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Chicago Man Claims He Has 'Lawful Justification' For Killing Other Man With Hammer
Gregory Stamps is claiming that he beat David Castile to death with a hammer last weekend in Chicago because Castile allegedly tried to rape him.
A lawyer representing a Chicago man accused of murdering another man with a hammer claims his client had “lawful justification” for doing so.
The public defender tried to argue with a judge in Cook County on Tuesday that their client Gregory Stamps, 31, should be given a bond because he had “lawful justification” for allegedly beating 42-year-old David Castile to death with a hammer over the weekend, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
The presiding judge, however, denied bond for Stamps, who has been charged with first degree murder for Castile’s death, CWBChicago reports.
Castile’s body was discovered on Sunday when a resident of Stamp's apartment building in Englewood neighborhood of the city noticed a blood trail in a hallway. That trail of blood led to the rear of the building and ultimately a dumpster located in an alley outside, prosecutors said in court on Tuesday. The victim was found next to the dumpster, covered in blood.
Prosecutors say that officers on the scene saw Stamps in a stairwell and that he was literally red-handed, covered in blood.
Stamps allegedly first tried to claim that Castile, whom he met at a club on Saturday night, fell down the stairs but, when officers threatened to put him in a squad car, he changed his story.
“I’m going to be honest, he was just trying to rape me,” he allegedly said, according to the conversation recorded by body cams.
Stamps has since allegedly admitted to bludgeoning Castile in the head multiple times with a hammer; officers say they found a blood-soaked mattress and a bloody hammer in his apartment unit.
The Cook County Medical Examiner's office found that Castile had been struck 20-30 times in the head and had defensive wounds on his hands and arms. Stamp, police said, had no injuries, but he allegedly had Castile's wallet in his pants pocket.
This isn’t Stamps’ first bout of legal trouble. He pleaded guilty to attempted murder and aggravated battery in 2013 — a case in which he also claimed self-defense — the Sun-Times reports. He was recently released on his own recognizance for a misdemeanor battery charge earlier this year while out on parole for that incident.
Stamps is due back in court on May 16.
