NikkI’s CASE

For a detailed account of the abuse Nikki suffered, read Rachel Louise Snyder’s article in The New Yorker.

For comprehensive reporting on Nikki’s trial, read Justine van der Leun’s article, The Evidence Against Her.

To learn about Nikki as a woman and mother, read these testimonials.


Background

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Nicole “Nikki” Addimando is a 31-year-old woman from Poughkeepsie, NY. She is the mother of two young children, ages 7 and 5. Nikki has no prior criminal history and is known in her community as a loving mother and caring friend. She survived years of violent abuse and sexual torture at the hands of her longtime partner Christopher Grover, as documented by domestic violence advocates, medical professionals, and police. On September 28, 2017, she shot and killed Grover to save her own life.

In April 2019, despite an abundance of evidence presented at trial to corroborate abuse, Addimando was convicted of second-degree murder and gun possession. The gun was legally registered to Grover.

The Case Against Nikki

Photo: Dan Nelson for And So I Stayed

Photo: Dan Nelson for And So I Stayed

The prosecutor, Putnam County ADA Chana Krauss, ambitiously pursued a conviction, disregarding evidence of severe intimate partner violence at the hands of Mr. Grover.

Throughout the course of trial, Ms. Krauss used classic domestic violence myths to present multiple and often contradictory theories — that Addimando incited the abuse, liked the abuse, made up the abuse entirely, and if she were really being abused then she should have left. Ms. Krauss relied on character assassination, victim blaming, and unsubstantiated claims repeated as fact.

See some of the myths perpetuated by the prosecution during and after trial. And see how her prosecutorial misconduct, including introducing knowingly false testimony at the Grand Jury, is addressed in Addimando’s newly filed appeal.

 

Sentencing

Photo: Dan Nelson for And So I Stayed

Photo: Dan Nelson for And So I Stayed

Prior to Addimando’s sentencing, New York State passed the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act and Governor Cuomo signed it into law. The new law took into account the mitigating factors of domestic violence when sentencing survivor defendants such as Addimando, and would change her sentencing structure from a minimum of 15-to-life down to a minimum of 5 years.

In September 2019, the Court held an eligibility hearing and the defense presented even more professional testimony to the rape and torture Addimando endured. Despite having more documented abuse than most victims, Judge McLoughlin denied her eligibility. Understand more about the judge’s misapplication of the DVSJA, and why legislators and organizations are rallying for Addimando’s appeal: WeStandWithNikki.com/DVSJA

On Feb. 11, 2020, Judge McLoughlin sentenced Addimando to 19-years-to-life plus 15 years + 5 years post supervision for possessing her partner's legally registered gun (to be served concurrently). He said it’s clear she’s been abused by “other men,” but there wasn’t evidence it was Grover. (Addimando named one and only one abuser in medical and police documentation: Chris Grover.) Outside the courthouse, protestors held up these signs:

Judge McLoughlin said he understood she “reluctantly consented” to “intimate acts” with Grover — acts including being raped with homemade objects, sodomized with his gun, burned on her genitalia while pregnant, and subjected to humiliating revenge porn.

He concluded that she is a "broken person."

Addimando gave a powerful personal statement: "I wish more than anything it ended another way. I wouldn't be in this courtroom right now, but I wouldn't be alive either. This is why women don't leave. They so often end up dead or where I'm standing — alive, but still not free." (Read her full sentencing statement.)

Other victims in the community received a clear message with Nikki’s case: The system will not believe you, even with evidence. Prosecutor Krauss addressed this during sentence by saying, “The system did not fail, it succeeded. We are here to protect against false allegations.”

Appeal

Ms. Addimando filed an appeal on July 31, 2020 with the New York State Court of Appeals through a pro-bono appellate team headed by Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. It features five specific points of appeal:

  1. Addimando was wrongfully deprived the counsel of her choice;

  2. Addimando was indicted in an unfair process infected by false testimony;

  3. Addimando was refused her right to raise a peremptory challenge during jury selection;

  4. Erroneous evidentiary rulings deprived Addimando of the right to present a defense;

  5. Addimando should have received a reduced sentence under the DVSJA.

To date, three supplementary amicus briefs were filed by:

1) A group of New York State Assemblymembers and Senators who sponsored and passed the DVSJA, and

2) Organizations with an expertise in domestic violence, led by Sanctuary for Families and joined by Day One New York, National Network to End Domestic Violence, Safe Horizon, Inc., Her Justice, Urban Resource Institute, Urban Justice Center, Empire Justice Center, the New York Legal Assistance Group, New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault, and Lawyers Committee Against Domestic Violence.

3) The New York City Bar Association

Amicus briefs are filed by large organizations or associations that represent a particular interest group — in this case, 1) legislators and advocates who worked to pass the DVSJA for the past decade, 2) state and national leaders who work directly on issues facing victims of domestic violence, in particular victims who have committed crimes and who may be eligible for a reduced sentence under the DVSJA, and 3) the NYC Bar Association’s Professional Ethics Committee, which has a longstanding involvement with the interpretation of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct. Amici do not have a private interest in Addimando’s case.

 Learn More