Kory Kuizenga
GALLATIN CO. – A man with a very odd name and a very short temper is in very hot water after allegedly taking that temper out on his stepfather…who has, since the filing of charges of Aggravated Domestic Battery, died.
How Shanin Healy died, however, and what he died of, remains a matter under investigation, as does the current charge, which might be expanded upon depending on the outcome of examination of medical records.
Court documents show that Kory Kuizenga, 32, of Ridgway, is charged with Aggravated Domestic Battery, a Class 2 felony, after it’s alleged that on June 22, he caused great bodily harm to Healy, a household member, in that he struck Healy in the side with his fist and in doing so, fractured Healy’s ribs and ruptured his spleen.
Healy, 48, was rushed to an out-of-area hospital and was treated there until his death on July 3.
Kuizenga, in the interim, had not yet been charged with the Agg DomBatt count. That wasn’t effected until after Healy’s death. The court information and formal charge was filed on the day Healy died, July 3.
A warrant was issued for Kuizenga’s arrest and he was taken into custody on July 5, with a bail amount set at $500,000 ($50,000 cash bond).
At a July 9 hearing, Kuizenga requested a bond reduction to $10,000, a notion that was met with opposition by the state’s attorney prosecuting the case.
Gallatin County State’s Attorney Doug Dyhrkopp advised the court Kuizenga had been located at a motel in Harrisburg (in neighboring Saline County) in a room he had obtained under a fictitious name; that the autopsy had been completed into Healy’s death; that the autopsy result had been a ruling of Homicide as a manner of death; and that the state is contemplating further charges.
On that basis, Judge Tom Foster opted to deny the bail reduction motion, and so as of press time, Kuizenga was being held at the White County Jail in Carmi for Gallatin County.
“Homicide,” as a manner of death in a coroner’s consideration, is legally defined as “one human killing another.” There are many legal categories into which this can fall, which amounts to murder, manslaughter, justifiable homicide, killing by course of an act of war, euthanasia (mercy killing) and execution as a punishment. Just because a coroner’s ruling of manner of death involves ‘homicide’ (there are other rulings: Suicide, natural causes, accident, and undetermined), it does not automatically confer “murder” as a charge.
Infrequently, “murder” is not charged when a person dies later from injuries sustained in a beating or even a single blow, which is what it appears to be in this case. An example of this can be seen in the case of Jeremy Birkla in Mt. Carmel (Wabash County), who, at age 19, beat another Mt. Carmel man, Billy Gunzel, putting him in an Evansville hospital on September 25, 2011. Birkla was charged with Class 3 felony Aggravated Battery Causing Great Bodily Harm.
Gunzel died on October 12, 2011 from a septic infection caused by the head injuries sustained in the beating. His charges were elevated…but only to Involuntary Manslaughter, meaning that while the beating wasn’t DIRECTLY the cause of Gunzel’s death, it was a proximate cause of death.
Birkla got a slap on the wrist thanks to a pre-sentencing effort that involved church attendance…which devolved in about a year’s time when his true colors bled back through and he was popped on a dope charge, for which he was finally sentenced to five years in the Department of Corrections.
The outrage that ensued when Birkla got out of the manslaughter charge with a slap on the wrist, however, was palpable. Family couldn’t understand why he wasn’t charged with something more serious, that carried a heavier sentence.
The law is the law, however, and that’s all that the circumstances allowed.
There may be something along those lines developing in the Gallatin County case. Already several people have issued their opinions that Kuizenga needs to be charged with something much more serious than AggBatt. And this time, they may be onto something.
Calling the ongoing investigation a “fluid situation,” Dyhrkopp has stated that as of press time (July 15), he hadn’t even received the report from Illinois State Police, who is the agency investigating the incident. He also noted that there were still multiple subpoenas and warrants executed, and multiple tests and results that his office is waiting on. Some records, he indicated, might take weeks to come in.
He did say, however, that there might possibly be more charges to come. It all depends on what results are received from the tests, subpoenas, and warrants.
In the meantime, Kuizenga’s not going anywhere; he’s still being held on $50,000 cash bail and has been housed at the White County Jail in Carmi, with a next court appearance – a preliminary hearing – set for the day before street date of this issue, July 16.
Updates will be given at the website, www.disclosurenewsonline.com
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