(Mar 07, 2019) Rep. Anita Astorino Kulik
HARRISBURG, March 7 – Nearly a year and a half has passed since the murder of University of Pittsburgh student Alina Sheykhet, who was killed by her ex-boyfriend in October 2017, just shy of a month after Sheykhet filed a protection-from-abuse order against her former partner. Time, however, has not diminished the brutality – and preventability – of Sheykhet’s death, said state Rep. Anita Kulik. Kulik, D-Allegheny, recently introduced H.B. 588 , a measure that would give judges discretion as to whether or not a PFA defendant should wear an electronic monitoring device if the defendant poses a threat of violating the order. Coined “Alina’s Law,” Kulik hopes H.B. 588 will ensure Sheykhet’s murder isn’t just a statistic, but a starting point in combatting domestic violence in Pennsylvania. “In 2017, there were 117 deaths in the commonwealth as a result of domestic violence, Alina’s death included,” Kulik said. “Alina, who was a member of the community and whose parents still reside in my district, did her part by filing a PFA against her ex-boyfriend, but it wasn’t enough. “The threat on her life fell through the cracks of the state system, and as a result she lost her life. It’s time the commonwealth did its part by guaranteeing the safety of domestic abuse victims and making sure defendants don’t violate these orders.” On Oct. 8, 2017, Sheykhet, 20, was Read more