Murder charges have been filed in the January beating death of a man in Grand Boulevard on the South Side, Chicago’s first recorded homicide of the year.
Martin Dean, 57, was arrested Tuesday in the death of Allen Jackson, 38, on Jan. 1.
Jackson and his girlfriend went to a New Year's party a couple of hours after midnight at a salon in the 5000 block of South State Street, according to prosecutors.
Two of the girlfriend's cousins began fighting at the party and one was asked to leave.
Many of the party attendees, including Jackson and Dean, went outside with the cousin. Jackson allegedly punched the cousin, knocking him unconscious, before returning inside, prosecutors said.
Dean allegedly confronted Jackson inside the salon, and struck him twice in the face, causing him to fall to the ground unresponsive, prosecutors said.
Jackson was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
An autopsy determined Jackson died of blunt force trauma to the head, with ethanol intoxication listed as a contributing factor.
In bond court Thursday, a judge suggested Dean may have been overcharged.
“There are no weapons involved, there are no allegations there are weapons involved,” the judge said. “This is at most a punch that unfortunately had a much more serious result than one would typically result from a punch or two punches.”
The prosecutor asked that Dean be held without bail, but the judge issued him a $300,000 bond.
The killing was the city’s first of the year, following a violent 2021 that saw more than 800 murders.
