Arrest in pizza delivery driver's death ruled proper
A man lost a legal maneuver Thursday to have his arrest tossed out in the brutal beating of a St. Charles pizza delivery driver killed as she pleaded to live.
DuPage Circuit Judge Robert Anderson ruled police acted properly Nov. 3, 2006, when they arrested Bradley M. Justice in a downstate motel after tracking him through the use of the slain woman's cellular phone.
Justice, 30, of Sandwich, has pleaded innocent. His defense team argued police, who did not have a warrant, lacked enough evidence to arrest him and that they illegally searched his room.
Prosecutors allege Justice robbed and beat Karen Hassan with a hammer Nov. 2, 2006, as she delivered pizzas near West Chicago. The 41-year-old St. Charles woman was a single mother who weeks earlier began delivering pizzas after being laid off.
Justice is accused of fleeing with Hassan's cell phone, credit cards and a few hundred dollars to buy crack cocaine. Police arrested him the next day in downstate Tuscola.
Authorities testified Thursday they were led to Justice after he used Hassan's cellular phone several times. But it's a call she made to her attorney after realizing she was in trouble that may prove critical for prosecutors.
Hassan talked to her attorney earlier that evening on an unrelated family issue. She hit the redial button after becoming suspicious during the pizza delivery. The entire attack is caught on an audio recording. In her final moments, she pleaded for her life as she was being beaten to death.
More than once, Hassan asked, "Why are you doing this?" The tape ends with her muffled moaning. Authorities said a man's voice is audible.
She left the restaurant about 8:30 p.m. Nov. 2, 2006, to deliver $70 worth of pizzas in an area near North Avenue and Powis Road. Her manager contacted one of her sons, Nicholas, who also worked at the restaurant, after she failed to return.
Her son drove to the delivery area, called 911 and waited for police to arrive. Officers discovered his mother's bludgeoned body about 1 a.m. hidden beneath a truck. Authorities said they found a hammer, which held blood and hair, near her body.
Besides the cell phone records, prosecutors said they also have at least three key witnesses who tie Justice to the brutal crime. They said a bouncer at a strip club near the murder scene identified Justice as the man who borrowed his phone to order the pizzas. Prosecutors said a work acquaintance said Justice had him toss out the pizzas and a bag of the restaurant's receipts. They said another acquaintance reported that Justice admitted killing a pizza driver.
Justice remains in jail without bond on armed robbery and murder charges. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.
Lawyers are due back in court July 3, when Anderson may rule on another defense motion to suppress Justice's recorded statements to police.