Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) on Monday called the long-awaited conviction of a Hazel Crest, Ill., man in the fatal beating of Evanston resident a “wonderful ending to a horrible situation.”

At a City Council meeting, Rainey said the family of John Costulas, 61, saw “closure” in a Cook County jury’s finding Thursday that Brandon Hinton, 28, was guilty of first-degree murder. Police said Hinton struck Costulas in the head before taking $10 from him, leaving him bleeding and unconscious Sept. 2, 2011, in the 500 block of Howard Street.

(Hazel Crest, Ill., man convicted in fatal attack on Evanston man)

“The hearings and trial and case have been going on for two years,” Rainey said. “On the anniversary of the death, a few days give or take, a jury came back with a felony murder conviction for the accused.”

Rainey said a group of Evanston and Chicago residents have joined Costulas’s family at each of Hinton’s court appearances over the past two years. The appearances occurred every month with the exception of August 2013, she said.

“So it was a rather emotional and just a wonderful ending to a horrible situation where nobody really won anything,” Rainey said.

— Cat Zakrzewski