911 call nets domestic battery conviction

Anti-violence advocates are hailing this week's domestic battery conviction of a McHenry County man based largely on a recording of the 911 call his wife made during the attack.

The conviction is the first of its kind in McHenry County, and believed to be one of the first in Illinois, in which an emergency call swayed a jury to convict, even as the woman who made the call refused to testify.

"This really was a groundbreaking case," said Jane Farmer, executive director of Turning Point, a Woodstock-based agency for victims of domestic violence. "It is a good step in being able to protect domestic violence victims."

The case revolved around a June 21 incident in Harvard in which Juan Nova-Ramirez, 29, was accused of striking his wife in eye and mouth and cutting her face with scissors as the couple's two children looked on.

As his trial neared its scheduled start date Monday, authorities were unable to locate the woman and eventually concluded she was ducking a subpoena to testify.

Authorities are unsure why the woman refused to testify, but said it is an all-too-common occurrence in domestic battery cases frequently caused by the victim's reliance on an abuser for financial support or fear of reprisal.

While the prospect of proceeding without a victim in the past has led prosecutors to plead down the case or drop it altogether, Assistant McHenry County State's Attorney Patrick Kenneally said, the allegations against Nova-Ramirez were serious enough that it was worth pressing forward without her.

"We thought we could prove the case," said Kenneally, who tried the case along with Assistant State's Attorney Michael Combs. "We wanted to take a hard line on this."

Bolstering that confidence were the efforts of a 911 dispatcher who had the victim say over the phone what happened to her and a police officer who photographed the woman immediately after the attack.

The recording of the call, along with those photos, became the central evidence by which a jury found Nova-Ramirez guilty Tuesday. He now faces up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine when sentenced Jan. 9.

"This is wonderful because it means law enforcement, advocates and the state's attorney worked together to keep this victim safe while holding the perpetrator accountable," said Jacqueline Ferguson, director for operations of the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence. "We think it's great that this happened."

The case is an example of what's called evidence-based prosecution, proceeding to trial based on information obtained at a crime scene, and not necessarily the cooperation of a victim.

Although such prosecutions have been around for years, those based largely on 911 calls are relatively new. The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for them in a 2006 ruling that declared using a 911 recording in a victim's absence does not violate a defendant's right to face his or her accuser.

While sometimes effective, evidence-based prosecutions can be risky propositions for prosecutors: Bianchi's office has gone to trial several times on domestic battery cases without a victim's cooperation using evidence like witness statements and photos, but Tuesday's verdict was just the second conviction.

Kenneally said the challenge lies in jurors' expectations to see a victim testify and the belief by some that if she does not, it's because nothing illegal occurred.

"That's one of the myths we're trying to tackle, and why it's so important to go forward with evidence-based prosecutions," he said.

It also allows the criminal justice system to pursue an abuser, Farmer said, without leaving an abused spouse or family to face the consequences of testifying.

"It takes it out of her hands," she said. "Should the perpetrator be upset and angry, he's upset and angry with the state's attorney because she didn't have anything to do with it."

Despite the occasional loss, Bianchi said these cases are worthwhile both for the victims and community as a whole.

"We've got an obligation to protect the victim when they can't protect themselves," Bianchi said. "Unless we intervene, (the violence) will escalate. If we can intervene, it will stop the cycle."