Advocates want Illinois judge reassigned after releasing man who police say later killed his wife
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A woman police say was stabbed to death by her estranged husband in the Portage Park neighborhood on Tuesday had tried for months to get his abuse to stop.
Advocates for domestic violence survivors want a Cook County judge reassigned after releasing that man from custody following a prior attack on his wife.
Lacramioara Beldie, 54, was stabbed to death around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in the 5600 block of West Leland Avenue.
An off-duty Chicago police detective was shot while trying to stop the attack. The victim's husband, Constantin Beldie, 57, escaped, but was later found dead inside a vehicle a block away, after taking his own life.
It turns out there were numerous attempts by Lacramioara Beldie to get help before the attack, and repeated failures to protect the wife and mother from her accused abuser.
Before the fatal stabbing, the warning signs were there. The CBS News Chicago Investigators obtained months of Cook County Domestic Violence Court records showing Lacramioara obtained an emergency order of protection in January, accusing her estranged husband of harassment, physical abuse, and stalking.
They reached an agreement in March to drop the order of protection under numerous conditions, including a requirement that he stay away from her.
But in October, Constantin was charged with aggravated domestic battery and attempted kidnapping, after he allegedly approached her in alleyway and beat and dragged her to his car, where she screamed until she escaped. According to court records, evidence in that case included a witness and surveillance video.
Prosecutors in that case asked Judge Thomas Nowinski to order Constantin held in Cook County Jail while he awaited trial, but Nowinski denied that motion, and instead released him on electronic monitoring.
Amanda Pyron, president of the Network Advocating Against Domestic Violence, said she believes Nowinski made the wrong decision.
"Electronic monitoring and GPS are absolutely insufficient in domestic violence cases," she said.
Pyron said Nowinski should be removed from the county's Domestic Violence Division.
"I think the case history and the results would indicate that this is not the best fit for him," she said.
Nowinski is the same judge who denied an emergency protective order in another high-profile case.
Last year, 11-year-old Jayden Perkins was stabbed to death trying to protect his mom, just weeks after she tried and failed to get an order of protection against her accused abuser, Crosetti Brand, who is charged in Jayden's murder.
Nowinski denied that protection order, noting Brand was in prison at the time. However, the Illinois Prisoner Review Board granted Brand parole in February, allowing him to be released from prison a day before the attack. At the time, the board was not aware that Perkins' mother had been seeking an order of protection against Brand.
Pyron has said, in that case, Nowinski should have asked why Brand was in custody, and asked how soon he might be released from custody. At the time, Brand was in prison for violating the terms of his parole in a prior conviction, including by trying to break into a woman's home. Court records show Brand has had orders of protection filed against him from four other women dating back to 2004.
"I don't think that this judge understands domestic violence, and I don't think that he's fit for ruling on domestic violence cases," Pyron said. "I think he's more than proven that there are two people who should be alive and are not."
Pyron also the system is clearly flawed.
"Of course as advocates, we're frustrated with a system that consistently lets survivors down," Pyron said.
She said Illinois laws like the SAFE-T Act—which eliminated cash bail—are not protecting victim.
"Prior to this legislation every person that came into the court was assigned a dollar amount," she said.
But she said the problem is not with a law like the SAFE-T Act unto itself—but how people, like Judge Nowinski, are using it.
Chief Nowinski and Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans' office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Advocates call for passage of Illinois law to help domestic violence victims
Meanwhile, advocates are also pushing for a new law called Karina's Bill to be passed. The bill would require police to remove firearms from a home under specific orders of protection in domestic violence cases.
The bill is named in honor of Karina Gonzalez, who was shot and killed in July 2023 by her husband in Little Village. He also killed Gonzalez's 15-year-old daughter, Daniela.
They were shot and killed even though Karina had an order of protection that could have led to the removal of his gun by law enforcement.
"When we first filed this bill, Karina Gonzalez was alive," Pyron said.
Illinois State Sen. Celina Villanueva (D-Chicago) hopes to push the bill forward. But it has been held up for the last two years amid concerns about how many officers will be needed to implement the law.
"The reality is we've been dealing with a lot of different stakeholders that while I think are very much in agreement of the goal of the bill, are not in agreement in terms of the process and how to get there," Villanueva said.