Streamwood brothers plead guilty to attacking relative over a lighter
Streamwood brothers charged with striking, head-butting and choking a female relative earlier this year during a fight over a lighter pleaded guilty Thursday.
Nicholas Bell, 27, and James Bell, 25, were each sentenced to 60 days in jail and 30 months of probation. They were also ordered to attend domestic violence counseling and undergo mental health, drug and alcohol evaluations.
Before Cook County Judge Joel Greenblatt sentenced the two men he issued a stern warning. He emphatically declared that he would send the men to prison if they fail to complete their probation, which they received in exchange for pleading guilty to aggravated domestic battery/strangulation. The brothers have already spent 155 days in custody.
"You've got a lot of work to do," said Greenblatt to a visibly upset Nicholas Bell. "Look in the mirror and decide who's looking back at you: a habitual criminal or someone who's going to live a law-abiding life."
Bell apologized and expressed remorse, saying, "I would like to move forward."
"I signed off on this with hesitation," Greenblatt told James Bell, who did not speak during the hearing. "What you did was unconscionable."
Prosecutors say Nicholas Bell argued with the victim over the lighter on May 24 and called her names. Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Jaclyn Lantz said he tackled her to the kitchen floor, punched her in the face and "put his right hand around her neck constricting her ability to breathe." James Bell observed what happened, Lantz said, and told the woman to "stop acting up."
Following the woman into her bedroom, James Bell pinned her to the bed, and he pressed his booted foot to her throat "causing her to be unable to breathe," Lantz said. She freed herself, left the bedroom for the hall, where the men threw her to the ground, Lantz said.
There, according to Lantz, Nicholas punched her while James held her legs with his foot.
The woman suffered a fractured nose and bruising to her eyes, head and face, Lantz said.
Lantz told the court the victim and another female relative asked her repeatedly to drop the charges. Lantz also stated the victim stopped cooperating with her office, which recommended probation after reviewing pretrial investigation and mitigation reports. She also cited the brothers' lack of felony background.