Domestic Violence
I represented a lady, let's call her Ms. Smith, after her first arrest. She was accused of assaulting her husband, who had let her sit in jail for a couple of days before bonding her out. I met her at arraignment, where she came across as mild-mannered and quiet. I think her husband had already had a case or two, in which he was accused of assaulting her. His cases ended up being dismissed, because she didn't appear for trial.
As it turned out, hers was dismissed for the same reason. At that point, I had moved into another courtroom and had turned the file over to another attorney in our office. The file was closed, and everyone moved on to other clients.
Apparently, the relationship became more volatile as time went on. Her husband evidently felt the need to get a protective order at some point over the summer, and he alleged that she violated it. A divorce was filed.
Three weeks ago, she ended up getting a protective order of her own, alleging that he had assaulted her again. He ended up picking up new charges for assaulting her.
Yesterday, police were called to their house. He alleged that she had assaulted him with a machete. When the police arrived at the house, they saw her outside, maybe with a knife and maybe not. She ran into a neighbor's house, and the officers followed her in. The officers reported that she grabbed a knife and lunged at them twice. Some reports indicate that she was saying things like, "go ahead, do it." Ultimately, the police obliged and fired one round, killing her.
That was 5:00 p.m. yesterday, making her the 12th person killed by the local police this year.
As it turned out, hers was dismissed for the same reason. At that point, I had moved into another courtroom and had turned the file over to another attorney in our office. The file was closed, and everyone moved on to other clients.
Apparently, the relationship became more volatile as time went on. Her husband evidently felt the need to get a protective order at some point over the summer, and he alleged that she violated it. A divorce was filed.
Three weeks ago, she ended up getting a protective order of her own, alleging that he had assaulted her again. He ended up picking up new charges for assaulting her.
Yesterday, police were called to their house. He alleged that she had assaulted him with a machete. When the police arrived at the house, they saw her outside, maybe with a knife and maybe not. She ran into a neighbor's house, and the officers followed her in. The officers reported that she grabbed a knife and lunged at them twice. Some reports indicate that she was saying things like, "go ahead, do it." Ultimately, the police obliged and fired one round, killing her.
That was 5:00 p.m. yesterday, making her the 12th person killed by the local police this year.
posted by swd at 9:38 PM
3 Comments:
Your post reminded me of a case I worked on (as a criminal defense investigator) many years ago. Our client was a guy named Tracey, let's say, who I visited in jail numerous times. He was always more concerned with being able to get his hair products into the jail, as opposed to the case at hand. He was, as you might imagine, a real character.
In the process of investigating his case, I met the young mother of his child, and their 2 year old son. The child was the cutest kid imagineable in personality and in looks. About a year after my work on the case was over, I read in the newspaper that the child had been shot and killed while driving in the car with good old dad, my former client...in a known drug area. There was a photograph in the paper of the child, to further instill the child's smiling face in my memory.
You can't save people from themselves.
You both bring up really good points. I just don't understand why they shot her. It seems like there should have been other ways to handle that situation.
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