Advocates push courts and state to protect domestic violence victims
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Leighton Criminal Court Building. Photo: Carrie Shepherd/Axios
Domestic violence victims advocates are pressuring the courts and state legislature to put more protections in place after what they say were preventable killings.
Driving the news: Police believe Constantin Beldie, who was under an order of protection after he was arrested for assaulting his wife in October, fatally stabbed his wife before taking his own life last week.
- Prosecutors had requested Beldie remain in pre-trial detention after the October attack, but Judge Thomas Nowinski denied that petition.
Between the lines: The Network, an advocacy group, is calling on Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans to reassign Nowinski to a different division, pointing to another case this year in which he failed to grant a protective order. The man in that case was later charged with the murder of an 11-year-old boy and stabbing the boy's mother.
What they're saying: "When survivors go to the courts for protection, that protection must be effective. Judge Nowinski has failed in that duty, and allowing him to continue to hear domestic violence cases sends the wrong message to survivors across Chicagoland," The Network's Amanda Pyron wrote in a statement.
The other side: "Under the Pretrial Fairness Act, all defendants are presumed eligible for pretrial release and judges must utilize the least restrictive conditions of release that will mitigate the risk to public safety, including GPS monitoring. ... At the Oct. 9, 2024, hearing, this defendant's pretrial risk assessment scores were low in all categories, including the Domestic Violence Screening Instrument," Honorable Judith C. Rice, presiding judge of the Domestic Violence Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County, said in a statement.
Zoom out: Pyron is concerned that the incoming Trump administration is a harbinger of fewer resources for victims and survivors of gender-based and domestic violence, because of President-elect Trump's history of cutting funding to the Violence Against Women Act in 2018.
Zoom in: On the state level, advocates have been pushing Karina's Bill, which would allow judges to require law enforcement to remove a firearm immediately if requested by a domestic violence victim under an emergency order of protection.
- Lawmakers did not consider the bill during the fall veto session that wrapped last week.
What's next: Pyron tells Axios she and other advocates continue to meet with lawmakers about the bill and hope to see some action during the January veto session.