Senator Griffo Stands with Belius Family to Bring Changes to Legal System
By: Elsa Gillis
Updated: February 28, 2012
The family of the six year old stabbed to death by David Trebilcockis still looking for justice. Trebilcock was found not criminally responsible by reason of mental defect, and now Senator Joseph Griffo is looking to make some changes in the state's legal system.
Allison Belius, the mother of Lauren, says she was shocked when she heard the verdict in her daughter's murder trial. Today, she stood with Senator Griffo to try and make it so people like Trebilcock serve the time she feels they deserve and bring justice to her daughter.
"David could be walking the streets in a few years and nobody will know what he did, he has no record now and that's not right," Belius says.
As it stands now, David Trebilcock stabbed Lauren Belius to death, but was found not criminally responsible by reason of mental defect. Every two years he'll go before a judge for a mental evaluation, and could be back in a facility, or let free.
"We want to make sure he goes away for at least the 25 years he would've gotten if he had been found guilty. Mental hospital or prison we don't care. We don't want to have to worry every two years that he's going to come back into our lives," she says.
And this is what Senator Joseph Griffo is trying to do. He introduced legislation last year that if a defendant was found not guilty by reason of mental defect, they would serve the same amount of time in a mental facility equal to the sentence if they were found guilty of the crime. And with recent events involving the Belius family, he's pushing the bill once again.
"Treatment needs to be continued, monitored, and if somebody misses that, that's a problem, we cannot have the risk imposed upon the community by having these individuals in society," says the Senator.
He's hoping it'll not just protect society, but serve as a deterrent to those who might manipulate the system, as Allison believes Trebilcock did. If this legislation is signed into law, it won't affect any cases, like Lauren Belius', prior to it being signed, but Allison says she's standing with the senator to prevent anything like this from happening in the future. "I don't want to see someone else going through what we're going through. It's the most unimaginable pain you could ever think of and nobody deserves it."
