Enraged after he made a surprise middle-of-the-night visit to the apartment of his ex-girlfriend, Gabriel Castillo, 35, beat Jesse Ramirez, 33, to death with a shovel.
That is what Castillo said during a sentencing hearing before 144th District Court Judge Angus McGinty.
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"After I hit him, he was still coming at me," Castillo testified.
Asked if he hit Ramirez repeatedly, Castillo replied, "I can't recall. I can recall hitting him two or three times."
Castillo said he was drunk and angry when he kicked in the door of Felicia Martinez' apartment in the early morning hours of Dec. 30, 2010, and found Ramirez there.
Martinez was his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his two children, he testified.
He said Ramirez said words to the effect that "she's mine now," Castillo said.
He said he stepped out the apartment following a brief struggle, grabbed a shovel and returned.
He beat Ramirez about the head and face.
Noting Castillo's extensive criminal record that included 21 arrests, McGinty sentenced him to 45 years in prison, the maximum sentence allowed under the plea bargain.
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