Judge denies bid by former Duane Morris partner to stop his wife’s funeral

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Choose denies bid by former Duane Morris associate to cease his spouse’s funeral

By Debra Cassens Weiss

November 21, 2024, 10:51 am CST

A Chicago decide on Wednesday denied a former Duane Morris associate’s emergency movement to cease his deceased spouse’s dad and mom from holding her funeral, in order that he can acquire her stays.

Choose Eve M. Reilly of Cook dinner County, Illinois, denied lawyer Adam P. Beckerink’s request to protect the stays of his spouse, 36-year-old Caitlin Tracey, pending attraction.

Tracey was discovered useless on the backside of a stairwell in Beckerink’s South Loop residential constructing on Oct. 27. Her foot had been severed.

The Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Solar-Occasions and Fox 32 Chicago have protection of Reilly’s Nov. 20 order.

Beckerink was ousted as a associate at Duane Morris after Tracey’s dad and mom sought her stays in court docket filings alleging that he had bodily abused their daughter. A decide in Berrien County, Michigan, granted the dad and mom’ request Nov. 12, saying he had jurisdiction as a result of Tracey was a resident of New Buffalo, Michigan, on the time of her dying.

The dad and mom then sought to implement the judgment in Cook dinner County as a result of the Medical Examiner’s workplace had the stays.

Two home violence prices are pending in opposition to Beckerink in Berrien County, Michigan, based on previous protection by the Chicago Tribune. He has not been charged with any crime associated to his spouse’s dying.

The couple had been married six months when Tracey died. A lawyer for Beckerink, Todd Pugh, has beforehand mentioned Tracey “was the love of Adam’s life.”

In an affidavit supporting a bid for an order of safety that was granted in October 2023, Tracey mentioned Beckerink bodily abused her at a Ritz-Carlton resort, at Beckerink’s South Loop residential constructing and at her Michigan house.

In a single occasion, she alleged, Beckerink struck her within the head with a pickle jar and poured vodka on her physique, burning her wounds. The safety order was dismissed in November 2023 when Tracey moved to vacate it.

One other lawyer for Beckerink, Telly Stefaneas, informed Reilly in a listening to Wednesday that his shopper deliberate to attraction the Michigan choice awarding the stays to Tracey’s dad and mom, Andrew and Monica Tracey, based on the Chicago Tribune.

Reilly famous in her order Wednesday that it has been three weeks since Tracey’s dying, and the medical expert’s workplace has indicated that it couldn’t preserve her physique past 30 days.

“Caitlin is a human being who died below horrible circumstances,” Reilly wrote. “Whether it is attainable for Caitlin’s physique to be saved elsewhere all through an attraction, that has not even been filed, nobody has knowledgeable the court docket of that reality. Definitely, it doesn’t appear simply or equitable to take action.”

A lawyer for Andrew and Monica Tracey, Andrew Cunniff, mentioned in a press release Tracey’s household is grateful for Reilly’s choice.

“We can not think about why the defendant would need to preserve Caitlin away from her household—even now,” Cunniff mentioned. “Nobody ought to must bury their little one, a lot much less battle a authorized battle to do it. Fortunately, the best aspect prevailed, and Caitlin will stay together with her household the place she belongs.”