Joliet Man Attacks Roommate As Terrified Woman Runs Outside To Call 911: Prosecutors

JOLIET, IL — Unlike her Courtroom 202 predecessor, Will County Judge Derek Ewanic, Judge Chrystel Gavlin continues to order more Joliet criminal defendants accused of violent crimes to remain in the jail under the SAFE-T-Act. One of her latest decisions involved 34-year-old James Malinek, who was jailed two different times in 2025 and once in June of 2024.

Last week, Malinek was arrested again, this time by the Joliet Police Department, on charges of aggravated domestic battery and domestic battery.

According to the prosecution's filing, at 9:55 p.m. Jan. 28, Joliet police were sent to the 1400 block of Colorado for a man choking another man inside the residence. At the scene, a woman informed the officers that Malinek was choking her boyfriend. She told the officers that she, Malinek and her boyfriend all have lived there for several years.

She told officers that Malinek and her boyfriend had an argument in the living room, and she saw Malinek wrap his right arm around her boyfriend's neck and begin to choke him. According to police, she tried to intervene but could not. Malinek eventually released his chokehold upon the male roommate, and then Malinek put both of his hands around the man's neck in the kitchen and tried to strangle him, the prosecutors informed Judge Gavlin.

That's when the female roommate went outside to call 911. She did not see the victim lose consciousness, but it appeared he could not breathe, she said.

Joliet police also spoke with James Malinek Sr., and he implicated his son, indicating he saw his son with his hands around the male roommate's neck, strangling him.

Joliet police said the strangling victim was highly intoxicated, but he relayed that Malinek choked him and he lost consciousness and could not breathe, court files show.

According to prosecutors, Malinek walked back inside the residence and told Joliet police he got into an argument with his male roommate because the roommate was trying to put his hands on that roommate's girlfriend. Malinek admitted he put his hands around his roommate's neck to prevent the person from getting physical with the woman. However, the female roommate insisted that her boyfriend never put his hands on her and she did not have any injuries, court documents outlined.

To bolster their argument in favor of detaining Malinek under the SAFE-T-Act, the Will County State's Attorney's Office advised Judge Gavlin that Malinek had a June 2024 violation of pretrial release charge that was later dropped under a plea bargain. Another violation of pretrial release charge and a domestic battery charge involving a female victim, from April 2024, resulted in 24 months of probation and 90 days in jail.

"The defendant poses a threat to the victim, the civilian witnesses and the community in general," the prosecutors outlined in their SAFE-T-Act petition, which was granted by Judge Gavlin.