Let's Make A Deal

Sandra Viramontes, 30, of Chicago, was beaten and bruised covering 90 percent of her body. No one could say for sure how many hours she was unconscious before her mother received a call from her son-in-law saying her daughter needed medical attention.

When the mother walked in to her daughter’s home Luis Viramontes, the son-in-law was gone in his place a relative who stood by and did nothing until the mother shouted to call 911. But it was too late.

At the hospital a trauma doctor informed the family “they had never seen anybody get a beating like that before.” Sandra’s had been beaten and bruised over 90 percent of her body. After the doctors ran tests the family was told her injuries were not survivable and two weeks later while in her mother’s she was taken off life support.

According to the Chicago Tribune Luis Viramontes was initially charged with aggravated domestic battery and attempted murder, according to court records. He turned himself 3 days after the beating to police on Jan. 13, 2010. He was out on $500,000 and ordered to wear a GPS monitoring device bail but was back in police custody Sunday, waiting to be charged with her murder.

My question is how the hell was this bozo allowed bail in the first place? Her condition was critical and she was not going to survive her injuries. Maybe the judge who set his bond did not consider Luis, "oh so gentle" as dangerous.

This is a classic case of senseless and ignorant denial. It makes my skin crawl when I read comments made by members or friends of a killer’s family, “he always been real gentle.” Another comment as if to set the tone when this case goes to trial, “Luis couldn’t sleep or he cried nonstop.” Was this before during and after the beating? Or was it only when this cowardly individual realized he’d better have a few witnesses to testify as to his acting out the part of showing remorse for murdering his wife and the mother of his two young children? He probably thought it all out and carefully deciding what he would tell the person who will represent him that he lost control or it was an accident he had no intention of hurting her. The defense attorney will respond something like “I’ll talk to the State and see if we can get the charges reduced to manslaughter or second degree murder. Or maybe he’ll get his client a deal. You know so he will not have to spend the rest of his life in prison.

To the family of Luis Viramontes' who are having trouble reconciling the charges against him with what they know about his personality. That is the million dollar question for which the answer is clear. Your “loving, gentle and warm” blood relative is nothing but a cold blooded murderer.

My Prayer’s are for Sandra’s children and her family. When Luis Viramontes killed Sandra he removed what will never be replaced, a precious life!

"Teaching Victims A Lesson?"

In an article titled “Slain mother’s fate could teach victims a lesson” referring to the recent murder of former Chicago police wife Irma Rodriguez who was shot numerous times and stuffed in the trunk of her car written by Chicago Sun-Times journalist Mary Mitchell, sadly this is not by any means a lesson.

A lesson perhaps would have been better served had the columnist spoke to the experts, people like myself, who have been in the trenches with victims of violence for over 20 years. First and foremost a domestic violence relationship is as specific as an individual’s own DNA. The victims like Irma fight each day just to stay alive. Irma Rodriguez did not have a free get out of jail card to simply allow her to leave her abusive and controlling husband.

In the article Mary Mitchell says “Irma’s best chance to save herself came in 1997, when her husband was arrested with attempted murder”, incorrect unless you happen to be a fly on the wall and know for a fact that Irma’s husband Norberto Rodriguez gave a direct order to his wife that if she did not change her story to the police he would kill she and the children. And the State’s Attorney’s office at the time offered little if anything other than lip service to assist her out of her deadly hell.

My own mother had little chance of living past the age 47, when after my parents divorced, my police detective father who by the way was still in control, murdered my mother because he was never going to allow her to live her life on her own terms. These women understand the dangers of living with their violent abuser. Often they feel it is better to keep their enemy close by remaining in the roller coaster relationship and waiting until their children are old enough and out of harm’s way before they make their move to safety. And many don’t make it. The abuser is so angry, eventually, he will kill her.

As a society we continue to look away with regards to crimes involving intimate relationships. Funding for animal shelters surpasses that of battered women shelters and services 6 to 1. And going to a shelter is not an option for many women.

Frankly, the word “lesson” is insulting especially when these victims eat, sleep and drink the lessons of fists and terror from their abusers on a daily basis.

Where are the police and prosecutors who suddenly become deaf when women go to them for assistance? Currently, I am working with several women where the police refused to do their jobs. Or the prosecutors failed at taking their calls or following up on charges. A few too many times of calling and asking for help gets old when your pleas fall on deaf ears. Kathleen Savio is a poor example of what does not happen as a victims pounds on the door for assistance only to wind up six feet under.

Perhaps a corporate sponsor within the Chicago Sun-Times or a corporation concerned with preventing murder like General Electric, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Coregis and any of the other companies who would benefit from a comprehensive strategy for saving lives created from women who lost their lives and would like to contact me so I can reach women like Irma, Kathleen, Stacy, Jackie, Theresa, Anna and so many others before they are murdered.

Maybe people can tune into Justice Interrupted Investigates on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 11:00PM EST, and hear how the system is failing a police officers wife where law enforcement have refused to do their jobs as blood ran down her face when she called for help. Then in a divorce action a judge in domestic relations in civil court literally has screwed over this woman all in the name of police connections and judicial closed door deals in chambers. So if she should die, is that a lesson for women? Or a system refusing to do anything?

Question: Why isn’t there an all points bulletin out for Norberto Rodriguez?

Proposed Illinois Bill Will Do Nothing For Victims

On April 6, 2008, Mercedes McCauley was gunned down as she was leaving church by her estranged boyfriend Glenn Martinez.

Mercedes had secured an order of protection back in November of 2007, and she was scheduled to return back in court in April before a Judge.

Glenn Martinez was a class-x- felon and on parole for an unrelated crime that involved murder. Automatically, criminals are denied any type of bond.

I spent years in courtroom advocating for battered woman and securing court orders that included a safety plan once the order by a judge was in place. Often, it was our domestic violence agency who provided the groundwork and had the individual on parole sent back to prison.

Automatically, common sense really, I would contact the parole agent, speak to the State's Attorney on the case and the Offender would be sent back to do the remainder of their prison sentence. In addition, more time would be added at a later date during a scheduled court hearing on the violation.

In today's article in both the Chicago newspapers, headline read "Bill would tighten State's Leash on Parolees". Hogwash! If people were doing their jobs in the first place, women such as Mercedes McCauley would be alive, today. It was pure ignorance in court the day Mercedes secured that court order. The State's Attorney is suppose to read to the Judge the Offenders criminal history and the fact that person is on parole at the order of protection hearing. It never happened.

The court docket that day was on overload as it is most days with victims just like Mercedes jumping through hoops just to obtain an order of protection. And no doubt court staff were too busy.

The new bill proposed says "parolees must notify their
parole agents within 24 hours of receiving a restraining order"

That is not going to happen. You cannot leave that up to the parolee. They will likely kill their victim before "alerting" a parole agent who is already overloaded with cases. And who is going to allow a victim to send them back to prison? The State's Attorney must be the one to notify the parole agent immediately. The victim must be instructed at the time of making a police report to inform the officer the offender is on parole. Then the offender is returned back to prison.

This new Bill is ignorant to the obvious solution to a growing problem within courts across the country as it pertains to court orders of protection.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/935997,CST-NWS-stalk07.article

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-parolee-law-07may07,0,4226601.story

http://murphymilanojournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Mercedes%20McCauley

Mercedes McCauley : CSI Miami -Chicago Tragedy Unfolds

Last night in Chicago, a real life scene with a tragic outcome came right out of a the television show CSI Miami .

It began as a murder. Mercedes McCauley, just twenty-two years of age, existed a Chicago Church with another person. They were sitting in a car parked on the street. The shooter pulled up beside them and opened fire before fleeing the scene.

Mercedes was taken to the hospital in critical condition. An hour or so afterwards, police arrived at the hospital. The young woman's father over heard the officers talking about a man named Glenn Martinez. He asked what was going on. The police informed the father that the man had committed suicide over on Lake Shore Drive.

"That's the man who shot my daughter", he told police. Apparently, the two were involved in a relationship. Glenn Martinez who was a fan of CSI, matter of fact he never missed an episode.

After he shoots and kills Mercedes McCauley. He heads to the lake, shoots himself in the chest, then throws the murder weapon about fifteen feet into the lake. He was trying to make it look like someone shot him.

Had police not been at the hospital and the father not overheard the conversation, both cases would have gone unsolved. The gun was recoverd today by divers.

Mercedes McCauley did in fact have a criminal order of protection. She was scheduled to be in court on April 17, 20o8.

Real life tragically, does imitate those "entertainment" type shows that are so popular like CSI and others currently on the air.

But this is not entertainment. It is real life. Martinez used a gun. In my book, he was a coward and a murder. Taking away a father's daughter. Leaving her family to live with the aftermath of a war where the death toll numbers do not accurately tell the real story of its victim's.

No this was just not some random act. Or another "domestic violence" incident. It was a murder of the worst kind, one that society continues to ignore. Relationship murder victims have surpassed the number of those killed fighting for our Country.

The enemies of this war are armed and dangerous. They are the friendly neighbor. The person who gives you a ride when you are late for work. The officer who was just at your home investigating a crime. Or, the postman who delivered your mail just this morning.

The victims, we are less likely to remember. There are just far too many of them.

Here is the link to the story: http://www.nbc5.com/news/15812028/detail.html?dl=headlineclick&taf=chi