ELMHURST, IL – Years later, a man accused of twice strangling a woman and threatening to kill her in Elmhurst has not gone on trial.
Louis Battistoni, 50, who lived in Elmhurst at the time of the reported incidents, also served time in prison for his role in a 2005 fight that led to a man’s death.
The oldest case involving the woman was from five years ago this month.
Asked about the delays, Paul Darrah, a spokesman for the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office, said in an email Wednesday, “The case has been continued for defense’s response to a motion filed by the State.”
Darrah did not describe the state’s motion.
Last year, he said Battistoni’s change of attorneys in 2021 may have played a role in the delays. He said at the time that prosecutors were ready.
Battistoni faces felony aggravated battery and domestic battery charges.
Both sides have agreed to a number of delays, most recently last month. The next court date is Dec. 16.
During the years-long wait, Battistoni has been arrested at least once. He was charged with DUI in August 2021 in Morris, which is southwest of Chicago. The charge was later thrown out.
In Elmhurst, the incidents took place in November 2019 and June 2020 at Battistoni’s house in the 100 block of North Glenview Avenue, police said. Real estate records show that he sold the house in June 2021.
A day after his June 2020 arrest, Battistoni was released on bond and placed on electronic monitoring, according to court records.
Early on the morning of Nov. 28, 2019, a police officer stopped a woman for driving with one headlight. The officer could smell alcohol from the woman, police said.
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Another officer performed sobriety tests and the woman was not arrested for DUI, police said. The woman told officers she was just leaving Battistoni’s house, saying she had been the victim of domestic battery.
According to a police report, when she arrived at the house, Battistoni had already been drinking. They typically greeted each other with insults, described as “their weird way of flirting,” but the insults went too far this time, so she went to the basement to dye her hair, the report said.
While she was in the bathroom, Battistoni threatened to drown her in the toilet and told her she could not leave, according to the report. Police said the conversation was recorded.
Then Battistoni used FaceTime to communicate with other women, the report said. After seeing the woman in the background, the other women declined to come over to Battistoni’s house, according to the report. Battistoni then grew angry, police said.
When the woman told Battistoni that she would leave, he said he did not want her to, at one point saying, “I’ll kill you, and I’ll kill myself,” according to the report. He placed his forearm around her throat and choked her until she lost consciousness, police said.
The woman told officers she woke up on the floor a few seconds later, with Battistoni pulling her up and yelling at her that she had urinated in her pants and that the urine was getting on the floor, police said.
She changed her clothes, but Battistoni barred her from leaving by placing his hands on her, according to the report. She left after Battistoni passed out from heavy drinking, police said.
The woman told police she had dated Battistoni occasionally for the last nine or 10 years, except for the time he had spent in prison for the deadly 2005 fight.
In the November 2019 incident, Battistoni was charged with two felony counts of aggravated domestic battery, according to court records.
The second incident is said to have happened either June 5 or June 6, 2020. According to police, the same woman went by Battistoni’s workplace in Elmhurst, and then they traveled to his house.
By this time, she was eight months pregnant with their child, police said. Even though a court order prevented Battistoni from speaking with the woman, they started communicating anyway, according to the report.
During the June visit, the woman went to the basement and sat on a bed. Later, Battistoni went down and told her, “I can crush your head with one hand,” a statement that was captured in a recording, police said.
When the woman told Battistoni, “Get the f— away!” Battistoni reached toward her neck, police said.
In the recording, the woman could be heard saying, “Are you threatening me?” Then she told him, “Get away from me!” Battistoni noticed the woman’s phone was recording and became enraged, police said. A commotion could be heard, with the woman telling Battistoni, “Get off,” the report said.
Battistoni grabbed the phone and held it to her face to force the phone to unlock to stop the recording, police said.
Battistoni then choked the woman with both hands around her neck, according to the police report. He barred her from leaving, but she got out after Battistoni again passed out, police said.
Battistoni was charged about a week later with the felonies of aggravated battery to a pregnant person and aggravated domestic battery, police said.
In November 2020, the woman called police to say she had received numerous calls from Battistoni and his attorney, asking her about her participation in the domestic violence case, police said. They requested that she not cooperate with Elmhurst police or DuPage County prosecutors, police said.
In a 2020 interview, Battistoni’s then-attorney, Kevin McCubbin, said neither he nor his client made any requests to the woman. He said he never reached out to the woman, but she contacted him.
“She asked me what to do. I said she should do what she wants to do and that I wasn’t telling her what to do,” McCubbin said.
The woman’s allegation is “absolutely false,” he said in an email to Patch. Making a request not to cooperate with police would be witness tampering and amount to a felony, he said.
McCubbin also took issue with the recordings of his client.
“This recording is an ILLEGALLY made audio recording which is a FELONY under the Illinois Eavesdropping Statute,” McCubbin said in an email to Patch. “Had you actually listened to it, you would be able to hear how fake and scripted the recording actually was.”
He said the woman made the allegations of battery originally to get out of a DUI arrest.
In 2005, Battistoni was sentenced to three years in prison for taking part in a fight over a parking space that led to the death of a father of 10-month-old twins, according to a story in the Chicago Tribune.
Battistoni admitted to holding Anthony Artman in a headlock outside an Addison restaurant, preventing Artman from helping his brother, Nickolaus Artman, as he was being beaten by another man, the Tribune reported. Nickolaus Artman later died.
Battistoni’s charges in that case were aggravated battery and obstruction of justice.
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