CRIME, Northlake man sentenced for killing his mother [NL]

James Pastorello, 51, of Northlake killed his mother, 88, in her Franklin Park home. Judge Lawrence Terrell sentenced Pastorello to 60 years in prison. See Chicago Tribune (Victoria Pierce).

Pastorello admitted on the witness stand that he then went to the basement, retrieved the hammer and hit his mother in the face seven or eight times. He washed off the hammer and placed it on a peg board before leaving his mother gurgling and struggling to breathe....

Defense attorney Thomas Glasgow argued that Pastorello has a low IQ and is confused easily. Glasgow said Pastorello confessed to police in the hours after the murder because he didn't fully understand what was going on.

Glasgow had asked for the minimum sentence of 20 years. "He has lost everything in his life. He has no family; his wife divorced him. He has no one to turn to," Glasgow said.