IL The law didn't save her
- From: indigoace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Indigo Ace)
- Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2008 12:44:53 GMT
From the Chicago Tribune--
The law didn't save her
She tried a court order. She had him arrested. She took all the legal
steps she could right up to the day her ex-boyfriend shot her dead in
a parking lot.
By Megan Twohey and Liam Ford, TRIBUNE REPORTERS Tribune reporter
Barbara Brotman contributed to this report
March 16, 2008
Cindy Bischof thought her breakup with a longtime boyfriend would go
smoothly after he agreed to move out of her house. But Michael Giroux
quickly turned hostile, writing up a plan to destroy her home and
following through with it.
Terrified after Giroux, 60, spray-painted every wall and piece of
furniture in her Arlington Heights home last spring, the 43-year-old
real estate broker moved swiftly to secure a protective order from a
Cook County judge that prohibited him from contacting her.
When he violated the order on two occasions, including an attempt to
hang himself on her patio, she didn't hesitate to press charges that
landed him in jail for two months followed by home confinement.
To relatives and prosecutors, it appeared that Bischof was taking all
the necessary steps to stay safe and that the legal system was
delivering protection.
But after Giroux was released from home confinement this month, he
showed up at Bischof's office in Elmhurst armed with a .38-caliber
revolver. When she tried to get into her car, he shot her repeatedly
then turned the gun on himself.
The March 7 slaying-suicide and the wrenching ordeal that led to it
illustrate the harsh realities of domestic violence and the
limitations of the system designed to address it.
A woman's risk of being seriously injured or killed by an intimate
partner increases when she breaks off the relationship. In certain
cases, a protective court order is not enough and the only viable
option is for a woman to either enter a shelter or relocate, experts
say.
Most people killed by an intimate partner are women. Nationwide, the
number has declined in recent decades from about 2,900 in 1976 to
1,510 in 2005, according to the U.S. Justice Department. In Chicago,
the numbers also dropped, ranging in recent years from 20 to 50, with
unofficial figures showing nearly 40 slain in 2007.
Despite the declines, the cases occur with numbing frequency in the
Chicago area.
In 2005, the former husband of Therese Pender of River Forest
allegedly beat her to death with a hammer as she walked home from
work, authorities say. The former husband is awaiting trial. That
year, a 14-year-old girl found her mother, Cathy Lamonica, shot to
death in her Park Ridge home. Authorities say her former husband had
killed her, then took his own life.
In 2007, the body of Nailah Franklin was found in woods in Calumet
City. Her former boyfriend has been charged.
Research has identified danger signs -- such as suicide attempts and
losing interest in work, both of which Giroux displayed -- that point
to an increased likelihood of murder. A program in the Cook County
state's attorney's office was created to identify high-risk cases and
actively prosecute them.
But as Giroux demonstrated, some people are not deterred by aggressive
prosecution.
Bischof's family and other victims say the state should provide
additional legal protections, such as mandatory electronic monitoring
of people who have protective orders against them.
"If they're doing everything they can and this still happens, the laws
need to be changed," said Bischof's brother, Michael Bischof of
Barrington.
In the early 1980s, Illinois enacted a law that granted comprehensive
protections to domestic violence victims, such as banning abusers from
the home. Soon thereafter, Cook County created a court for such cases.
In 1997, the state's attorney's office created a unit to prosecute the
cases.
Today, the Illinois Domestic Violence Act is seen as one of the
strongest laws of its kind in the country, said Dawn Dalton, executive
director of the Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women's Network. Still,
victims and their advocates see flaws in the legal system. If someone
violates an order of protection, the person is supposed to face legal
consequences, in some cases jail.
But some police officers, prosecutors and judges can be dismissive of
violations, allowing harassment, stalking and other abusive behavior
to continue, said Jennifer Greene, director of legal advocacy at
Family Rescue, an organization that helps victims of domestic abuse in
Cook County.
That was not the case with Bischof, who secured a two-year order of
protection against Giroux last June after he vandalized her house.
After pleading guilty to vandalism, he was ordered to serve time in
Cook County Jail and underwent a psychiatric evaluation.
When Bischof reported that he had called and threatened to kill her
family during the 4th of July weekend, he was charged with violating
the protection order. Police re-arrested him in early September after
he showed up at Bischof's house and placed a rope around his neck in
an apparent suicide attempt, records show.
The judge set bond at $75,000 and ordered Giroux to undergo another
mental health evaluation.
He pleaded guilty in November to violating the order of protection and
was sentenced to 63 days in jail followed by 60 days of home
confinement and two years of intensive probation.
For several months, Bischof heard nothing from Giroux and thought the
danger might have passed, said her mother, Barbara Bischof.
In a brief voice-mail message about 10 days before the slaying, he
apologized for everything he had done. It seemed harmless, so Bischof
didn't report it, her mother said.
But Giroux's behavior mirrored warning signs of a harasser bent on
violence, according to advocates and legal authorities.
Studies of women killed by an intimate partner have identified common
traits among the perpetrators. Among them: access to a gun, previous
threat with a weapon, estrangement from the partner, stalking, forced
sex, abuse during pregnancy, drug abuse and unemployment.
Giroux did not have a Firearm Owners Identification Card, which
Illinois requires to buy guns. Elmhurst police say they are working
with federal officials to determine how he got the pistol used to kill
Bischof.
Giroux had financial troubles for years before he and Bischof started
dating, and his fortunes seemed to decline during their three-year
relationship, according to relatives and court records. Records show
he was unemployed for at least part of the time and that he had
declared bankruptcy in 2002.
"When individuals are unemployed or they start spiraling downward ...
then that's a huge, huge red flag," said Pam Paziotopoulos, a former
head of the Cook County state's attorney's domestic violence division.
Every day, a small team of prosecutors in the state's attorney's
office reviews requests for protective orders to identify people who
are at high risk of committing escalating violence. Under the
10-year-old Target Abuser Call program, legal advocates and social
workers offer their services to the victims while alleged perpetrators
are aggressively prosecuted.
Giroux wasn't flagged in this program, but he was actively prosecuted.
Experts say judges can't lock up people because they have the
potential to commit murder. But that may be changing. A new Illinois
law allows judges to consider risk factors for murder when setting
bonds in domestic violence cases.
In certain cases, however, no jail sentence -- no matter how long --
would dissuade someone from harming their intimate partner, experts
say.
That's why women who face abuse or harassment are encouraged to seek
help outside the legal system. Domestic violence agencies can assist
victims in creating comprehensive safety plans, which can include
changing their name and even relocating.
Sometimes only the most extreme measure works, said Kathy Doherty,
executive director of Between Friends, which provides legal advocacy
to domestic abuse victims.
"We've helped some women disappear," she said.
- - -
How women can get help
Women can apply for an order of protection at Domestic Violence Court,
555 W. Harrison St. in Chicago, the suburban branches of Cook County
Circuit Court and the circuit courts of the collar counties. You don't
have to press criminal charges to secure an order, but you must
document why you want it.
A variety of organizations can help women secure an order and take
other steps to protect themselves. Among them:
* Family Rescue, 800-360-6619, http://www.familyrescueinc.org .
* Chicago Abused Women Coalition, 773-278-4566, http://www.cawc.org .
* Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 877-863-6338,
http://www.ilcadv.org .
* National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 800-799-SAFE (7233),
http://www.ncadv.org . ----------
mtwohey @tribune.com
lford @tribune.com
Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-domestic-violence_bd16mar16,0,3923356,full.story
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