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Man Accidentally Freed From Jail Pleads Guilty to Attacking Girlfriend

By DNAinfo Staff on December 10, 2013 6:03pm

 Steven Derkits was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated battery and attempted murder.
Steven Derkits was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated battery and attempted murder.
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Cook County Sheriffs Office

CHICAGO — A Brighton Park man who attacked his girlfriend twice after he was mistakenly released from jail in July was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to related charges, prosecutors said.

Steven Derkits, of the 4400 block of South Talman Avenue, originally appeared in court on July 30, when a judge dropped five out of six charges against him: domestic battery, two counts of resisting arrest, violating an order of protection and simple assault, the sheriff's office said.

Sheriff's office employees overlooked a remaining aggravated battery of a peace office charge and released him from Cook County Jail.

The office realized its mistake and took Derkits, now 31, into custody on Aug. 20, the day of his second attack on his girlfriend, prosecutors said.

In that incident, Derkits punched the woman several times with a closed fist near the corner of 47th Street and Sacramento Avenue in Brighton Park before running off. Sheriff's officers responded to a call at the woman's home and arrested Derkits.

Three days earlier, Derkits had struck his girlfriend in her apartment because he believed she was cheating on him, prosecutors said.

In that attack, he punched her in the face multiple times and burned a lit cigarette four times on various parts of her face and neck.

He then threatened to kill her and choked her until she was unconscious.

Derkits pleaded guilty to aggravated battery and attempted murder.