone calls on Hassan's phone to friends and his girlfriend for rides and drugs that night, prosecutors said. He had a friend who lived near the crime scene hide the nearly untouched food he ordered, which later was found by police, prosecutors said.
Justice also told a friend that he killed a woman and asked for help moving the body, prosecutors said. The friend refused.
The next morning, Justice's girlfriend drove him from her Wheaton home to a motel in downstate Tuscola, where police arrested him hours later.
Prosecutors said that during the attack, Hassan placed a phone call to her lawyer. An answering service recorded the call, which contained moaning. Her attorney later identified Hassan's voice on the tape.
