Plainfield man sentenced for brutal attack on girlfriend in 2018: 'a gutless misogynist'

WILL COUNTY - A Plainfield man has been sentenced to nine years in prison for viciously attacking his then-girlfriend in 2018.

"Brown is a serial domestic abuser with a history of violent attacks against women, as shown by the fact that the mother of his child was in the hospital recovering from extensive injuries she suffered at Brown’s hands at the same time he attacked the victim here," said Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow.

On March 17, 2018, Darrius Brown was at the home of Jamie Hollingsworth, who is the mother of one of his children. Hollingsworth was not there, but Brown was at the home with his then-girlfriend Elizabeth Balbuena. Prosecutors said Brown – who according to Balbuena was acting paranoid that day – became enraged after a phone call and threw a cellphone at his girlfriend, striking her shin and splitting the skin.

As Balbuena tried to walk away, Brown grabbed the back of her hooded jacket – which choked her – and told her she wasn't going anywhere. Prosecutors said he continued to follow her around the home, and then grabbed her with both arms and shook her, which smashed her head and back into the door of a closet. She was left with visible bruises.

Brown then put his forearm across her neck, which made it hard for her to breathe. Brown stopped when Balbuena's 5-year-old son asked what he was doing. Prosecutors said after the child left the room, Brown grabbed a hammer and, while still holding her against the closet, threatened to strike her.

At some point, Brown forced Balbuena to drive him to his mother's home in Chicago. Once they arrived, according to prosecutors, Brown stole her cellphone and ran into his mother's apartment. Balbuena pursued Brown to get her phone back, but he punched her in the eye. He also hit and kicked her, including hitting her head on a wall.

Brown also threw her to the ground and repeatedly kicked her with his Timberland boots he was wearing, prosecutors said. This included holding himself up off the ground using a door frame and stomping on her.

Balbuena was treated at the emergency room for severe bruising, a black eye, cuts on her face and shin, and dizziness.

While this attack occurred, prosecutors said Hollingsworth – the mother of one of his children – was already in the hospital for injuries she sustained at the hands of Brown a month prior. For that attack, Brown received eight years in prison on Oct. 8, 2020.

Darrius Brown

"His record also includes convictions for an attempted armed robbery in which he hit a woman in the face with a gun and broke her jaw, and arson in which he lit the car of the mother of another of his children on fire. Added to this, Brown was held in contempt of court in the current case after yelling profanity and sexual slurs at the judge, Assistant State’s Attorney, and Assistant Public Defender – all of whom are females. Brown is a gutless misogynist who preys upon defenseless women and no prison sentence is long enough to undue the savagery he perpetrated here," Glasgow said.

His nine-year sentence will run concurrently with his eight-year sentence that he's currently serving.