Police: Protection order didn't stop East Hills homicide suspect's threats, violence

Tionna Banks did everything she was supposed to do.

She broke off contact with Cesar Mazza. She called police when he dragged her down a flight of stairs and stomped her pregnant belly. She reported the death threats he made to her. She obtained a protection from abuse order, or PFA.

None of it stopped Mazza, who, police charge, stabbed her 15 times and bludgeoned her and her grandmother, Valorie Crumpton, to death in Crumpton's East Hills home in May.

“Because he's a criminal. And criminals belong in jail,” said Laurie MacDonald, president of the Center for Victims in Pittsburgh.

Mazza, 25, was charged Tuesday in the murders of Banks, 25, and Crumpton, 72. Police also charged him with kidnapping, saying he took Banks' infant son, covered in her blood, from the home after the brutal killings.

Banks told authorities in a PFA petition filed Dec. 23 that Mazza “told me that he will kill me if his son don't have his name when he is born.”

In February, she named the child Vaughn.

Mazza was initially charged with aggravated assault, aggravated assault of an unborn child, terroristic threats and stalking. He spent four days in the Allegheny County Jail before posting $30,000 bail. That bail was revoked only when Mazza missed a May 6 court date — one day before the partially decomposed bodies of Banks and Crumpton were discovered.

Given the severity and number of charges, MacDonald questioned why Mazza was released on bail.

According to police, it was well known at Gwen's Girls, a social service agency serving Banks, that Mazza had threatened her life.

Banks wrote in a PFA violation complaint March 3: “Cesar had told my cousin that if I don't allow him to see his son, he will shoot me in the head.”

PFAs are not foolproof, MacDonald said, but they work in most cases.

“It de-escalates the situation,” she said. “It worked for (Banks) for a while. But it doesn't work with criminals. They don't care about the law. PFAs only work with people who care if they're arrested.”

Since January, 68 people have been killed in domestic violence-related incidents in Pennsylvania. Three of those victims had filed for PFAs: two in Allegheny County and one in Luzerne County, according to statistics collected by the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

“PFAs are a very good tool, but they are not the only one tool,” said Peg Dierkers, executive director of the coalition. “If a victim is being abused by someone who is very violent, that victim probably needs more than one tool. Her safety plan needs to be very comprehensive.”

Just over 3,600 PFAs were processed in Allegheny County in 2013, the most recent year for which complete statistics are available. Information from Dierkers shows there were 28 domestic violence-related deaths in Allegheny County that year, including perpetrators who were killed or took their own lives.

She advocated for holding abusers accountable immediately and “ratcheting up that accountability with every further act of abuse or violence.

“A little earlier in the year, when (Mazza) threatened to kill her, would have been an opportune time to increase his accountability for his violence,” Dierkers said.

Balancing the protection of the victim and the rights of the accused, though, can be difficult, criminal defense attorney Phil DiLucente said.

“The theory is good, but I think (PFAs) get abused quite a bit on domestic relations cases involving persons going through a divorce or having familial issues,” he said. “I think that, at times, they can be handed out like candy.”

DiLucente said he takes particular issue with having a final PFA hearing while a defendant has a pending criminal hearing. He said forcing a defendant to testify in the final PFA hearing before a criminal proceeding could force the defendant to waive any Fifth Amendment rights he or she might have.

He acknowledged that PFA orders don't always work.

“The person that has one issued against them will not necessarily cooperate with a piece of paper,” DiLucente said.

Banks had been given a pass from Gwen's Girls on May 2 to visit her grandmother, and she was to be back by 10 p.m. May 4. She was reported missing by the agency just before midnight the next day.

Police discovered the bodies of Banks and her grandmother two days later.

Mazza was arrested May 17 in New Jersey for violating terms of his bail by missing his May 6 court date. He was extradited to Allegheny County on July 31 and charged with the murders Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Common Pleas Judge Donna Jo McDaniel ordered Mazza to be held in jail without bond on the bond violation charges.

Staff writer Adam Brandolph contributed. Megan Guza is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-380-8519 or mguza@tribweb.com.