This is the first of a series of stories WGLT will publish this week about domestic violence in McLean County. Read Part 2 now.
McLean County issues hundreds of orders of protection each year — and some abusers who violate them do so brazenly.
One suspect literally did it in court this year, allegedly turning to a victim and mouthing the words, “You’re dead, bitch,” while making a gun hand gesture. Another man jailed for allegedly violating an order called the victim from the McLean County jail — apparently violating it again. In another case, police confirmed nearly 400 contacts in a four-month period — three-quarters of those within 10 days of being served an order of protection. And in one now well-known case, a man illegally entered a Normal woman’s home, killed her, and then killed himself.
Orders of protection, or OPs, are one of the few tools that victims have to protect themselves. But like any tool, their effectiveness depends on how they’re used. Functionally, they’re only enforced when violated.
“An order of protection is just a piece of paper,” said Rachel Sizemore, who worked for six years as a court advocate in Bloomington. She's now program manager for Mid Central Community Action’s Countering Domestic Violence program. “That is not going to reduce any potential harm that may come to you.”
In McLean County, a WGLT review of over 100 cases found that most calls to police about a potential OP violation don’t lead to charges, much less a conviction. And sometimes, prosecutors undercharge — pursuing a misdemeanor count when someone was seemingly eligible for a more serious felony charge, WGLT found. In other cases, a suspect’s relocation out of state created a loophole where a person can keep harassing a victim while facing few repercussions.
This adds up to missed opportunities to disrupt the cycle of domestic violence.
The stakes are high. The woman killed in Normal, Amy Moore, had an order of protection against the man who killed her. WGLT previously reported that McLean County prosecutors four times declined to pursue charges against him for violating orders of protection, despite the escalating behavior noted by police and Amy’s family.
“We remain angry and heartbroken that Amy’s multiple orders of protection did nothing to prevent this horribly tragic outcome,” Amy’s brother, Tom Burns, told WGLT. “Our hope is that Amy is never forgotten. We pray that ... continued attention to this issue will be an impetus for change within the legal system and change how these orders of protection are used and enforced. These orders of protection provided zero security or protection for my sister.”
A snapshot of McLean County OP violations
WGLT obtained and reviewed more than 100 police reports spanning January through June from McLean County police departments — every report with a potential OP violation. WGLT then traced each case’s path through the justice system.
Of the 109 cases reviewed, fewer than a third [32%] led to a conviction or a pending charge that could later lead to a conviction. Much of the time, police closed the case before it ever reached prosecutors — much less a jury. Other times, police sent the case to the state’s attorney’s office for review, and charges were never filed or were dropped. [WGLT was unable to determine the status of seven of the 109 cases reviewed because redactions in the police reports made it impossible to identify the people involved.]
The 109 cases run the gamut from serious violations to instances where police didn’t pursue the case further for justifiable reasons:
- A woman received a hostile text message from an unknown number, which she believed came from an ex-boyfriend. Bloomington Police talked to the ex, who denied sending the message, and there was no evidence to the contrary. Case closed.
- A Normal Police officer was there to witness a person repeatedly getting calls from a female suspect in violation of an OP. Police referred the case to the state’s attorney’s office to get an arrest warrant for the female suspect, but prosecutors chose not to pursue one, the police report said.
- A man was arrested for going to a Bloomington woman’s apartment in violation of an OP. He later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor OP violation, despite at least three prior domestic battery convictions that made him eligible for a felony OP violation. Instead, he got 18 months of court supervision on the misdemeanor count.
Tracy, a Bloomington-Normal woman who’s tried to protect herself with multiple OPs in recent years, told WGLT that she never felt empowered or advocated for within the justice system. Tracy is not her real name; WGLT granted her anonymity so she could speak freely about her experiences.
“We have no teeth in a lot of these organizations. There’s no accountability. There’s no oversight. There’s no governance to make sure people are doing their jobs correctly, efficiently or effectively,” Tracy said.
How orders of protection work
A person who fears for their safety in a domestic relationship can request an order of protection from the courts. (Here’s how to do it.) Emergency OPs normally go into effect for two weeks, with a lower threshold to get one. A person can then pursue a Plenary OP that typically stays in effect for two years, with a higher threshold that usually gives the accused a chance to challenge the request in court.
OPs can require a person to do more than just “stay away.” They can be required to cut off contact altogether — no calls, no DMs, nothing — or to provide financial help or get alcohol or drug treatment. Some of those requirements — like staying away — can be enforced by the police. Officers can arrest on the spot, most likely leading to charges. Or they can have a detective do some follow-up work or send their investigative reports to prosecutors who decide whether to charge.
“Violation of an OP can be very time-consuming,” said Bloomington police officer Bryce Janssen, a department spokesperson. “It’s frustrating when you devote a lot of your time and effort to get what you think is enough information to make an arrest. And then for whatever reason — either the victim no longer wants to cooperate, or a warrant was never issued — that can be frustrating.”
There are many reasons why so many potential OP violations never lead to charges, said State’s Attorney Erika Reynolds. Of those that reach her office, Reynolds said it’s typically evidentiary issues that make it difficult to prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt — a higher threshold than the probable cause an officer would need to make an arrest. Prosecutors also may have access to information about the suspect that officers don’t have in the field. For example, if an OP technically allows contact between two parties if they are talking about their children.
“We work together. We’re on the same team, but it’s a very different standard of what they use in the field versus what we use in the courtroom,” said Ashley Scarborough, an assistant state’s attorney and one of two lawyers on the domestic violence screening team.
“We are bound by the evidence,” added Emily Young, the other prosecutor who screens domestic cases. “So, if it’s not admissible evidence that we can rely on, we can’t rely on it.”
In Bloomington and Normal, most of the calls patrol officers respond to are domestic disputes, police officials said.
In the 109 cases WGLT reviewed, there are many examples of police diligently investigating a possible OP violation, such as subpoenaing tech companies to track down if someone sent a violating message. Bloomington and Normal police departments have detectives specializing in domestic violence cases. Combined with McLean County’s two prosecutors dedicated to screening domestic violence cases, there are professionals with expertise and familiarity with victims and perpetrators who tend to return again and again.
Reynolds and her team said domestic violence cases are generally difficult to prosecute, in part because victims can be uncooperative — sometimes even hostile — toward them. And they argue that juries are typically not familiar with the power dynamics and nuances of domestic violence. In other words, even if the victim doesn’t want their ex to go to prison, why should a jury convict him? [Most of these cases are resolved before a trial.]
Reynolds said her office takes OP violations seriously, even when a victim does not want to press charges.
“This is somebody who’s clearly been put on an order and has been notified, ‘You’re not to do this,’ — and they do it anyway. That person is almost more dangerous,” Reynolds said, since an OP implies there’s already been an escalation in abusive behavior.
WGLT asked Reynolds why some suspects from early 2024 were charged with misdemeanor OP violations when their criminal history made them eligible for a felony charge that can lead to stiffer penalties. The man with three prior domestic battery convictions was charged and pleaded to a misdemeanor. Another man also pleaded to a misdemeanor OP violation despite a prior conviction of unlawful restraint involving a household/family member. A third man faces a pending misdemeanor OP violation charge, despite being a sex offender with prior convictions for domestic battery and interfering with the reporting of domestic violence.
“Those are pretty rare occasions where somebody is eligible for a felony and it doesn’t get filed,” Young said.
Reynolds said her office sometimes initially charges a misdemeanor, but then upgrades that to a felony. They also consider the seriousness of the violation — a text message versus in-person contact, or something “innocuous” like a grocery store run-in versus something “deliberately part of a domestic violence pattern,” Scarborough and Young said.
But sometimes, a text message is deliberately part of a domestic violence pattern.
“When we look at toxic relationships, abusers tend to escalate over time,” said Dawn Beichner-Thomas, a criminal justice professor at Illinois State University who studies domestic violence. “So, a pattern that happens early on in the relationship might be quite minimal compared to what happens after years of abuse.”
A more credible metric than the type of abuse, Beichner-Thomas said, is what it does to the victim. Before Amy Moore was killed, there was no evidence she was physically abused. But on multiple occasions, police documented that she and her family were “terrified.” She installed surveillance cameras around her home, something police noted as being exorbitant in number.
Reynolds stressed that a misdemeanor conviction is a record-building offense — meaning it could lead to more serious charges if it happens again. “So having a misdemeanor conviction is a win, especially with the difficulty in prosecuting these cases,” Young said.
Such a charge also could mean getting that offender into treatment — and extending an existing OP.
Sword or shield
Another reality is that people can misuse OPs — wielding them as a sword rather than a shield — as part of a contentious divorce or custody case, for example. Several lawyers, advocates and other experts interviewed for this story said they’ve seen that happen occasionally.
“The system is generally unforgiving of suspects when it comes to OP violations, even ones that a reasonable person could see as a mistake,” said Brendan Bukalski, a Bloomington attorney who has represented those under an OP, known as “respondents.” Bukalski said he tries to get his clients to recognize that reality with a “come to Jesus” conversation.
“You have to understand you’re going to be under a microscope,” he said. “That’s it. Especially when somebody gets an order of protection, they’re going to be wary of any violation. That’s why the knock heard in the middle of the night that is completely unattributable to anybody — psychologically, it’ll be attributed to the person who is the respondent in the OP case.”
Suspects who move out of state present another challenge. The man who violated an OP by texting hundreds of times now lives outside state lines, but a warrant for his arrest is only enforceable in Illinois.
Tracy, the woman quoted previously, successfully got a short-term emergency OP to protect herself from an ex last year. She tried repeatedly to get a longer-term, two-year OP too, but authorities couldn’t find the ex to serve him the paperwork because he moved out of state. It never happened.
Tracy is left frustrated by police and prosecutors who she feels let her down.
“Our legal system is not written from the vantage point of the victims,” Tracy said.
Victim advocates say despite the challenges, OPs still serve an important purpose, especially when used in concert with other tactics for escaping a violent relationship. In one instance, an offender with an extensive criminal history spanning two decades was punished harshly for violating an order of protection. He recently pleaded guilty and is sentenced to five years in prison on that charge.
Prairie State Legal Services, a legal aid firm with a Bloomington office, helped more than 130 people with the OP process last year, said managing attorney Adrian Barr.
“The system is working here in McLean County,” Barr said. “It can always be improved, certainly, but countless lives have been saved through the order of protection and these individual pieces working together to protect these folks.”
Coming Wednesday: What’s being done in McLean County to disrupt the cycle of domestic violence? You’ll hear from those working in probation and treatment about what abusers need.
