IN THE NEWS

Irvine World News Sunday, April 24, 2005.
Crime Victim Not A Quitter
by Mike Stein

Most crime survivors try to blot out their terrible memories while getting on with their lives as best they can. Patricia Wenskunas is one of them, but she’s also begun a program to give other victims solace and information that can help make them whole again.

Three years ago, as you may have read in this newspaper, the then-33-year-old Irvine woman was attacked in her home by her personal trainer at 24

Hour Fitness, who had come offering to help her sell a treadmill. He gave her a knockout drug, telling her it would assist her in losing weight.

When Wenskunas regained conscious, she alleged, she was naked and he was attempting to smother her by covering her face with Saran wrap. He also beat her and threatened to kill her 13-year-old son, who was in school at the time, she recalled.

She escaped by leaping from a 12-foot balcony to the kitchen of her condo.

Wenskunas is bitter about what followed. The assailant, Jeffrey Kelavos, served only 120 days in custody after being convicted of attempted assault with a deadly weapon and criminal threat. Early in the jury trial, Superior Court Judge Susanne Shaw tossed out charges of premeditated attempted murder and burglary, which could have put Kelavos in prison for life.

“How can it not be premeditated when he arrived with specialized tools of crime, including a knockout drug?” Wenskunas said when I interviewed her.

The single mom said she felt her life was wrecked. “I went from being the successful owner of a catering business to being nothing. I was broke. I could never go back to my home so I had to move to another place because I feared he would come after me.”

Wenskunas estimated the ordeal cost her $50,000, including a civil suit against Kelavos in which she was awarded $6 million. “I’ve never received a cent and I never will,” she said.

Wenskunas has filed a complaint against Judge Shaw with the state Commission on Judicial Performance, alleging “judicial misconduct” and “unprofessional courtroom behavior.”

During Kelavos’ trial, according to Wenkunas, Shaw displayed a “blatant” dislike of her by asking her if she had ever been committed to a mental hospital; taking away her rosary and photo of her son, saying they were making too much noise in the courtroom; “making a joke” about her receipts for restitution, and suggesting to a civil attorney that she had had an affair with Kelavos. In addition, the complaint states, Judge Shaw, at the sentence hearing, said she didn’t understand how the jury returned with its verdict.

“There is no excuse for any judge to make such comments that are totally unsupported by any factual evidence,” the complaint says, Judge Shaw did not return phone calls.

Devastating as her trauma was, Wenskunas is battling back — not only for herself but for an untold number of casualties across the land who, in her words, “may not know where to obtain advice, guidance and support from fellow victims of crime.”

She has created Crime Survivors, Inc. (www.crimesurviv ors.com), a non-profit organization to help victims recover by informing them of state and local agencies that can assist in the process, and by bringing them into contact nationwide with other sufferers. Wenskunas herself has reached a number of them via phone and e-mail.

“It takes most victims five years to recover,” she said. “It has taken me three years but and I want others to get their lives back sooner.”

At the moment, Wenskunas is seeking to raise money for various projects, including a handout tote bag to contain brochures and other material from police and fire departments, government agencies and non-profit groups that work directly with victims of assault, attempted murder, rape, domestic violence and theft.

She also is planning to set up support groups in which crime survivors meet every other week, distribute a victim’s “bill of rights,” establish a system of referrals for professional counseling and services, and produce a “Mock Trial” DVD to assist victims in navigating the legal system. The Orange County hotline for its Victim-Witness Assistance Program is (714) 957-2737.

Of course, all this takes money, which Wenskunas is trying to raise. Using her own money, she has created for sale sweat shirts, jewelry and keychains with a Crime Survivors black and blue logo, “the colors the beating and jump left on my body,” she explained. Last year, she garnered some funds through a 5K walk event in Irvine and is planning another one here on Oct. 8. Meanwhile, Wenskunas is working on restoring her catering business.

“I’m not a quitter. I will get it back,” she said.
I’m among those who believe she will.