CHICAGO – There are new developments in the fatal stabbing last month of a Northwest Side woman by her estranged husband, who was found dead hours later.
First, the Cook County Medical Examiner determined how the husband died. And a CWBChicago review of court records found that domestic violence suspects have been detained nearly 50% more since a Cook County judge who released the husband days before the killing was reassigned.
Lacramioara “Mirela” Beldie was 54 when her husband fatally stabbed her on Nov. 19 at about 2:30 p.m. in the 5600 block of West Leland. An off-duty Chicago police officer saw the attack unfold and fired shots at her husband, who fled. scene. The officer also suffered a gunshot wound to the leg, but officials have not said whether it was self-inflicted.
Constantin Beldie, 57, was found dead about three hours later in his car near his home, about a block from where the attack occurred. Officials have not said how Beldie died, but an officer at the scene reported he suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder.
But he didn’t die like that. The medical examiner’s investigation recently found that Constantin Beldie died from deliberately inhaling his car’s exhaust fumes, records show. His death was ruled a suicide.
Just a day before the attack, Beldie pleaded not guilty to aggravated domestic battery by strangulation, attempted kidnapping and other offenses stemming from allegations that he violently attacked Mirela in October.
Transcripts of Beldie’s first court appearance in October show prosecutors described significant violence as they asked Judge Thomas Nowinski to keep him in jail as a security and flight risk. Nowinski denied the state’s detainer request and sent Beldie home via a GPS monitor, saying the state could not prove the ankle monitor would not be sufficient to reduce risk.
About a week after the attack, Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans announced that Nowinski was no longer pursuing “domestic violence or protective orders” in light of “anonymous threats” Nowinski had received since his ruling in the Beldie case made headlines.
Days before Evans announced the changes to Nowinski’s duties, CWBChicago reported that Nowinski denied detention requests 60% of the time between mid-October and mid-November.
During that period, we found 85 cases in which prosecutors asked Nowinski to detain a suspect. He approved only 34 of those petitions, or 40%. By comparison, a group of judges handling similar domestic cases during weekend court hearings granted petitions 57% of the time during the same period.
Are requests for detention being granted more often now that Nowinski is not handling the cases? So far, yes.
Since November 25, we have found 87 detention requests filed with judges related to Nowinski’s old duties. Court records show that four judges heard these cases and granted 56% of the requests. That’s much higher than Nowinski’s 40% and almost identical to the 57% awarded by weekend judges in our previous analysis.
Three of the four justices granted more than 60% of the detention requests presented to them: Torrie Corbin, Sabra Ebersole and Elizabeth Ryan. Judge Michael Hogan, who heard 43 of the 87 cases, awarded only 51%.
