March 27, 2024 / By mobanmarket
JOLIET, IL — Even though 26-year-old Plainfield area Jeff Behun is charged with eight crimes, and he’s accused of trying to strangle a woman inside a house this month, Will County Judge Art Smigielski ruled against efforts by the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office to keep Behun incarcerated at Will County’s Jail.
Following Sunday afternoon’s holiday court on two counts of aggravated domestic battery and six counts of domestic battery, Behun emerged from the Will County Jail with his freedom intact. Prosecutors tried to keep Behun in detention under the SAFE-T-Act, but the long-time judge ordered Behun’s release.
According to prosecutor Sarah West’s petition to deny Behun’s pretrial release:
Around 9 p.m. on March 9, Joliet police were called to a house in the Plainfield and Shorewood area for a woman screaming for help and a man chasing after her into the house. Officers met with the woman, who was crying and hysterical, indicating she was not safe. She told them Behun just attacked her, and that he was inside the house.
The young woman told police she came home around 2 p.m. and noticed Behun already asleep, and he appeared to be drinking all day. When he awoke, the two went to visit Behun’s uncle house for a birthday party. At the party, Behun resumed drinking heavily, causing a disturbance; she convinced him to leave the party, and they walked home, court records show.
Back home, Behun fell asleep right away and the victim later confronted him “about drinking all the time and causing a disturbance at the birthday party,” prosecutors noted.
Behun eventually stood in the doorway of the master bedroom and when the woman tried to walk past him, Behun “placed his hands around her neck and began strangling her,” prosecutors informed the judge.
When she began calling him names, Behun strengthened his grip around her neck and squeezed even harder, court records show.
The strangling blocked her airway, and she started losing consciousness. The woman freed herself from Behun’s grip, ran downstairs and vomited, court records show. hat’s when Behun caught up to her and the two struggled on the floor, the petition to deny pretrial release indicated.
As the victim tried to push Behun’s face away from her, he bit her right index finger, prosecutors outlined. The woman broke free and ran outside, seeking help from neighbors across the street. One eyewitness told Joliet police he saw the woman run past his house only in her underwear. She then ran back to the house and Behun appeared to be locked out, prosecutors noted.
The neighbors then heard her screaming as she ran from Behun as he chased after her. They saw her hide behind a vehicle as Behun walked back to into the house, court records show.
Joliet police tried making contact with Behun, knocking and ringing the doorbell and “officers heard movement inside the house, but the defendant never opened the door or made contact with officers,” prosecutors stated.
Even though Behun has no prior criminal history, assistant state’s attorney West indicated the victim informed Joliet police that she was abused by Behun on two prior occasions, in April 2023 and December 2023. “Further, the victim indicated that the defendant drinks alcohol every single day. The victim indicated she did not previously cooperate because the defendant was intoxicated each time that he abused her,” West informed the judge.
In her argument for keeping Behun in jail, West noted that Behun physically abused the victim by strangling her to the point of vomiting and bodily harm, he chased the victim around the neighborhood after she fled the house, and then he chased her back inside the house, he locked the door preventing Joliet police or the victim from entering after she was hurt.
“The defendant also chased the victim outside of the house resulting in neighbors hearing the victim scream for help and seeing her run from the defendant,” the prosecutor explained.
In the end, Judge Smigielski ruled in favor of Behun and his private criminal defense lawyer, Daniel Walsh of downtown Joliet. The judge put Behun on electronic monitoring until further order from the court. Behun was also placed under home confinement from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and he will refrain from being within 3,000 feet of the Joliet house where the attack happened.
Behun must also have no contact in person, by phone, mail, email or social media with the woman he is accused of strangling, court records show.
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