Darien man charged with killing boyfriend of former girlfriend - Chicago Tribune

A Darien woman trembled in fear Monday as she described weeks of terror that culminated in her kidnapping and the killing of her boyfriend.

The day after her ex-boyfriend was charged with the slaying, Kristina Baltrimaviciene also talked of her frustration over her failed attempts to get a DuPage County judge to protect her.

Baltrimaviciene, 28, asked for an order of protection from Joseph Spitalli about nine weeks ago, after she said he had locked her in a bathroom and tried to hit her. But citing insufficient evidence, the judge denied her request.

"After (the judge) say no, after this I go a couple of times to the police because ... I'm afraid," Baltrimaviciene, a native Lithuanian, said in broken English. "They say, 'What are we going to do? The judge not give order of protection.'"

Then on Friday, Spitalli attacked and killed Teymur Huseynli, 31, and kidnapped Baltrimaviciene, authorities said.

Spitalli, 34, of Darien, is accused of slitting Huseynli's throat and forcing Baltrimaviciene into his car, taking her on a meandering ride throughout the southwest suburbs as she begged for her life, a prosecutor said. Spitalli was held without bond Monday.

Baltrimaviciene sought an emergency order of protection against Spitalli on Sept. 11, a request that Judge Elizabeth Sexton turned down. Some domestic-violence prevention advocates questioned Monday whether granting the order would have made a difference.

In her request, Baltrimaviciene said Spitalli's behavior had become erratic. She alleged that Spitalli locked her in a bathroom and that he "raised his hand as if to hit me," but she was able to push it away.

Sexton found that Baltrimaviciene had not presented credible evidence to meet the burden of proof required by the Illinois Domestic Violence Act. Sexton was out this week and unavailable for comment.

For her to have granted the request, Illinois law requires judges to find by "a preponderance of evidence" that abuse occurred and court intervention is necessary.

The law recognizes harassment as a form of abuse.

"If it looks like it's a deliberate and ongoing process designed to harass the person seeking the order of protection, then the judge has the discretion to issue the order," said lawyer Scott Cleal, a longtime family law attorney in Naperville. "The judge makes that decision based on the evidence that is presented."

Though Sexton denied the emergency request, she did allow it to advance to a full hearing Oct. 2. The request was then denied a second time.

Karen Hurley Kuchar, executive director of Family Shelter Service, a Wheaton-based nonprofit that serves 2,000 domestic violence victims annually, declined to speak specifically about this case, but she said it can be a tough call for judges.

"The law is written broadly so the judge can make the decision they think is right," Kuchar said.

Kuchar said Sexton is very fair to alleged victims of domestic violence, "but there still is a bar that has to be met."

Megan Rose, the court advocacy coordinator for the Chicago-based nonprofit Between Friends, said alleged victims are left in a vulnerable position when an emergency order is denied, yet a hearing is allowed.

It puts the respondent on notice with no protection in place for the accuser, she said. Though Rose said it's impossible to know whether an order of protection would have made a difference in the case, it might have barred the defendant from being near his ex-girlfriend's home and received more heightened attention from law enforcement.

"I have to believe it makes a difference or I wouldn't be able to do what I do," Rose said.