Associate Judge Paul Nealis knows that ”I don`t want to see you any more” doesn`t always work.
When a relationship goes sour, it usually leaves behind only bruised feelings and broken hearts. Sometimes, however, one party begins to fear hurt of another kind and comes to his Markham courtroom for an order of protection to keep an abusive spouse or lover at a safe distance.
It is Nealis` unenviable task to decide whether a situation is volatile enough to put the power of the law between two people who have often been very close. He relies on the experience and instincts gained in his time on the bench and as a former police detective and state`s attorney to help him judge the potential for further violence.
”Each case is very unique to itself, as is the relationship of the parties” to each other, Nealis says. ”If there is some physical abuse involved, I would issue (a protective order) right away, and if there are children involved, I have to look for the potential of violence on the children.”
Nealis has two choices when considering an order of protection. He can issue a summons for an abuser to appear in court of his own volition, or he can issue a warrant. Orders of protection are issued only in conjunction with ongoing criminal cases. There has to be a charge on file in order for a woman- and those who work in this field say 90-plus-percent of the cases involve abusive males-to obtain one.
Sometimes he is ”worried that a summons might just exacerbate a situation and I will issue a warrant and let the police bring him before a judge and let conditions of a bond be set.”
The law, he says, can be ”rather liberally construed. You are not depriving someone of liberties right away, just enjoining him from harassing or having physical contact” with a victim.
And, Nealis believes, that will usually do the trick.
”Most of the time, people will obey them. . . . If it`s an isolated incident acted out of character, issuing that order may be enough to put that person on notice that someone is looking over their shoulder.”
However, Nealis adds, ”It is not a fail-safe to keep people from being violent. You read of some tragic situations, but that doesn`t mean they don`t work in the majority of incidents.”
When they don`t work, the results can be deadly.
In the south suburbs in January 1990, the estranged husband of Carolyn Wilson, despite a protective order, broke into her Park Forest apartment and shot her twice, while their children watched.
More recently, in March, Wayne Chaney killed his ex-wife, Connie, in the Mt. Prospect advertising office where she worked, then was himself killed in a shootout with sheriff`s police 10 days later. Chaney also had been the subject of protective orders.
Sharon, a court advocate at the South Suburban Family Shelter in Hazel Crest, helps battered women seek and obtain orders of protection. She prefers not to give her last name because ”the majority of abusers are not at all happy with the fact that someone is helping these women obtain an order of protection against them.”
She has seen mixed results in the aftermath of an order of protection being issued. ”Some abusers get served with an order and it has an amazing effect. Others get served and they couldn`t care less-they are going to do what they are going to do.”
The incident that might finally lead to court action, she points out,
”may not be the first incident but the first time (it is) documented. It is a very difficult step for a woman to take to bring criminal charges. . . . The psychology of an abused woman is very complex. . . . It is a tough thing to do; they have had relationships with these people.”
Sharon has seen clients suffer everything from being ”slapped about the face and body to having broken blood vessels in her arms.”
She says many of them tell her they didn`t seek help after the first time.
”If most of (the offenders) did to their next-door neighbor what they did to their wives, they would get hauled into court” right away, she said.
Sharon says that while she can`t give women in this situation legal advice, she can help complete the paperwork and be there as a support system. She also can act as a liaison of sorts between the victim and the state`s attorney, who actually goes to court: ”Because the court advocates deal only with domestic violence, we oftentimes sit down with a state`s attorney” to discuss particulars of a case.
And she says she stays pretty busy at her job. ”I have been doing this for 2 1/2 years and the workload has increased tremendously.”
She attributes this not so much to an increased level of domestic violence but to the willingness of more women to come forward and to ”a growing awareness in society that just because two people live together, it is no reason” for battery laws not to apply.
There are basically two kinds of orders of protection-those issued as part of an ongoing criminal case like the ones referred to above and those related to a civil divorce proceeding.
”You can`t just seek an order unless it is connected with some other type of proceeding . . . a criminal case or a domestic relations situation,” according to attorney James P. Martin, who practices in Chicago. And ”not everybody can file for an order. You have to be blood-related or marriage-related” or, in some cases, have a child in common.
”Some of the stories are pathetic,” says Martin, who has been on both sides. ”I`ve seen cases where, thank God, we have (an order of protection). Wives have been beaten up and locked in their homes.”
However, Martin believes that the system as it stands is far from perfect from the accused`s point of view.
”It is something that is needed, but there is a heavy leaning toward the petitioner,” he said. ”In a criminal setting, she has a free lawyer and the standard of proof is very low.”
He points out that there is a potential for abuse ”and it is a fine way to turn the tables” on an estranged mate.
”One of the abuses I have encountered is when a husband and wife have a fight two months ago and now the wife comes down and says she needs an order of protection” on an emergency basis.
”All she did was tell the judge she was beat up. . . . There was never an inquiry as to when.”
Regardless of his belief that the system favors the woman seeking an order of protection, ”I won`t make a deal with the state`s attorney if I believe I can win the case and it`s questionable whether (the accused) is Attila the Hun.”
He warns his clients against contact with the women who have obtained orders of protection, but ”I had a case where the wife invited the guy over and the police were waiting there. It was a very foolish thing to do.”
He beat it, albeit on ”a technicality. They just got tired of coming down” to court.
Once an order of protection is issued, it is up to people such as Lt. Alan Love of the Morris Police Department to enforce it. To do so, he will put the word out to his officers and put a home on a list scheduled for extra patrols ”when we have one that seems to be a little more violent.”
Although his department does not have a mandatory arrest policy in domestic disturbance cases, if an order of protection is being violated, the offender gets carted right off to the station, Love says. And frequently it is not the first time he has come into contact with local law enforcement.
”The officers (usually) know what the problem is and who the individual is,” Love says.
Domestic violence cases ”can get real nasty. We haven`t had any cases where the guy comes in and blows her away, but we are very cognizant” of the dangers involved, he said.
”These situations can escalate rapidly.”
