After Accusations Of Strangling In Rockdale, Convicted Domestic Abuser Regains Freedom From Judge Ewanic

ROCKDALE, IL — A 33-year-old Rockdale man who was previously convicted of domestic battery 10 years ago in Joliet now faces new charges of aggravated domestic battery and two counts of domestic battery and the victim is the same woman, according to Will County's prosecutors.

Juan Gutierrez-Munoz, who comes from the 900 block of Otis Avenue, spent three days in the Will County Jail last week following his Rockdale police arrest. Then, Will County Associate Judge Derek Ewanic ruled against the Will County State's Attorney's Office and ordered Gutierrez released from jail.

According to his criminal complaint, Gutierrez is accused of strangling the woman on Oct. 7, kicking her body and grabbing her body. The prosecution's unsuccessful petition to keep Gutierrez detained in the county jail under the SAFE-T-Act outlined the allegations.

Last Tuesday, Oct. 7, Rockdale officer Anthony Montiel was called to a house in the 900 block of Otis for a domestic in progress, according to the petition. Prosecturos say he learned that the victim was kicked in her breast while she was breastfeeding their 5-month-old child, and Gutierrez left the house when she called 911 from behind her house, near the alley.

At the scene, the victim told Officer Montiel that Gutierrez was out all-night drinking, and he came home at 7 a.m. intoxicated. According to court documents, the woman said she was lying in bed calling her mother while breastfeeding her child and making arrangements for her mother to watch her two other children, since "Juan was not home and she had a dentist appointment," prosecutors noted.

She relayed that Gutierrez then came into her bedroom, angry and upset because he thought she was talking about him to her mother, according to prosecutors. Following a short argument, Gutierrez kicked the woman in her right breast while she held their five-month-old child, prosecutors told Judge Ewanic.

As he tried to kick her again, the woman set her baby on the bed, and Gutierrez began to push him and punch him in the chest, court files allege.

Gutierrez "placed both of his hands around her throat, pushed her against the wall and began squeezing to the point that she thought she was going to lose consciousness," court documents allege. "As he was pressing harder, their children were standing in the doorway to the bedroom and started screaming and crying so he let her go and went through her purse and took all of her cash that she had before leaving the residence," prosecutors said.

The woman informed the Rockdale officer that her youngest child is five months old and her oldest is 10. She "did not want officers to speak with the children to get them involved," court records state.

In 2021, Gutierrez pleaded guilty to a Joliet DUI at Raynor Avenue and Black Road and in 2015, Joliet Police arrested him on multiple counts of domestic battery. However, those charges were later reduced to battery under a plea bargain agreement.

As part of his guilty plea, he was ordered to obtain a drug and alcohol evaluation and comply with treatment and have no offensive contact with the woman he is accused of trying to strangle last week in Rockdale.

In last week's ruling from the bench, Judge Ewanic noted that although the Rockdale defendant was charged with a detention-eligible offense under the SAFE-T-Act, the court denied the prosecution's petition to deny because the defendant "has not violated no contact, no history of failing to follow court orders."

The judge ordered Gutierrez not to leave Illinois without the court's permission and have no contact with the victim in his case or her address in the 900 block of Rockdale's Otis Avenue. The judge also ordered Gutierrez to be placed on electronic monitoring.