Fox River Grove man gets 38 years for killing stepmom with hammer

A 28-year-old Fox River Grove man was sentenced Thursday to 38 years in prison for beating his stepmother to death with a hammer.

A jury convicted Martin R. Green of murder last fall and he was sentenced by McHenry County Judge Sharon Prather, who ruled him fit for trial despite evaluations to the contrary.

Prosecutors said that on Feb. 11, 2010, Green beat 52-year-old Patricia L. McNamara to death, striking her at least 13 times in the head in her Fox River Grove home on the 100 block of Gladys Avenue.

He ran away from the scene, jumped into the Fox River to wash blood off his body and threw his clothes in a garbage bin but was arrested after a police search, authorities said.

Prosecutors said Green murdered McNamara after Green's father gave him an ultimatum to seek help for his mental problems, clean up his life or get kicked out of the house.

Greens family members also said he had a history of mental illness and that efforts to treat him through medications, psychiatrists and hospitalizations had failed.

Before the slaying, Green had little serious criminal history in McHenry County.

Besides traffic citations, court records show he was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence in May 2008. He later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of reckless driving and received court supervision.

He was cited three times in 2000 and 2001 for possession of alcohol by a minor, receiving court supervision on two occasions.

But prosecutors, who persuaded a judge to increase his bail to $5 million, said Green had threatened family members at least twice in the months before McNamara's slaying.

According to prosecutors Green showed up outside his brother's home in June 2011 in Chicago saying, “If you open that door, I'll slit your throat.”

Also in the summer 2010, Green was walking near a forest with his sister when he grabbed her and tried to drag her into the woods. He tried unsuccessfully to obtain a gun that fall.

McHenry County Assistant State's Attorneys David Johnston and Patrick Kenneally prosecuted the case.

Green must serve 100 percent of his sentence.