Behind The Blue Wall

Keeping this display of officer-involved domestic violence fatalities on top from now on...

2012-01-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

The Officer-Involved Domestic Violence (OIDV) Fatalities photo presentation that was here has been deleted by ROCKYOU.com, where it had been hosted and streamed from. Rockyou was sold and no longer supporting the photo display feature. Until the new presentation is rebuilt and updated, a screencaptured copy is here, on LaneJudson.com, the site it was originally compiled for.

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The blog has gotten so big that the search box at the very top of the page sometimes does not find the posts. There is another search box under the heading that works.
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence IPV abuse law enforcement public safety cloud writer snx94gvmpt PERPETRATED]

[LA] NOPD Officer Lacour convicted of shooting gun outside ex's house

2012-01-28T14:10:00.000-08:00

New Orleans Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas has made it clear that the department has no tolerance for officers convicted of felonies - and that's a good policy. It should go without saying, then, that Officer Jermaine Lacour needs to be removed from the force... District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office lauded the conviction and said it will continue to go after people who use weapons illegally. That's even more important when the offender is a law enforcement officer who's supposed to uphold the law... NOPD spokeswoman Remi Braden said Lacour was suspended without pay following the jury verdict convicting him of illegally discharging a firearm... He is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 15 and could face from zero to two years in prison...

PREVIOUS POSTS:

[LA] Officer Lacour booked on domestic. Top cop says NOPD has zero tolerance for misconduct. - In a prepared statement, Superintendent Ronal Serpas said the NOPD has "zero tolerance for misconduct. Criminal allegations are serious and each individual will have their day in court. When an officer betrays the public's trust, swift and decisive actions will be taken. We will continue to build the public's trust with accountability, transparency and integrity."
[LA] NOPD Officer Lacour's retrial for shooting gun at ex's house scheduled for September - ...[New Orleans police officer Jermaine] Lacour, who remains free on $5,000 bond, also was arrested June 7 for violating a restraining order prohibiting him from contacting [ex-girlfriend]... A ballistics expert tied three bullet casings on the ground to the 9mm police handgun that Lacour kept... "He's a man who doesn't like to be ignored. He's a man who's not used to being ignored," the prosecutor said...

ORLEANS PARISH JURY CONVICTS NOPD COP FOR FIRING GUN
The Times-Picayune
By John Simerman,
January 25, 2012
[Excerpts] An Orleans Parish jury convicted a New Orleans police officer of a felony weapons charge on Wednesday for firing a handgun outside his former girlfriend's home in late 2010. Jermaine Lacour, 38, who was suspended by NOPD following the incident, is expected to be fired after his conviction on a charge of illegal use of a weapon. He could be sentenced to as much as two years in prison, or as little as probation... Prosecutors said the four-year NOPD officer drove to the house of [K.A.], his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his young child ... on Dec. 29, 2010. While he was there, the ex-girfriend and a friend, Tulane University policeman [J.V.], got out of a car and headed to the door. Lacour demanded to see the toddler. Adams told him to wait. As she entered the house, [K.A.] testified, she heard three shots... A ballistics expert tied three bullet casings on the ground to the 9mm police handgun that Lacour kept... "The district attorneys office takes gun crimes very seriously and this conviction should be a sign that we will do everything in our power to take people off the streets who are illegally using weapons," said Christopher Bowman, spokesman for Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office... "I just think that verdict, it was wrong," Lacour said. "I admit I shot my gun, but I was fired upon. I've never been arrested, never been in trouble in my life." [Full article here]

NOPD SUSPENDS POLICE OFFICER CONVICTED OF FIRING GUN
The Times-Picayune
By John Simerman,
January 26, 2012
[Excerpts] The New Orleans Police Department has suspended Officer Jermaine Lacour after his conviction Wednesday in a shooting incident outside his ex-girlfriend's home in late 2010. NOPD spokeswoman Remi Braden said Lacour, 38, was suspended without pay following the jury verdict convicting him of illegally discharging a firearm. Detectives with the NOPD's Public Integrity Bureau found that Lacour fired the weapon to threaten the woman and her boyfriend. The PIB is continuing its review of the incident for a final decision by NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas on terminating Lacour... He is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 15 and could face from zero to two years in prison... Following the shooting, a judge instructed Lacour to stay away from the couple and to stop all communications with them, but Lacour called the woman several times and also sent her an e-mail... After she reported it, police notified the District Attorney's Office. Lacour turned himself in last June 7. A charge against Lacour of violating a protective order is still pending... In an October interview, Serpas laid out his policy for cops who get in trouble. "If you make a bad choice or decision unintentionally, your chances of surviving are pretty good, " Serpas said. "But if you make a decision that's purposefully bad, immoral or unethical, your chances of being employed are very slim. If you're going to be convicted of a felony, there's no room in the department for you"... [Full article here]

GUILTY OFFICER WARRANTS FIRING FROM NOPD: AN EDITORIAL
The Times-Picayune
By Editorial page staff
Saturday, January 28, 2012
[Excerpts] New Orleans Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas has made it clear that the department has no tolerance for officers convicted of felonies - and that's a good policy. It should go without saying, then, that Officer Jermaine Lacour needs to be removed from the force... District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office lauded the conviction and said it will continue to go after people who use weapons illegally. That's even more important when the offender is a law enforcement officer who's supposed to uphold the law. After the verdict, Officer Lacour said his conviction "was wrong." He said, "I've never been arrested, never been in trouble in my life." That's not how jurors saw it. And Officer Lacour appears to be brushing aside his separate arrest in June, for violating a restraining order prohibiting him from contacting Ms. Adams. Office Lacour clearly believes that the law doesn't apply to him -- and he shouldn't be empowered with enforcing it. Indeed, his conviction makes him incompatible with the policy Superintendent Serpas has set regarding officers who get in trouble... [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal repeat hx louisiana state politics professionalism]

[VA] Officer's wife, Gail Ann Epps Winston, is said to have jumped into the river.

2012-01-28T05:53:00.000-08:00

On January 15th Gail Ann Epps Winston, wife of a Virginia Beach police officer, was found in the North Carolina Perquimans River.

A day earlier police say that a driver reported seeing a woman jump into the river from the U.S. Highway 17 bridge's guard rail - "falling about 50 feet into water that is approximately 8 feet deep." A car registered to her husband was at the foot of the bridge.

Gail's family described her to searchers as an African American female, 5 feet 6 inches tall, short hair, wearing a black top, burgundy pants, and white sneakers. "Several agencies helped with the two day search including the Perquimans Sheriff’s Office, EMS, the water rescue team, Hertford Police, the North Carolina Wildlife Commission and the Sidney Dive Team from Beaufort County."

Gail was from Clarksdale, Mississippi and currently lived in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
[African American police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities said suicide north carolina state politics black woman]

[NC] 1994: Hope Mills Police Officer Yeazel shot and killed by his wife Barbara

2012-01-28T02:02:00.000-08:00

September 26, 1994 - Hope Mills North Carolina Police Sgt. Ronald Lee Yeazel was found behind a KFC restaurant in his idling cruiser, slumped against the door, with a shot in the back of the head. From news: "The officer's mother was seen leaning on Mrs. Yeazel as they were led to her pew at the funeral."

Officer Yeazel's wife, Barbara Yeasel, was charged with first·degree murder and sentenced to 15 years. The motive was never made public.

Star News, Oct. 2 1994

The Mount Airy News, Nov 21, 1996

[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder north carolina state politics female perp perpetrator]

[FL] Police Lieutenant's ex: "I live every day in fear."

2012-01-26T02:29:00.000-08:00

...[Sarasota Police] Lt. Steven Breakstone also could soon face a criminal stalking charge for what a Sarasota County Sheriff's Office investigator called "escalating bizarre behavior" since his divorce became final in July... "Steve's obsession has become terrifying, 'specially now that I have reported him and knowing how unpredictable he is, I live every day in fear"... He said he is most worried about how the restraining order petition and its contents will affect his three children... "It's private matters that should have been dealt with within the family... I still love my ex-wife and I love my children, and I forgive her"...

Write SPD

SARASOTA POLICE OFFICER ACCUSED OF STALKING EX-WIFE
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
By Todd Ruger
Published: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 9:41 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 9:41 a.m.

SARASOTA - A longtime Sarasota Police lieutenant has been put on administrative leave amid allegations that he is stalking his ex-wife, entering her home when she was not there and sending her numerous explicit text messages.

Lt. Steven Breakstone also could soon face a criminal stalking charge for what a Sarasota County Sheriff's Office investigator called "escalating bizarre behavior" since his divorce became final in July.

The Sarasota Police Department put Breakstone on administrative leave Saturday, two days after his ex-wife Angela filed a restraining order petition that includes what she says are nude photos of himself he sent to her.

A sheriff's office detective who investigated the matter said in a memo that he found probable cause that Breakstone had committed a misdemeanor, and said he will file the charge with the State Attorney's Office in the near future. Prosecutors would then decide if charges should be filed.

But Breakstone, who has had several contentious disciplinary battles in his 25-year career at the department, said he intends to clear his name and get back on the job after a hearing Friday where he insists the full story will come out.

He even invited the sheriff's office detective who investigated the claims, Detective Mark LeFebvre, to a hearing on the petition Friday.

"I'm going to go the hearing, and give my version of what happened, and there's been no violence," Breakstone said.

Angela Breakstone said in her petition that her fear of her ex-husband — who lives only about three houses away — has escalated since the divorce, claiming he has tracked her movement, threatened her and badgered people around her.

This is her second petition for protection; she said the first one in December 2010 was not granted because Steve Breakstone has been friends with the judge for more than 20 years. This time, two judges who were former prosecutors have recused themselves from hearing the case.

"Steve's obsession has become terrifying, specially (sic) now that I have reported him and knowing how unpredictable he is, I live everyday in fear," Angela Breakstone wrote.

Steve Breakstone, one of four shift commanders who oversee three sergeants and all patrol operations, has told sheriff's investigators that he has strong religious beliefs that are guiding him to try to reunite with his ex-wife.

He said he is most worried about how the restraining order petition and its contents will affect his three children, ages 10 to 14.

"It's private matters that should have been dealt with within the family," Steve Breakstone said. "I still love my ex-wife and I love my children, and I forgive her."

According to Angela Breakstone, her ex-husband's continued feelings for her are the root of the problem. He has appeared unannounced at her home, watering plants on her porch and bringing plates of food, according to the petition.

Just like any domestic dispute, however, there are two sides to these stories.

In her petition, Angela Breakstone submitted text messages from her ex-husband in which he asks for sex, including messages that include a photo of his genitals and him naked in the bathtub. Steve Breakstone says that is because she has invited him into her house twice to have sex.

In a Dec. 30 incident, Angela Breakstone says her daughter caught Steve Breakstone inside her home, going through drawers. He told the girl the front door had been open and he wanted to make sure a burglar was not inside.

On Jan. 14, Angela Breakstone said he came to her home uninvited and questioned her, insulting her guests in the driveway. Steve Breakstone says his son saw the guests start the whole thing.

On Jan. 15, she says he saw her driving in traffic with a male friend, so he pulled a U-turn to pull up next to her car and yell at her.

"Again, Mr. Breakstone seems to not remember that we are divorced," she wrote.

Steve Breakstone also said that it was Angela Breakstone who hit him in the face on several occasions during their 14-year marriage. "I've never raised a hand, ever," he said.

The past year at work has been problematic for Steve Breakstone, with three internal affairs investigations conducted into his behavior.

Police Chief Mikel Hollaway suspended Breakstone for three days on Jan. 17 for allegations he misused police databases to find someone who wrote a bad check to an acquaintance, an internal affairs report states.

Breakstone then visited the check writer while in uniform and encouraged him to pay to avoid criminal charges. Breakstone is appealing that suspension to the civil service board.

In April, the state attorney's office declined to file a battery charge against Breakstone after a complaint was filed against him that he slapped the face of a jogger who confronted him about his dog's behavior. [LINK]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal florida state politics]

[KS] Another delay for Erin's people

2012-01-25T06:23:00.000-08:00

Erin LeeAnn (Wade) Jones

(March 2, 1976 - May 5, 2007)

TAHAH TRIAL DELAYED
Dodge City Daily Globe
Jan 17, 2012
DODGE CITY - The second trial for a former Dodge City policeman charged with killing his girlfriend has been postponed until this summer. Christopher Tahah's trial was originally slated for this week, but it has been delayed until July 31, Ford County Attorney Terry Malone said Tuesday. A pretrial conference is set for March 28. Malone said Tahah has a new attorney, who needs more time to prepare for the trial. Tahah was convicted in 2008 of shooting and killing his former girlfriend, Erin Jones, the year before. But the Kansas Supreme Court reversed Tahah's conviction in October 2011 and ordered a new trial. The ruling added instructions that would allow the jury to consider lesser included offenses of second-degree reckless murder or involuntary manslaughter, based on Tahah's testimony that his rifle accidentally went off while he was pointing it at Jones from her back yard.

PREVIOUS POSTS:

[KS] Goodbye Erin - 31-year-old mother of two, beloved by many, Erin LeeAnn Wade Jones was murdered earlier this month...
[KS] Slain Erin's deputy ex-boyfriend facing 1st degree murder - "I was telling myself this was no good. As I was lowering the gun, a round went off," Tahah said. Tahah also told Kendrick that he was upset with Jones because she did not give him a good reason for breaking up with him...
[KS] Today fired Officer Tahah was convicted of murdering his ex, Erin - ... He said he drove out to the scenic overlook near the Dodge City Regional Airport to watch a lightning storm, fell asleep and didn't wake up until about 3:35 a.m. After waking, Tahah said he drove by Jones' house again and saw that her friend had left, so he went back to his apartment. The next day, he learned that Jones was dead. "How did you react?" said Tahah's attorney, Peter Orsi. "I was shocked," Tahah replied. "I broke down and started crying"...
[KS] Police Officer Tahah killed his ex-girlfriend Erin Jones - and now gets a new trial offering him lesser charges - ...The Kansas Supreme Court ruled Friday that the jury should have been told to consider lesser offenses including second degree murder and involuntary manslaughter...

[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder kansas state politics]

[CA] Guilty of murdering Marcus Lemons: Officer Tomieka Johnson's story didn't match the evidence.

2012-01-24T12:13:00.000-08:00

Marcus Lavar Lemons, killed February 21, 2009.

California Highway Patrol Officer Tomiekia Johnson is the first law enforcement officer to be convicted of 1st degree murder in Los Angeles County.

...She said she started running away from the car and then stopped, worrying that he might get a gun out of her purse and shoot her. "I saw the gun on the ground. I made the decision to go run and get it," Johnson said, adding her husband seemed to be looking for the weapon. "I was scared. I didn't want to die ... When I grabbed it tight, it fired"...

..."The victim sustained what appeared to be a contact wound to the right side of his forehead," [Los Angeles County Sheriff's Homicide Detective Louis Aguilera] said. "It showed that he was actually seated in the vehicle at the time he was shot"...

...Paramedics were summoned to the Criminal Courts Building in downtown Los Angeles when Tomiekia Johnson, 32, crumpled in the courtroom after a clerk read the jury's verdict...

VIDEO: KTLA ELIZABETH ESPINOSA'S REPORT:
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Homicide Detective Louis Aguilera interviewed Officer Johnson the night it happened. He interviewed the witnesses too and they described Marcus Lemons and Tomiekia Johnson exactly, except the witnesses said that Marcus had on a baseball cap. Detective Aguilera: "The baseball hat was later recovered by detectives and it showed that there was a bullet hole on top of the bill of the cap, which shows she was actually standing over him. He's six feet tall and she's only about five foot four, five foot five... In this two year investigation we interviewed over a hundred people. We talked to people about her past, we talked to people about his past, and we couldn't find one person that said, hey, this victim is a bad guy."

PREVIOUS POSTS:

[CA] Unnamed Chp Officer (Johnson) shot & killed her husband Marcus Lavar Lemons - One homicide detective working the case said the off-duty officer shot her husband near Central Avenue and the 91 Freeway before driving into the residential area and calling authorities... Darian Milow, the man's former fiancee, questioned Lemons' aggressiveness. "We were together for [10] years, and he's never touched me in any way; so for them to portray him as this monster is unbelievable"...
[CA] [$$$] CHP Officer Tomiekia Johnson who killed her husband was not held accountable for ditching anger-management? - ...The California Highway Patrol officer [Tomiekia Johnson] charged last week with killing her husband [Marcus Lemons] is being sued by his teenage stepson, who alleged that she had earlier been assigned to anger-management classes... [Attorney Leon] Gilbert alleges that Johnson was ordered to take anger-management classes but did not attend. The suit says no action was taken by the CHP... Law enforcement sources told The Times that Johnson was outside the car when she fired the shot...

EXCERPTS FROM THE NEWS ON TRIAL AND CONVICTION, CHRONOLOGICALLY:

TRIAL BEGINS IN FORMER CHP OFFICER'S SLAYING OF HUSBAND: At Tomiekia Johnson's murder trial, the prosecution says the 2009 killing on the side of a road in Compton was intentional. The defense says it was self-defense.
Los Angeles Times
By Rosanna Xia
January 11, 2012
[Excerpts] No one disputes that former California Highway Patrol Officer Tomiekia Johnson had a tumultuous relationship with her husband. What's in question is whether she fatally shot him in the head two years ago by accident or in cold blood. On the opening day of trial Tuesday for Johnson, 32, who is charged with murder in the death of her husband, Marcus Lemons, attorneys presented jurors two differing versions of what happened on the side of a road in Compton the night of Feb. 21, 2009... In her opening statement, Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Natalie Adomian led the jury through a 40-minute outline of the case, focusing on forensic evidence - vomit and blood patterns, gunshot residue - that prosecutors said would prove that Johnson fired an intentional contact shot. Prosecutors also noted that Johnson had received extensive weapons training as a CHP officer... For more than a year, sheriff's investigators reconstructed the events that led to Lemons' death. Johnson, who had worked for the CHP since 2002, was placed in an administrative position after the killing. She was arrested in January 2011 but has been free on $2-million bail... [Defense attorney Darryl] Stallworth said Johnson wanted to get off the freeway the night of the shooting because Lemons was starting to "choke her out." Johnson told her husband to get out of the car and walk home, Stallworth said. A fight ensued, then Lemons took Johnson's purse and pulled out the gun, the attorney told the jury. The couple struggled over the weapon and when Johnson was finally able to pick it up off the ground, Stallworth said, "the gun went off"... [Full article here]

CHP OFFICER TESTIFIES IN TRIAL: 'I WAS NOT TRYING TO KILL MARCUS'
Los Angeles Times
January 13, 2012
[Excerpts] California Highway Patrol officer Tomiekia Johnson, charged with murdering her husband more than two years ago, tearfully testified Friday that she and Marcus Lemons were struggling over her gun when it accidentally went off. “I was not trying to kill Marcus. I would never try to hurt him,” she said in court, weeping. “He always hit me”... Forensic evidence and testimonies from crime-scene experts show that Johnson fired an intentional contact shot, prosecutors said... [Full article here]

FORMER CHP OFFICER ACCUSED IN HUSBAND'S DEATH REENACTS STRUGGLE FOR GUN: Tomiekia Johnson testifies that the shooting occurred during an argument at the side of the road on the way home from a restaurant.
Los Angeles Times
By Rosanna Xia
January 14, 2012
[Excerpts] ...During Johnson's testimony, her attorney, Darryl A. Stallworth, asked [former California Highway Patrol Officer Tomiekia Johnson] to step down from the witness stand and reenact the scene. Stallworth sat in a chair, playing the role of Lemons in the passenger seat. Johnson positioned herself where she was standing that night, fighting for the gun on the ground. Both hands gripping tightly to the edges of her gray suit blazer while Stallworth explained the scene, Johnson told the jury: "I just got down, picked up the gun, came up really fast — holding it tight because I thought he was going to take it from me. "And it just fired," she said through tears. She said she didn't feel the gun go off, that she didn't even know she had shot him at first. "I saw his body, just like he was having a seizure, and then he threw up," she said, sobbing. "I couldn't believe it. I just stood there frozen for a second. I couldn't think"... She began to cry when Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Natalie Adomian started reading back journal entries Johnson had written after her husband's death, entries that were shared with a post-traumatic stress therapist Johnson was seeing. Prosecutors noted inconsistencies in what Johnson wrote and her testimony... [Full article here]

CHP OFFICER CONVICTED OF KILLING HUSBAND, COLLAPSES IN COURT: Tomiekia Johnson, 31, convicted of shooting her husband while off-duty
VIDEO: Watch Elizabeth Espinosa's Report
KTLA News
January 23, 2012
[Excerpts] A jury convicted a former California Highway Patrol officer Monday of shooting and killing her husband Marcus Lemons three years ago in Compton. Tomekia Johnson collapsed in court when the verdict was read... Paramedics took her from the courtroom on a stretcher. Authorities have not disclosed her current medical condition... Los Angeles County Sheriff's homicide detective Louis Aguilera worked as lead investigator on the case. He interviewed Johnson the night of the fatal shooting. "The victim sustained what appeared to be a contact wound to the right side of his forehead," he said. "It showed that he was actually seated in the vehicle at the time he was shot." Johnson told investigators Lemons became verbally and physically abusive and that she shot him in self-defense... Johnson and Lemmons had a 4-year-old daughter and a teenage son from a previous relationship... [Full article here]

CALIFORNIA PATROL OFFICER COLLAPSES AFTER FOUND GUILTY OF MURDERING HUSBAND
ABC News
By Lauren Effron
Jan. 23, 2012
[Excerpts] A former California Highway Patrol officer [Tomiekia Johnson] collapsed onto the floor just moments after being found guilty of murdering her husband [Marcus Lemons] three years ago near a freeway off-ramp... For several moments, no one in the court moved and Judge Robert Perry seemed unfazed by Johnson's actions as the court clerk continued to read the verdict... Prosecutors argued that Johnson intentionally shot her husband in Feb. 21, 2009, then drove to her parents' home in Compton with Lemons' body in the passenger seat. She called police, telling them she had shot her husband in self-defense when an argument between them became heated... [Full article here]

EX-CHP OFFICER COLLAPSES AFTER GUILTY VERDICT
myfoxla.com
Monday, 23 Jan 2012
[Excerpts] ...Paramedics were summoned to the Criminal Courts Building in downtown Los Angeles when Tomiekia Johnson, 32, crumpled in the courtroom after a clerk read the jury's verdict... Johnson - who was off-duty at the time of the shooting - told jurors that she pulled off the Riverside (91) Freeway at the Central Avenue offramp when her husband threatened to kill her and began choking her after berating her for speaking to a male childhood friend at a T.G.I. Friday's restaurant in Compton. She said she told him to get out of her BMW and he responded by telling her that she could walk home and grabbed the keys out of the ignition. She said she started running away from the car and then stopped, worrying that he might get a gun out of her purse and shoot her. "I saw the gun on the ground. I made the decision to go run and get it," Johnson said, adding her husband seemed to be looking for the weapon. "I was scared. I didn't want to die... When I grabbed it tight, it fired"... When the prosecutor asked about whether she had used tactics she had learned through the CHP to try to subdue her husband, she responded, "Ma'am, my husband wasn't a suspect... I wasn't thinking about tactics from work... I was scared." [Full article here]

CHP OFFICER FOUND GUILTY IN HUSBAND'S SHOOTING DEATH: Tomiekia Johnson faces 50 years to life in prison in the 2009 death of her husband, Marcus Lemons. Johnson collapsed after the verdict was read and was taken to L.A. County/USC Hospital.
Los Angeles Times
By Richard Winton
January 24, 2012
[Excerpts] ...In a case filled with allegations of anger management and domestic violence, the verdict in the rare prosecution of a law enforcement officer on murder charges proved to be dramatic. As the guilty verdict was read, veteran CHP Officer Tomiekia Johnson shook, then slid under the table... Court proceedings continued as L.A. County Superior Court Judge Robert Perry polled the jurors to confirm the verdict. Johnson, 32, could face 50 years to life in prison after a jury of eight men and four women found her guilty on first-degree murder in the death of her husband, Marcus Lemons, 31... Prosecutors Natalie Adomian and Stephanie Sparagna presented evidence that on their way home, Johnson put a gun against her husband's head and shot him. She then drove a few miles to her parents' home with the body in the car and called 911. During the trial, the prosecution put on witnesses who portrayed Johnson as a someone with an aggressive personality and a tendency to drink excessively... She said she pulled off the 91 Freeway and told him to walk home. He "snatched" the keys out of the ignition, she said, and a struggle over her purse ensued. "I think he wanted my purse for the gun in the purse," said Johnson, whose defense attorney tried to present her as the victim of domestic violence. "I was not trying to kill Marcus. I would never try to hurt him," she said, weeping. "He always hit me"... [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder state politics]

[NYPD] Officer Dean killed himself while arguing with his girlfriend

2012-01-20T13:25:00.000-08:00

ON-DUTY NYPD POLICE OFFICER COMMITS SUICIDE AFTER ARGUING WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND ON THE PHONE
New York Daily News
January 20 2012
[Excerpts] ...An on-duty New York City police officer committed suicide Thursday night by shooting himself in the face on a Queens street after arguing with his girlfriend on the phone, police sources said... “He got out of his [patrol] car and he’s on the phone with somebody,” a police source said... The block was cordoned off while dozens of investigators scoured the scene... [Full article here]

UPDATE:

DESPERATE CALL: Gal pal phoned pct. before cop killed self
The New York Post
By Jamie Schram, Jennifer Bain and Bill Sanderson
January 21, 2012
[Excerpts] The fiancée of an NYPD cop who fatally shot himself at a crime scene called his Queens station house just minutes earlier with a cryptic warning that one of its officers was suicidal. But the woman never mentioned Terrence Dean by name - and only asked vague questions about what happens to a cop who wants to kill himself and if he would lose his gun or be suspended. The 111th Precinct cop who fielded the anonymous call guessed that she was talking about Dean and told a supervisor — but they allowed him to respond to a car break-in before calling him in”... [Full article here]

I TRIED TO STOP COP SUICIDE
The New York Post
By Laurel Babcock and Bob Fredericks
January 23, 2012

The devastated fiancée of the suicidal cop who blew his brains out on the job last week revealed to The Post yesterday how she had desperately tried to talk him out of it in a phone call only seconds before he pulled the trigger.

“We weren’t fighting,” insisted Maria Stuart, 28, who was planning to marry NYPD Officer Terrence Dean, 28, on Aug. 18. “All I was trying to do was tell Terrence he needs help.”

Stuart said she had admitted to Dean during the frantic Thursday-night call that she had just phoned his Queens precinct house and made vague warnings about a suicidal officer.

“Fine, I’m going to kill myself,” Dean replied and hung up, she said.

The cop then pointed his service gun at his head and fired while at the Queens scene of a car burglary — in front of his partner and the car’s owner.

Stuart spoke to The Post after Suffolk cops forced her to leave Dean’s home in Medford, where she had lived with him, after his parents objected to her being there.

Stuart said Dean had been deeply depressed at least partly because he had felt pressured by people around him to become a cop when he really wanted to be a firefighter.

His family declined repeated requests for comment.

Alarmed by Dean’s increasingly erratic behavior in days before his suicide — and fearing for her and her 5-year-old daughter’s lives — Stuart had fled the house with the girl after he refused to seek professional help, she said.

Dean, she said, had put his gun in his mouth and threatened to kill himself Wednesday morning, the day before his suicide.

Later, he went to the driveway and shot out the windows of his car after an argument over her leaving her engagement ring at work, she said.

Stuart said Dean’s father came over later Wednesday and he and Terrence went into the garage, where the officer again put the gun in his mouth.

She and the dad screamed at him not to shoot, and he left with his father, she said.

Stuart said she pulled up to the home at about noon yesterday only to be confronted by a friend of Dean’s family, who called Dean’s father, Avery Dean, to the house.

The father called Suffolk cops.

Stuart said she produced a driver’s license and mail indicating she lived there.
But “we don’t know who lived here. This will have to be done through the courts,” Suffolk Police Sgt. Tom O’Shea said.

rfredericks@nypost.com [LINK]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities suicide new york state politics]

[CA] Long Beach Police Officer Preciado 5-hour stand-off, tools of torture, and 21 domestic violence felonies - with injury to spouse

2012-01-18T09:07:00.000-08:00

[Long Beach Police Officer] Brandon Preciado was charged Tuesday morning with a total of 21 counts, including nine felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon and making a criminal threat, all felonies... Weapons allegedly used in the beatings included a flashlight, belt, hammer, broom handle and baton... A protective order requiring Preciado to stay away from his wife was issued by the court, but the court didn't issue a stay-away order for the couple's children...

The news is still all about him.
Who is helping her through this?

Was that a Long Beach Police issued flashlight and baton?

LONG BEACH OFFICER CHARGED IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CASE
Los Angeles Times
January 17, 2012
[Excerpt] A Long Beach police officer was charged with multiple counts of domestic violence and assault with a deadly weapon in connection with nearly half a dozen incidents, authorities said Tuesday afternoon. Brandon Preciado, 29, was charged with 21 counts in five incidents dating back to Sept. 18, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said. They include 10 counts of corporal injury to a spouse, nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of making a criminal threat. He was also charged with a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest stemming from a five-hour standoff...

LONG BEACH POLICE OFFICER PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ALLEGATIONS: Brandon Preciado arrested following five-hour stand-off with Sheriff's deputies
Press-Telegram
By Tracy Manzer
01/17/2012
[Excerpts] LOS ANGELES — A 29-year-old Long Beach Police Department patrol officer pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 20 felony counts of domestic violence, including 10 counts of corporal injury to a spouse, for alleged ongoing abuse. Brandon Preciado was charged Tuesday morning with a total of 21 counts, including nine felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon and making a criminal threat, all felonies. The charge includes one misdemeanor count of resisting arrest, said Deputy District Attorney Jason Lustig with the Justice System Integrity Division... Weapons allegedly used in the beatings included a flashlight, belt, hammer, broom handle and baton, according to the criminal complaint filed Tuesday. Preciado was arrested Thursday following a five-hour standoff with Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies... His bail was hiked to $450,000, and if he makes bond he must attend three Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a week and wear a bracelet that detects alcohol use... A protective order requiring Preciado to stay away from his wife was issued by the court, but the court didn't issue a stay-away order for the couple's children, Gibbons said. The officer, who is on administrative leave from his job at the LBPD, must also surrender all firearms within 24 hours of his release. Preciado was also ordered to return to court on Jan. 27 for a preliminary hearing setting... He has been temporarily relieved of his duties... "We are conducting an administrative review and will take the appropriate course of action" ... [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal brutal repeat hx monster alcohol california state politics]

[IL] Farmington Officer Whitlow allowed to resign after alleged assault, threats, order violation

2012-01-18T07:27:00.000-08:00

Farmington Police Officer Michael Whitlow resigns - so there's no department investigation.

So now if he gets the charges dropped there's nothing to sully his record or keep him from

another cop job.

FARMINGTON OFFICER ARRESTED TWICE IN TWO DAYS: Part-time officer booked twice in two days amid domestic dispute
Journal Star
By Justin Glawe
Posted Jan 16, 2012 @ 09:56 PM
Last update Jan 17, 2012 @ 11:03 AM
[Excerpts] A part-time Farmington police officer was arrested twice in less than 36 hours in what authorities are calling a case of domestic violence. Michael S. Whitlow, 37, of rural Farmington was arrested at 2 a.m. Friday at his home and booked on charges of domestic battery and interfering with a report of domestic violence. After he was released from the Peoria County Jail, he was arrested again, at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, and booked on a charge of violating an order of protection. Deputies from the Peoria County Sheriff's Department responded at about 9 p.m. Thursday to a report of a domestic dispute at Whitlow's home. The caller said a gun was involved earlier but was now hidden from Whitlow... The caller told police Whitlow put his loaded pistol on the bed. The caller then hid the gun when Whitlow went outside to his vehicle, telling police in the past when drunk, Whitlow had threatened to shoot her. The argument escalated... The report also said Whitlow pushed and tried to choke the caller and tried to wrestle a phone away but fled to an upstairs bedroom once he discovered police had been called. Whitlow told police he had been attacked but didn't call police because he didn't want the caller to go to jail. He had a visibly bloody nose, according to police. Police arrested Whitlow and took two guns from the home at the request of the caller... The nature of the second incident is unclear... [Full article here]

FARMINGTON POLICE OFFICER RESIGNS AFTER TWO ARRESTS IN TWO DAYS
Journal Star
By Terry Bibo
Posted Jan 17, 2012 @ 10:13 PM
Last update Jan 18, 2012 @ 07:53 AM
[Excerpts] Part-time officer Michael S. Whitlow will no longer serve with the Farmington Police Department. "We have accepted a letter of resignation," City Administrator Rollen Wright said Tuesday. "It was submitted, and we accepted"... Whitlow was released [from jail] Tuesday on a notice to appear in court on Feb. 22 on the charge of violation of an order of protection. He has not been formally charged in Peoria County Circuit Court... [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal repeat hx terroristic threatening threats illinois state politics]

[FL] Officer Sidders arrested by fellow officers after girlfriend with cuts and bruises reports him

2012-01-18T01:10:00.000-08:00

ORLANDO POLICE OFFICER ARRESTED FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
WFTV
Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012
Orlando Police arrested Officer Danny Sidders on Saturday on domestic violence charges. Sidders is accused of beating up his girlfriend. A police report states Sidders and his girlfriend were arguing and he took her cell phone. Sidders allegedly then pushed her to the floor. The report states that when she went to bed, Sidders pulled her out of the bed and shoved her down the hallway and she hit the walls and doors. Officers stated the victim was bruised and cut. Sidders has been a police officer for more than 15 years. He was booked into the Orange County jail. Sidders posted a $500 bond and was released. [Full article here]

OPD OFFICER ARRESTED, ACCUSED OF ABUSING GIRLFRIEND: Officer Danny Sidders was arrested Saturday and charged with battery.
Orlando Sentinel
By Bianca Prieto
January 17, 2012
An Orlando police officer was arrested this weekend after his girlfriend accused him of beating her up and locking her out of their home. Officer Danny Sidders was arrested by his fellow officers Saturday after his live-in girlfriend called police to report the alleged abuse. She claims it was not the first time he abused her... The victim called to report the violence the following day and officers noted the woman had several cuts and bruises. While officers were taking the report, Sidders arrived at the home and was arrested. He was charged with battery and transported to the Orange County Jail. He was booked into the jail just before midnight Saturday and bonded out Sunday after paying $500 bail... [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety professionalism florida politics]

[UT] Washington Co. Sheriff’s deputy thought he'd die in domestic violence attack

2012-01-17T23:58:00.000-08:00

...The deputy eventually lost consciousness. “I thought, ‘I’m dead. This is it. I’m going to go out because some idiot came after me and killed me”...

TRIAL DATE SET FOR SUSPECT IN BEATING OF EX-GIRLFRIEND, SHERIFF'S DEPUTY
St. George Daily Spectrum
1:11 PM, Jan. 17, 2012
[Excerpts] A trial date has been scheduled for a St. George resident accused of beating his ex-girlfriend and a Washington County Sheriff’s deputy with a shovel handle during a brutal fit of jealousy. Cameron Aaron Carson, 26, is on the schedule for a three-to-five-day trial in 5th District Court beginning April 30 on felony charges of aggravated burglary and two counts of aggravated assault... [His attorney, Douglas] Terry said he believed bail was set at more than a quarter of a million dollars, cash, because one of the alleged victims is a police officer... The officer and Carson’s ex-girlfriend both testified they were afraid of a possible threat to themselves and the community if Carson should be released. The woman testified Carson knew the other victim was a deputy... The deputy testified that on the night of the assualt, he had fallen asleep on his bed after watching a video with the woman, when he heard his bedroom door being kicked inward. He thought it might be his roommate coming home, he said, but after seeing a man wearing a ski mask and carrying what appeared to be a baseball bat in the half-light of the room, he began to realize there was a threat involved. The deputy was able to shield the woman from the initial blows, he said, and ultimately got the “bat” away from the alleged intruder, but in the process the deputy found himself in a chokehold with the intruder behind him. “I was grabbing anything I could — a fan — anything I could to fight back,” he said, adding he was unable to reach his gun. The deputy eventually lost consciousness. “I thought, ‘I’m dead. This is it. I’m going to go out because some idiot came after me and killed me,” he said. Carson’s ex-girlfriend called 911 while the attack was going on, and then fled outside after believing Carson had killed the deputy, she testified. There, Carson caught her while she was hiding behind a vehicle and “bashed” her head onto the corner of a brick wall, she said. The suspect then allegedly began hitting her with the stick, which arresting officers later determined was a shovel handle. The violent incident came to an end when a neighbor responded to the woman’s cries for help, pointing a gun at Carson and ordering him to step away from her and wait until police arrived... [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal utah state politics]

[PA] Court on hold as Pennsylvania Trooper tries to shake the root cause problem again

2012-01-17T22:09:00.000-08:00

Murrysville District Judge Charles Conway approved a continuance for the domestic assault, harassment, and resisting arrest charges against Pennsylvania State Trooper George Walters. "Good luck," Conway told Walters. "Taking it one day at a time is all you can do"...

... His wife called emergency management to report that her husband was intoxicated... that her husband had just kicked her in the leg, and was "out of control and yelling and screaming"... Police reportedly had been summoned to the home about five hours earlier... Police reported that Walters refused to comply with police commands... "He's attempted rehab several times in the past... Each time, he does progress. We're hoping this time will really assist him with his problem"... His hearing is scheduled for March 20... Walters is awaiting trial in Common Pleas Court on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol...

Some of the questions I asked while reading: How long has this been going on? How has he been monitored? What warranted the past rehabs? Were any of the rehabs proactive rather than reactive to an incident? What is the support system for the families of Pennsylvania law enforcement families? When is it no longer the right job for someone?

STATE TROOPER JAILED FOR ALLEGED ASSAULT OF WIFE IN DELMONT
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
By Paul Peirce
Saturday, December 24, 2011
[Excerpts] A state trooper was jailed on Friday in Westmoreland County because he allegedly assaulted his wife in their home in Delmont and then resisted arrest. Delmont police used a Taser to apprehend George J. Walters, 49, inside his home... Walters was being held in the county jail in lieu of a $10,000 bond after his arraignment on charges of simple assault, harassment and resisting arrest... his wife called county emergency management to report that her husband was intoxicated and had kicked her in the leg. Police reportedly had been summoned to the home about five hours earlier... Walters' wife told them that her husband had just kicked her in the leg, and was "out of control and yelling and screaming"... Police reported that Walters refused to comply with police commands, and [Borough Patrolman Charles] Madden used the stun gun to take him into custody. Murrysville police were called as backup to assist... [State police spokesman, Sgt. Anthony Manetta in Harrisburg, confirmed that Walters remains "actively employed" as a trooper at Troop A at Greensburg. However, he said the agency's internal affairs department is reviewing yesterday's arrest "and our internal personnel policies regarding these type of matters will be followed."... [Full article here]

DELMONT STATE TROOPER ACCUSED OF ASSAULT TO ENTER ALCOHOL REHAB PROGRAM
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
By Jennifer Reeger
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Last updated: 4:20 pm
[Excerpts] A state trooper, jailed last week for allegedly assaulting his wife and resisting arrest, will enter an alcohol rehabilitation program, his attorney said today... Walters works out of state police Troop A in Greensburg. He was scheduled to have a preliminary hearing this morning before Murrysville District Judge Charles Conway. However, Walters' attorney, Fran Murrman, asked for a continuance so that Walters could enter a rehabilitation facility for alcohol addiction. Walters is awaiting trial in Common Pleas Court on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol that was filed by Murrysville police after a traffic stop on Sept. 28, according to court records. Last month, he waived his right to a preliminary hearing before Conway on that charge. Conway agreed to the continuance and ordered that Walters be released from the Westmoreland County Prison as soon as Murrman could secure a bed for Walters at a rehab facility... [Full article here]

STATE TROOPER ACCUSED OF ASSAULTING WIFE ENTERS REHAB PROGRAM
pittsburghlive.com
By Jennifer Reeger
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
[Excerpts] A state trooper jailed last week for allegedly assaulting his wife and resisting arrest will enter an alcohol rehabilitation program while his court case is temporarily put on hold... In granting the continuance yesterday, Conway said he would authorize Walters' release from the Westmoreland County Prison as soon as Murrman could confirm he had a spot in a rehabilitation facility. His hearing is scheduled for March 20. "Good luck," Conway told Walters. "Taking it one day at a time is all you can do." While Walters awaited paperwork to sign, he told Murrman, a friend for more than 30 years, that he would work out some way to pay him for his assistance. Murrman said he just wants to see him get better and return to being the man he knew in high school. The friends attended Hempfield Area High School. "I know you can do it, George," Murrman told Walters. After Walters headed back to jail, Murrman said his longtime friend has struggled with alcoholism in recent years. "He's attempted rehab several times in the past," Murrman said. "Each time, he does progress. We're hoping this time will really assist him with his problem." As far as his status with the state police, Murrman said Walters had been discussing a retirement agreement with his employer for "quite some time." He has been a trooper for about 24 years, Murrman said. "He was a stellar trooper," Murrman said... [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety teflon pennsylvania state politics]

[SC] Trooper Owens domestic violence SWAT standoff

2012-01-17T19:24:00.000-08:00

...[South Carolina Highway Patrol Trooper Robert Keith] Owens bond was set at 5 thousand dollars on Sunday. He is no longer in the detention center...

Where is he?

SC TROOPER ARRESTED AFTER 3-HOUR STANDOFF
Associated Press
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
[Excerpts] Authorities say a South Carolina Highway Patrol trooper has been arrested after a standoff at his Simpsonville home. Greenville County sheriff’s deputies say they were called to a home at 5:30 p.m. Saturday because of a domestic disturbance. A woman said she had been involved in a fight with her husband.... The woman was able to escape safely. Authorities made contact with Owens, who came out of the home around three hours later and was arrested and charged with domestic violence... Owens had been on medical leave for several months after he was injured while on duty... [Full article here]

UPDATE: SIMPSONVILLE STANDOFF SUSPECT IS A SCHP TROOPER
WSPA
January 17, 2012
[Excerpts] ...A SWAT team has now left an upstate neighborhood after a standoff there ended peacefully... It happened Saturday night at a home in on Waxwing Court in the Adam's Run subdivision in Simpsonville... They say the woman got out of the home okay, but the man refused to come out for deputies for several hours. The SWAT team responded and law enforcement was able to take Robert Keith Owens into custody around 8:30pm. No one was hurt. Owens is charged with one count of Criminal Domestic Violence. Owens bond was set at 5 thousand dollars on Sunday. He is no longer in the detention center. [Full article here]

SC TROOPER ARRESTED DURING STANDOFF SATURDAY
FOX Carolina
By Casey Vaughn, Dana Wachter
Jan 16, 2012
[Excerpts] State officials said the man who was arrested during a standoff in Simpsonville on Saturday is a South Carolina Highway Patrol officer. Greenville County deputies were called to the Waxwing Court home at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, where they met with a female victim who said she had been in a fight with her husband and he pushed her several times. While the suspect was inside the home, deputies said he made threats to harm a family pet and had a weapon, but they did not believe he pointed a firearm at the victim... The SWAT team was called to help make contact with the man... Sheriff's officials had nearby streets blocked off for three hours... "Our SWAT team is very highly trained to handle situations like this, they're very good at what they do," said Greenville Co. Sheriff's spokesman, Zach Hinton. "This is the norm, a peaceful resolution to a situation like this. And this is obviously what we want to see happen and what did happen tonight"... [spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety Sid] Gaulden said Owens is assigned to Troop 3, which includes Anderson, Greenville, Oconee, Pickens and Spartanburg counties. [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal suicidal south carolina state politics]

[WI] Girlfriend-Choking Milwaukee Police Officer Cates Evolved Into A Federal Rapist

2012-01-16T11:24:00.000-08:00

(See the Journal Sentinel's amazing database, Both Sides of the Law)

Milwaukee Police Officer Ladmarald Cates should have been fired 12 years ago instead of last year after his most recent crime. Choking a woman is - to me - attempted murder and should not qualify for a diversion program designed to preserve the criminal cop's career. It's not a boys-will-be boys kind of crime. When MPD did finally fire him, it was for "idling and loafing" - which sounds nothing like "aggravated rape." Seems his police department and the too-often officer-coddling legal system created a monster who thought he could do what he wants. One of the the multi-million dollar questions is how much pain, suffering, torment and human violation would not have occurred if Cates' criminal career had been nipped in the bud?

....The first was a domestic violence battery in 2000. Cates' then-girlfriend said he shoved and choked her. Prosecutors offered Cates a diversion agreement which allowed him to avoid charges... Ladmarald Cates faces a maximum possible penalty of life in prison if convicted of the two federal felonies, which include violating the woman's civil rights while acting under the color of law and using a firearm in the commission of an act of violence... "Both the District Attorney's office and Milwaukee Police Department have admitted they knew of prior accusations," [the victim's attorney, Robin] Shellow said. "They ought to be ashamed of themselves"...

As I read, I behold the beauty of federal intervention, wondering how many officer-involved crimes should be handled by the FBI and U.S. Attorney's office.

...The U.S. attorney's office and FBI began investigating Cates after the Milwaukee County district attorney's office declined to charge him...

FEDERAL JURY FINDS FIRED POLICE OFFICER GUILTY IN ASSAULT CASE: Officer had responded to victim's 911 call
Journal Sentinel, Both Sides of the Law
By Gina Barton
Jan. 11, 2012
[Excerpts] A jury on Wednesday found fired Milwaukee police officer Ladmarald Cates guilty of violating a woman's civil rights by raping her after he responded to her 911 call in July 2010. Despite being acquitted on a second count, Cates, 44, faces a maximum penalty of life in prison when he is sentenced April 11. He will likely serve far less time under federal sentencing guidelines. The victim in the case cried as the verdict was announced. Afterward, she said she was glad her ordeal had ended. "I really appreciate the federal government helping me," she said. "It means a whole lot to me that I don't have to deal with it anymore, and no other women will have to deal with it. I'm happy he won't hurt anybody else"... The trial, which began Monday, came down to who was more credible: Cates or the victim... Cates had told an internal affairs detective three different stories... Cates was fired from the Police Department in December 2010 for lying and for "idling and loafing" because having sex on duty is against department rules... Last year, a Journal Sentinel investigation revealed Cates had been accused of breaking the law five times before. Three of the previous allegations involved sexual misconduct - two with female prisoners and one with a 16-year-old girl. The alleged incidents date to 2000, three years after he was hired by the department. Internal investigators referred Cates to the district attorney's office for possible charges in two of the previous cases. The first was a domestic violence battery in 2000. Cates' then-girlfriend said he shoved and choked her. Prosecutors offered Cates a diversion agreement, which allowed him to avoid charges by refraining from criminal activity, avoiding violent contact with the victim and undergoing counseling. A conviction on a domestic violence charge would have prevented Cates from carrying a gun under federal law and resulted in his removal from the force. Police also referred Cates to the district attorney's office on allegations of having sex with the 16-year-old in 2007. Prosecutors declined to charge him. Due to the rules of evidence, the jury was not allowed to hear testimony about any of the previous allegations. Attorney Robin Shellow, who was retained by the victim to help her bring the case to prosecutors, said she was proud her client had not given up. "It's humbling to have a client who went out and actively attempted to save the lives of other women," Shellow said. "It was a crime against her civil rights, and it was violence against women. . . . She has achieved justice on behalf of women in Milwaukee, and that doesn't happen very often." [Full article here]

EARLIER NEWS:

...Cates was interviewed on two occasions, and he lied both times...

VETERAN MPD OFFICER FIRED: HE IS ACCUSED OF SEXUALLY ASSAULTING 19-YEAR-OLD WOMAN
WISN
December 8, 2010
[Excerpts] A longtime Milwaukee police officer is fired after an allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman while he was on duty. The case dates to July, when the 13-year veteran was responding to a report of a fight in the street and wound-up accused of sexually assaulting a young woman. Officers were called in July to a neighborhood around 15th and Center Streets to break up a fight in the street. After they restored order, a 19-year-old woman claimed she was sexually assaulted by 42-year-old Ladmarald Cates, a police officer, while inside her home. The district attorney's office investigated the sexual assault claim and decided against charging Cates, stating that they did not feel they could meet the burden of proof. But the city has decided to fire Cates for his behavior that night and for lying about it later. According to the Fire and Police Commission order upholding Cates' firing by Milwaukee Police, Cates was fired for two counts of untruthfulness, and one count of idling and loafing. That order dated Friday indicates Cates was interviewed on two occasions, and he lied both times. 12 News has learned this is not Cates' first discipline. Prior to this internal investigation, Cates had been suspended on four prior occasions... [Full article here]

FIRED MILWAUKEE POLICE OFFICER CHARGED IN RAPE CASE: He's accused of sexually assaulting woman after she called 911
Journal Sentinel, Both Sides of the Law
By Gina Barton and John Diedrich
Sept. 20, 2011
[Excerpts] A fired Milwaukee police officer was charged Tuesday with raping a woman after he responded to her 911 call in July. Ladmarald Cates faces a maximum possible penalty of life in prison if convicted of the two federal felonies, which include violating the woman's civil rights while acting under the color of law and using a firearm in the commission of an act of violence, the indictment says. The first count includes enhancers for causing bodily injury and aggravated sexual abuse, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Mel Johnson, who is handling the case. Attorney Robin Shellow, who represents the victim, called Johnson "my hero." "With a kind and gentle hand he has made my client's cry in the dark the beam of justice in the future," she said. "On behalf of my client, I want to thank the U.S. attorney's office and those who worked with them for treating her with respect and dignity"... In an earlier interview with the Journal Sentinel, the woman said numerous officers - on the scene and at the police station - accused her of lying when she begged for help and asked them to take her to the hospital. She spent about 12 hours in jail before being interviewed by internal affairs... Only after that was she taken to the hospital for treatment and evidence collection.... The U.S. attorney's office and FBI began investigating Cates after the Milwaukee County district attorney's office declined to charge him. In a letter to Flynn, Assistant District Attorney Aaron E. Hall said he believed the woman's account but didn't think he would be able to prove a sexual assault case in court... Federal investigators believe the woman's allegations are both true and provable, Johnson said Tuesday. "It seemed to us from the very beginning to be credible and serious enough to be worth investigating," he said. "We got to the point, after further investigation, where we felt we could prove it beyond a reasonable doubt."... In February, a Journal Sentinel investigation revealed Cates had been accused of breaking the law five times before... [Full article here]

FORMER MILWAUKEE OFFICER FACES FEDERAL SEXUAL ABUSE CHARGE: Attorney Calls On Police Chief, DA To Resign
WISN 12 News
Brendan Conway
September 21, 201
[Excerpts] A former Milwaukee police officer has been federally indicted and charged with sexually assaulting a woman while on duty... Well known and outspoken attorney Robin Shellow is representing the victim, she praised the U.S. Attorney's office for filing charges after the district attorney declined last year. During a phone interview she had harsh words for Police Chief Ed Flynn, District Attorney John Chisholm and Deputy DA Kent Lovern. She is calling on all three men to resign. "They have blood on their hands," Shellow said. Shellow said Cates had a history of sexual assault that top officials should have known about... "Both the District Attorney's office and Milwaukee Police Department have admitted they knew of prior accusations," Shellow said. "They ought to be ashamed of themselves." Chisholm and Lovern declined to comment on Shellow's words... [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety repeat hx wisconsin state politics]

[CA] POLICE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE NEARLY TWICE AVERAGE RATE

2012-01-15T07:13:00.000-08:00

FROM THE

POLICE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE NEARLY TWICE AVERAGE RATE
San Fransico Chronicle
Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, January 15, 2012

Law enforcement officers beat their wives or girlfriends at nearly double the rate of the rest of the population, and trying to control that is not only difficult for the victims but potentially deadly, experts say.

The trouble lies in the very nature of police work.

One of the hallmarks of a good cop is to radiate authority and control, and in the wrong hands, those characteristics can be misused, domestic violence counselors say.

When that misuse happens, it's hard to report it because the victim has to go up against a man - and it is almost always a man - and his agency, both seen by society as paragons of protection.

Ross Mirkarimi, the San Francisco sheriff charged Friday with three misdemeanor counts connected with accusations that he abused his wife, is new to the badge. But he graduated from the city police academy in 1996 and spent nine years as an armed investigator for the district attorney's office.

Between 2004 and November, when he was elected sheriff, Mirkarimi was best known as a city supervisor. He has maintained his innocence and promised to fight the charges.

Terrified

Even advocates for battered women are reluctant to dive into domestic violence cases involving police for fear of alienating the agencies they rely upon for help in other abuse cases. Several local advocates declined to be interviewed for this article because of that concern, although more than a dozen publicly called Thursday for Mirkarimi to step aside temporarily while the case against him is resolved.

"The biggest problem for a woman reporting that she's been abused by her police officer husband or boyfriend is that nobody believes you," said Diane Wetendorf of Chicago, who wrote a nationally used victim handbook, "Police Domestic Violence."

"If you do speak up, the police are very good at turning the accusations around," Wetendorf said. "The women get terrified, too, so the crime is very under-reported. There is a legitimate fear of retaliation."

Perhaps the most notorious case of domestic violence involving a law enforcement officer happened in 2003, when the police chief of Tacoma, Wash., shot his wife to death in front of their two children after she complained to officers that he had abused her. He then killed himself.

In November, San Jose police Officer Chris Shimek strangled his wife and then killed himself. Last month, a former police officer in Cambridge, Mass., shot three of his family members and himself to death.

"A lot of women abused by police who call battered women's shelters say, 'We're not going to report it because it won't be taken seriously and we're afraid,' " said Kim Gandy, vice president of the Feminist Majority Foundation in Virginia.

High percentage

Several studies, according to Gandy and Wetendorf, indicate that women suffer domestic abuse in at least 40 percent of police officer families. For American women overall, the figure is 25 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"There are a lot of good cops who go into the work for the right reasons, to help people," Wetendorf said. "But then you have these others who are more interested in the authority, in the badge and the gun."

She said officers who abuse their wives or partners often are perverting the "continuum of force" used in policing.

"They start out with command presence and voice to gain and maintain control, and if that doesn't work, they go up the scale with an increasing amount of force until they get compliance," Wetendorf said. "Unfortunately, these guys use the same technique with their wives and girlfriends. And some of them go from 0 to 60 right away."

'Code of silence'

Aside from the fear of violent retaliation, women abused by police can also have trepidation about costing their husbands their jobs and jeopardizing their own economic future, Wetendorf said. Often, they also encounter skepticism from the same law enforcement system they are complaining to.

"A big part of police culture is the code of silence," she said. "The prosecutors depend on police for their cases, the police depend on each other - it's a very insulated system."

Michael Runner, director of legal programs for Futures Without Violence in San Francisco, said statements made so far by Mirkarimi indicate that perhaps even he, as sheriff, has a limited understanding of domestic violence.

"He characterized this incident as 'a family matter,' when it is actually not only that," said Runner, who trains judges on how to handle domestic violence cases. "And the fact that he joked about it at his swearing-in ceremony suggests that he's not necessarily aware of how serious an issue it is."

No tolerance

San Francisco police spokesman Officer Albie Esparza said his department is as intolerant of domestic violence as anyone in the city.

High-profile cases of deputies or officers in San Francisco accused of abusing their spouses or girlfriends are rare. The last one came in 2008 when Officer James Tacchini, son of a deputy chief, was accused of pushing his girlfriend. The girlfriend later denied the incident happened, and Tacchini was not charged.

"When you are sworn to protect and serve, you are held to a higher standard than the general public," Esparza said. "If you are accused of domestic violence, you not only get your case in court, but you get an internal affairs investigation.

"Whether it involves an officer from our agency or another agency, we take these accusations very seriously," Esparza said. "You cannot change the way you do your job just because it's another officer."

E-mail Kevin Fagan at kfagan@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A - 12 of the San Francisco Chronicle
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder suicide california state politics]

[NYPD] New York Police Officer Kimberly Cassas - "She died of domestic violence - period"

2012-01-13T18:06:00.000-08:00

16 Years ago today, January 13th 1996, Brooklyn Police Officer Kimberly Cassas, was fatally shot and wounded in the midst of an argument with her estranged husband John Rivera. Prosecutors said Rivera shot her and put the gun in Kim's hand to make it look like suicide. He was convicted of murder. Recently, on appeal, the murder conviction has been thrown out. Brooklyn District Attorney Joe Hynes said his office is "reviewing the decision and considering our options."

...Kim Cassas died of a gunshot wound to her head at about 1 a.m. on January 14, surrounded by her real family and her cop family from the 68th. The medical examiner's report shows that Cassas's mouth and nose were bruised from being punched. Cassas's fellow officers placed a big stuffed heart on her chest, held her hand, and watched her die. Said Officer Patti Testaverde, "She died of domestic violence - period"...

...Detective Stephanie Rich, head of the Policewomen's Endowment Association, said the incident highlighted the department's inability to cope with domestic violence against female officers. "Whether it was suicide or something else, this was definitely a case of domestic violence," she said. "It's a serious problem, and it needs immediate attention"...

...Words cannot describe how I felt when I read that the so-called person who killed my friend Kim Cassas would be released on a technicality ("Conviction KOd in '96 slay of his NYPD wife," Aug. 10). The judge felt there was not enough evidence to prove the defendant showed depraved indifference to human life. What do you call holding a gun to someone's head and pulling the trigger?...

EXCERPTS FROM THE NEWS: 1996 THROUGH 2011

BRONX OFFICER DIES IN APPARENT SUICIDE
New York Times
January 14, 1996
[Excerpts] An off-duty police officer died last night in the Bronx of a gunshot wound to the head, which the police said appeared to be suicide. The shooting occurred at 6:40 P.M. inside a private residence on City Island... The police did not immediately release the officer's name... In the last two years, the Police Department has instituted a number of measures, including offering psychological counseling, to combat suicide among police officers. In 1994, 11 officers committed suicide, the most ever in the city

DETECTIVES SEARCH FOR CLUES IN OFF-DUTY OFFICER'S DEATH
New York Times
By David Kocieniewski
January 16, 1996
[Excerpts] Detectives used metal detectors and police dogs yesterday to search for clues in the shooting death of an off-duty police officer in Brooklyn on Saturday night and said they still had not determined whether the death was a suicide, a homicide or an accident. The officer, Kimberly Rivera, 28, was shot once in the head about 10 P.M. Saturday outside the Bensonhurst home of her estranged husband, John. The couple's 8-month-old son, Michael John, was buckled in a car seat a few feet from the shooting... Mr. Rivera, 35, told the police his wife shot herself, after screaming, "I can't take it anymore," said detectives, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Neighbors told the police that they saw a struggle between the Riveras... Mr. Rivera had been arrested last September and charged with beating Officer Rivera and stealing her gun... The charges were reduced to misdemeanors, and a court hearing was pending. Ms. Rivera had obtained an order of protection that expired on Friday... Black bunting was draped over the entrance to the 68th Precinct in Bay Ridge,... Detective Stephanie Rich, head of the Policewomen's Endowment Association, said the incident highlighted the department's inability to cope with domestic violence against female officers. "Whether it was suicide or something else, this was definitely a case of domestic violence," she said. "It's a serious problem, and it needs immediate attention."

DEAD COP'S HUSBAND WON'T TALK
New York Daily News
By Tara George, Alice Mcquillan, Jane Furse
Tuesday, January 16 1996
[Excerpts] Police Commissioner William Bratton says that Officer Kimberly Rivera's estranged husband is not cooperating with investigators... "We have a lot of witnesses to talk to. The husband in this matter has retained the services of a lawyer and is no longer talking to us, so that is a very active investigation at this time"... Officer Rivera, 28, whom grief-stricken fellow officers have said would never have taken her own life, was shot in the head Saturday night outside her husband's Bath Beach, Brooklyn, apartment... John Rivera, 36, told officers a 9-mm. handgun went off during a struggle when he tried to stop his wife from firing the weapon into her temple. The couple had separated shortly after the birth of their son. On Sunday, cops got a warrant to search John Rivera's apartment, but [John Rivera's attorney, Peter] Antioco refused to allow investigators to test his client's clothes for gunpowder residue, saying the test would "serve no purpose" because Rivera had already said he was near his wife when the gun fired. A neighbor also told police he heard a man pleading, "Don't do it! Don't do it!... John Rivera, a construction worker, had been ordered by the courts to stay away from his wife. He also had been charged earlier with stealing the gun that fired the fatal shot, but those charges were later reduced. Meanwhile, grieving officers paid their respects to their slain colleague's family at her Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, home, where she lived with her mother and sister. At the 68th Precinct, former co-workers seemed numbed by shock and grief at the death. "It's never like this," said Sgt. Scott Nicholls, about the sadness that filled the stationhouse. "You've heard of the cop mentality? We only have each other," said Nicholls, who served in the same unit with Rivera. "She was the only woman in the unit, but she was one of the guys. She took ribbings, she took jokes. When we had the snowstorm, she was out there shoveling more than the guys"...

FAREWELL TO SLAIN COP HUBBY IS SPIT AT IN CHURCH
New York Daily News
By TARA GEORGE
Friday, January 19th 1996
[Excerpts] Hundreds of uniformed police officers packed a Brooklyn church yesterday to bid a solemn farewell to Officer Kimberly Rivera... Some spit at John Rivera, who is under investigation in his wife's death and who sat quietly apart from the other mourners, wearing sunglasses. Many of the officers from the slain cop's precinct wept as pallbearers carried the flagged-draped coffin into St. Mary Mother of Jesus church. "If you knew Kim, you knew she loved life," said the Rev. James Collins. "She had a big heart, which makes her violent death harder to understand." The officer's mother, Marlene Cassas, and sister Stephanie clung to each other for support as Collins talked of Rivera's love of animals and her dedication to her job, her family and her 8-month-old son, Michael. Officer Howard Carswell, a close friend, choked back tears as he read a speech he penned the day after Officer Rivera died. "On Jan 13, 1996, during a cold winter's night, New York City lost one of its Finest," he said. "The angels called for her much sooner than was planned" Rivera, 28, was shot in the head outside her husband's Bath Beach, Brooklyn, apartment last Saturday... Family members did not speak to John Rivera during yesterday's ceremony, and he left quickly when it was over.

COP KILLED HERSELF, SEZ LAWYER
Marlene Cassas
January 23rd 1996
[Excerpts] Brooklyn cop Kimberly Rivera died with her own 9-mm. gun in her hand, her estranged husband's attorney charged yesterday. "She committed suicide," Peter Antioco told Criminal Court Judge Joseph Bruno at a hearing for John Rivera... He has not been charged in her death, and he has insisted that she killed herself. But Police Commissioner William Bratton complained last week that Rivera was uncooperative with investigators and police sources say they remain troubled by several aspects of the case... The misdemeanor charges he faced yesterday include criminal weapons possession, possession of a forged instrument, criminal contempt, menacing and petty larceny, dating back to a complaint his wife made last year. But his lawyer maintained the gun used in the shooting had never left Kimberly Rivera's possession. Antioco told Bruno that he had been told by police after the shooting "that the weapon was recovered in her hand." Antioco also said photographs of Kimberly Rivera's body show her holding the weapon.

OFFICER'S DEATH RULED A HOMICIDE
New York Times
By Garry Pierre-Pierre
February 4, 1996
[Excerpts] The New York City Medical Examiner's office ruled yesterday that the shooting death last month of an off-duty police officer [Kimberly Rivera,] was a homicide... Her death had baffled detectives, who had not determined whether the death was a suicide, a homicide or an accident... Yesterday, the police would not say whether Mr. Rivera was a suspect... Officer Rivera joined the police force on June 30, 1990, and was assigned to the 68th Precinct. Neighbors said that Mr. Rivera, a former city bus driver, had been honored by the city in 1992 for rescuing 10 people from a burning building on his route in Bensonhurst.

HUSBAND CHARGED IN OFFICER'S DEATH
New York Times
Published: February 29, 1996
[Excerpts] Saying in court that he wanted to commit suicide, a Brooklyn man was charged yesterday with murdering his estranged wife, a police officer, in a case in which he had repeatedly insisted she had shot herself as he tried to stop her... District Attorney Charles J. Hynes of Brooklyn said the location of the wound -- not in the temple but above and behind the ear helped determine that "the fatal wound was not consistent" with Mr. Rivera's account that his 28-year-old wife shot herself. Mr. Rivera, 36, was arrested Tuesday night on the second-degree murder charges. He has been ordered held without bail.

DA: HUBBY KILLED 'SUICIDE COP'
New York Times
By Austin Evans Fenner, Al Baker, Don Gentile
February 29th 1996
[Excerpts] Brooklyn Police Officer Kimberly Rivera was murdered in cold blood by her estranged husband, who tried to make the death look like a suicide, prosecutors charged yesterday. "The evidence excludes that the wound was self-inflicted," said District Attorney Charles Hynes after the arraignment of John Rivera... "We say he put the gun in the victim's hand," said Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Taub. "The evidence will show he shot and killed his wife and tried to make it look like suicide." Hynes noted that the fatal wound, 2 inches above and behind the right ear, "is inconsistent with suicide." Sources added that gunpowder residue found on the officer's knuckle indicated she was trying to deflect the gun... Rivera told police his wife shouted, "I can't take it anymore" and used a 9-mm. Beretta to end her life falling to the ground with the gun still in her hand. The baby was strapped in a car seat inside the vehicle at the time. Rivera told police he tried to stop his wife. But investigators were suspicious... In September he was charged with menacing, criminal harassment and stealing the gun that eventually took her life. Those charges are still pending. Rivera, arrested Tuesday night, was held without bail and placed on a suicide watch. His lawyer, Peter Antioco, called the case politically motivated. Antioco said the officer had emotional problems over "an abortion, a miscarriage and a lesbian relationship." He would not elaborate.

[I left those accusations in just to show what happens.]

PARK TO BE NAMED FOR SLAIN OFFICER
New York Daily News
By Bill Farrell
June 04, 1996
[Excerpts] A triangular park on 86th St., near the Dyker Beach Golf Course in Bay Ridge, is slated to be named for a local police officer who was slain allegedly by her ex-husband during a domestic dispute. According to Parks Commissioner Henry Stern, it will be the first city park named for a police officer not killed in the line of duty, and the first park named for a victim of domestic violence. The naming of the park for Officer Kimberly Rivera has been spearheaded by her fellow officers at the 68th Precinct... "Kim was a fixture at the park," said Police Officer Mike Emitt, one of the organizers of the dedication effort. "Even when off duty she would walk her dogs there. This is fitting tribute," he said...

WHO KILLED KIMBERLY CASSAS?
The Village Voice
Linda Stasi
19 Nov 1996
[Excerpts] ...[Kimberly] Cassas died without an NYPD funeral. Instead, her peers from the force paid for her funeral themselves. The mayor, who hasn't missed a cop funeral since Jesus was a baby, skipped it. [Police Commissioner William[ Bratton skipped, too. Kimberly Cassas Rivera, a dedicated cop and mother, was buried in a cloud of shame... Officer Kimberly Cassas believed everything that handsome John Rivera said at first. Friends say she believed him when be said he scabbed for the Green Bay Packers... She believed him when he said he was an ex-NYPD officer. After all, he had the shield, he had the uniform... She believed him, too, when he told her that he was from a family of 11 brothers and sisters and that his mom had been killed in a carjacking... She eloped with him. But on their honeymoon, her cop instincts took over. She felt that something was wrong with the guy. After their honeymoon, she moved right back home with her mother and sister... Her friends say the couple never lived together. By the time she knew she'd made a mistake by marrying him, she was pregnant, and wanted out of the marriage. But it wasn't until much later that Kimberly discovered that she'd married a man who didn't exist. Friends of the couple said Rivera went so far as to party with "fellow officers" while in full uniform at the Washington, D.C., debacle last year. They say he showed up at a Memorial Day event decked out again like the cop he wasn't. "Cops of 15 years believed him" said Officer Margo McKenzie. "He had the lingo down pat" He'd shared stories with cops of collars and heroic feats"... [Her pal, Officer Maryrose Demetrio:] "Monday nights we'd all go bowling, I remember she was seven months pregnant-he'd show up-and be so annoying. He'd be all over her, `My Kimmy, my Kimmy.' She'd deal with him very kindly; she felt bad for him. That's the way she was" After the baby was born, things became unbearable. Kim's gun was stolen out of her home. She told her friends that Rivera admitted that he had it, and that he'd threatened to use it on her. She reported the gun missing, and named him as the thief In late August, Cassas filed divorce papers; Rivera was served on September 2, 1995. Six days later, she went to Dyker Park with the baby. According to court papers filed by Cassas, Rivera showed up and pushed her to the ground with the baby in her arms. Cops from the 62nd Precinct were called. Rivera told them he was a cop, and showed them his ID. The responding officers dismissed this as a domestic dispute between two cops. Nonetheless, Kimberly filed charges-and Rivera spent three days in jail. He was charged with five counts, including grand larceny for allegedly stealing her gun and violating an order of protection. In a search of Rivera's apartment, police found equipment for making official badges. Rivera was charged with forgery. But it wasn't until Cassas filed the criminal charges that any background check was done on "ex-police officer" John Rivera. And that's when-nearly two years after Rivera and Cassas met - both the NYPD and Kimberly Cassas discovered that John Rivera had never been a cop. Nothing he'd told her, it seemed, was true... Rivera was a hero alright, but a hero bus driver... A confidential source says Cassas later discovered that Rivera had been caught with an altered TA identification badge-one that made him look like a TA cop... According to her estranged husband, Cassas killed herself because she was depressed over their impending divorce, saying that her gun went off while he was trying to wrest it from her hand. Kim Cassas died of a gunshot wound to her head at about 1 a.m. on January 14, surrounded by her real family and her cop family from the 68th. The medical examiner's report shows that Cassas's mouth and nose were bruised from being punched. Cassas's fellow officers placed a big stuffed heart on her chest, held her hand, and watched her die. Said Officer Patti Testaverde, "She died of domestic violence-period"... [John] Rivera's then-defense attorney, Peter Antioco, blasted the dead policewoman, saying the case was politically motivated and "there are reports that she had one abortion, one miscarriage, she was using steroids, and she may have been have been having a lesbian relationship." "How does a dead woman defend these charges?" asked Maryrose Demetrio. Shortly after taking on the case, Antioco dismissed himself as Rivera's attorney, saying he was too close to the defendant...

MAN CONVICTED OF KILLING HIS WIFE, A POLICE OFFICER
New York Times
July 16, 1997
[Excerpts] An unemployed city bus driver charged with fatally shooting his estranged wife, a police officer, in January was convicted yesterday by a Brooklyn jury. The defendant, John Rivera, 37, was convicted of second-degree murder with depraved indifference for human life in the shooting of Officer Kimberly Rivera, 28, during an argument outside his apartment in Bath Beach, Brooklyn. Four of the victim's former patrol partners, who had come every day to the four-and-a-half-week trial, sat in court with her family as the sentence was read... In convicting him, the jury of nine women and three men concluded that while he might not have done so intentionally, it was Mr. Rivera who pulled the trigger.

B'KLYN MAN GUILTY IN SLAY OF COP WIFE
New York Daily News
BY MAUREEN FAN
July 16, 1997
A Brooklyn jury yesterday convicted a Bath Beach man of murdering his city police officer wife, rejecting his claim that she committed suicide. "I'll be back down on appeal," John Rivera shouted amid obscenities. Jurors found Rivera fired an illegal 9-mm. Beretta pistol into Kimberly Rivera's head at point-blank range on Jan. 13, 1996, then put the gun in her hand and told cops, "That's my wife, she shot herself." But prosecutors Ken Taub and Kyle Reeves said a single soot mark found on Kimberly Rivera's thumb showed she was deflecting the pistol, not firing it. A five-year police veteran, Kimberly Rivera, 28, filed for divorce four months before the slaying outside her husband's apartment. She also had an order of protection directing him to stay away except during supervised visits with their son, Michael, now 2. Deliberations before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Hall took 15 hours over three days. One juror was hospitalized for high blood pressure. Yesterday, more than 20 of Kimberly Rivera's friends and relatives said the wait had been excruciating as they cried and hugged each other tightly after the verdict. "I'm so happy it's over. They did the right thing," said Kimberly Rivera's sister, Stephanie Cassas, with tears streaming down her cheeks. "I can't wait to go home and hug Michael," said her mother, Marlene Cassas. Defense attorney Lynn Stewart had argued that two witnesses saw the gun in the victim's hand and heard her say, "I'm gonna do it this time."

MAN GETS 23 YEARS TO LIFE FOR KILLING OFFICER-WIFE
New York Times
Sep 20, 1997
[Excerpts] After spitting at his victim's police colleagues, a Brooklyn man was sentenced yesterday to 23 years to life for fatally shooting his estranged wife, a New York City police officer. The man, John Rivera, 38, was sentenced in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn in a courtroom packed with relatives and colleagues of the victim, Kimberly Rivera. She was off duty when she was shot... Seeing the many police officers in the gallery yesterday as he entered the courtroom, Mr. Rivera said, "All this for me?" and spat toward the spectators. Later, as he was led away after being sentenced, the audience applauded loudly.

N.Y. PATHOLOGIST SOUGHT FOR D.C. MORGUE
Washington Post
By Peter Slevin
Feb. 23, 1998
[Excerpts] The D.C. financial control board is working intensely to hire a highly respected New York City pathologist -- a specialist in the way children die -- to rebuild the District's woeful medical examiner's office. Jonathan L. Arden, who runs the Brooklyn morgue and serves as top deputy to New York City's chief medical examiner, would become the city's highest-paid employee if he accepted the job... In another case, Arden concluded last year that off-duty New York police officer Kimberly Rivera could not have committed suicide, although she was found in a pool of blood, gripping the pistol that fired the fatal bullets. "This is not a self-inflicted gunshot," Arden testified. "When one shoots oneself, one cannot continue to hold the gun in one's hand." A jury convicted John Rivera, her husband, of murder. He is serving 23 years to life.

NYPD ANGEL

Name : Cassas, Kim

[Excerpts] Officers in the 68th Pct received word that Kim Cassas had allegedly killed herself off duty, in front of her estranged husband's house with her newborn baby a few feet away. Over 1,000 police officers and civilians that knew her, off duty paid their respects at her funeral. She was not entitled to the Inspectors Funeral her friends felt she deserved due to the circumstances surrounding her death. Those that knew her, knew that she would never take her own life. She was too full of life and loved life, especially with her new born baby boy... After many months of painstaking investigation Kim's estranged husband was arrested, tried and convicted of her murder. One of her fellow officers would like everyone to know that though she did not die LOD, there is a another true "Angel" out there that deserves our respect and admiration for being one of the Finest of the Finest. There is a walkway in Dyker Park Golf Course named after Officer Cassas [Kimberly Cassas Walk Dyker Beach Park, 86th St. and 10th Ave., Brooklyn]. For the last eight years the 68th Pct has been running the Kim Cassas Memorial Golf Day to raise money for the care of her son. [Full article here]

COP-SLAY CONVICTION TOSSED
New York Post
By Bruce Golding
August 10, 2011
[Excerpts] A federal appeals court yesterday ordered the release of a Brooklyn man imprisoned for the 1996 slaying of his police-officer wife during a custody fight... The Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said a judge should have previously overturned John Rivera's conviction for "depraved indifference" murder in the fatal shooting of Kimberly Rivera. The unanimous decision noted that jurors had acquitted Rivera of "intentional murder." Two state appellate-court decrees since the verdict have changed the law so that the "point-blank shooting" of Kimberly Rivera "could not support a depraved-indifference murder conviction," Judge Joseph McLaughlin wrote. Those decisions were both handed down before Rivera's conviction "became final" following denial of his last state appeal in 2004, McLaughlin said...

MAN FOUND GUILTY OF SHOOTING NYPD COP WIFE TO DEATH IN 1997 CLEARED FOR RELEASE BY COURT
New York Daily News
By Scott Shifrel, Kerry Wills And Larry Mcshane
August 9 2011, 5:13 PM
[Excerpts] ...The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals also ordered a lower court to spring the longtime inmate, although the timetable for his release was unclear. The ruling infuriated the family of NYPD scooter cop Kimberly Rivera... "We're very upset, obviously," said her 40-year-old sister, Stephanie Cassas. "This shouldn't be happening. He's guilty, so he shouldn't be getting out in the first place. "I love my sister," the Brooklyn woman said through tears. "I miss her so much." Rivera, now 52, spewed obscenities and vowed to beat the case after his July 1997 conviction. "I'll be back down on appeal!" he shouted after the verdict was read. He taunted and spat at the 70 cops who turned out two months later to watch him receive a jail term of 23 years to life. Brooklyn District Attorney Joe Hynes said his office was "reviewing the decision and considering our options."...

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
New York Daily News
Letters To The Editor
Sunday, August 14, 2011
[Excerpt] Unspeakable
Brooklyn: Words cannot describe how I felt when I read that the so-called person who killed my friend Kim Cassas would be released on a technicality ("Conviction KOd in '96 slay of his NYPD wife," Aug. 10). The judge felt there was not enough evidence to prove the defendant showed depraved indifference to human life. What do you call holding a gun to someone's head and pulling the trigger?... [LINK]

EXCERPTS FROM NYPD ANGELS
FIDELIS AD MORTEM... FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH:

...She always put cocoa butter on, so of course I didn't let a day go by when I didn't ask her if she rubbed chocolate bars under her arms, my sister who was no better always told her that she had something in her ear knowing very well that it was this little flower tatoo that kim had in her ear. She would just laugh at us, and that's what we wanted cause it was all in fun.I never saw her mad, raise her voice or be petty about anything. She took everything in stride. She always had that smile on her face and was ready to help you if you needed it. I really am sorry that she is gone, she is missed alot by the many people...

...I just want every one to know that kim was a very special person to all of us at the 68 who had the sincere pleasure of working with her she was a beautiful person and there is no way that she would ever take her life...

...When I received that phone call on the evening of January 13th from another officer from the 68th Pct, I just knew that it wasn't good news. He told me that Kim was shot, I was just devastated and my immediate response was,cwho did it, John. There was never a doubt. She was such a vibrant girl and loved her son Michael too much to ever take her own life. I was the PAA in the CPU Office and Kim was assigned there. She was always there whenever I needed her to do anything within the confines of the 68 Pct. Kim was always a ray of sunshine. She will always be in my heart and I will always miss her...

...I have a picture of her with her son sitting on my mantle, so I see her and think of her every single day. She was one of the most wonderful friends a girl could ask for. I love her and miss her smiling face...

...I smile thinking of the many times we worked on patrol and laughed so hard together. Her eyes would tear and there would be mascarra all over the place. The only positive thing to come of this tradgedy is I still get to sense part of her when I see her Mom, Sister and Son. They are all wonderful people and Kim- like. Her son is a very happy boy and is a constant reminder of Kims innocence and goodness. Kimberly, you are so missed...

...Thank You for all the support you've given Kim's son Michael over these past 15 years if you've met him you would know he has my sister's spirit all the way through. Our family is forever grateful and thankful to her friends, her second family from the 68pct. Thank You for recognizing my sis Kimberly as an "NYPD angel"...

...To the best friend I ever had. I still remember the first day I met you when you walked into Bishop Kearney HS with your perfect eyelashes and pink lip gloss. It was a horrible night when Mike had to tell me you were gone. I couldn't believe I wasted so much time and then you were gone. I never met another friend that I know truly loved me like I know you did. Although I am crying like a baby right now I can still laugh outloud anytime I think of our days driving your mothers rabbit. Well we both have sons named Michael the same age and when I saw your son when he was little he melted my heart at just the site of him. Kim, I have told you in my prayers but I want the world to know that I named one of my daughters after you and she is as beautiful and mischevious and tough as you ever where. When I yell out her name (and God knows how many times I do) I sometimes feel like I am calling to you. I hope Mom, Steph and Michael are doing well. NYPD never had better. I love you and miss you and Kimberly Patricia Masullo is honored to have you as her guardian angel. God help the person that ever crosses her... I have seen you protect anything from a stray cat or dog to your closest friends. Until we laugh together again...
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder new york state politics alleged said suicide]

[WA] Brutal wife-beater, Corrections Officer Dallen Brown, is where he needs to stay

2012-01-11T03:08:00.000-08:00

An emergency room nurse told Monroe police officers it was one of the worst abuse cases he'd ever seen... bruised from "her nose to her toes"... The woman told officers that her husband, Dallen Brown, had punched her in the face and jabbed her in the ribs with his handgun. She told officers the abuse had been going on for years. She detailed incidents when she was choked, kneed in the stomach, kicked and punched. The woman told officers that Brown had held a gun to her and told her "shape up"...

I just found these articles from July and August last year, but I see that Monroe Corrections Officer Dallen Brown is still sitting in the Snohomish County Jail, so for the purposes of this blog I'll consider it current. He's so bad he has to be here.

MONROE CORRECTIONS OFFICER JAILED IN ALLEGED ASSAULT ON WIFE
By Eric Stevick, Herald Writer
Wednesday, July 27, 2011

EVERETT - A corrections officer at the prison in Monroe found himself behind bars Tuesday after he was arrested for investigation of assaulting his wife.

Medical records described more than 75 bruises to the woman's body, according to court records. A nurse from Valley General Hospital in Monroe told police that bruising was found from the woman's head to her feet.

Emergency room staff also told police that it appeared to be one of the worst cases of ongoing assaults they could remember, according to court records.

"It's so tragic when you see families so affected by this type of abuse," Monroe Police Department spokeswoman Debbie Willis said.

The correctional officer was booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of three counts of assault.

A judge set bail at $50,000 Tuesday and ordered that the officer have no contact with his wife.

That's the bail amount Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Chris Dickinson was seeking. He argued that a high bail was warranted because the allegations describe "a series of severe beatings."

A defense attorney asked for $10,000 bail.

The correctional officer, 29, works in the special offender unit for mentally ill prisoners at Monroe, state Department of Corrections spokesman Chad Lewis said. The officer started working at the prison in 2007.

Monroe Correctional Complex Superintendent Scott Frakes will determine what action to take once the officer is released from custody, Lewis said.

In an interview with police, the woman described an abusive nine-year relationship. She said her husband would strike her with fists, elbows and knees and use a stranglehold on her. She said he struck her with a gun once and pressed a gun to her body and made verbal threats on another occasion.

She told police he hit her in the stomach and pelvis July 20.

She alleged that he choked her during an assault at their home on Monday.

She said she grabbed her two young daughters and left the house and hid in an alley until a relative could pick them up.

On Tuesday, the corrections officer walked into the Monroe Police Department and said he wanted to give his side of the story, according to court records.

He said his wife held the barrel of a gun to his face and threatened him during an April altercation.

He said he used different arm holds to control her when there were physical disputes.

He told police his wife instigated a fight July 20 by striking him with a dog collar while he "balled up" on the floor. He said he eventually put her in a headlock until she would stop fighting.

He also said he used self-defense on Monday when he struck her in the face, using a "hammer fist" strike technique he learned in defensive tactics training, according to court papers.

"We are continuing to investigate," Willis said. [Full article here]

MONROE CORRECTIONS OFFICER CHARGED WITH ASSAULTS AGAINST WIFE
By Diana Hefley, Herald Writer
Friday, August 12, 2011

MONROE - An emergency room nurse told Monroe police officers it was one of the worst abuse cases he'd ever seen.

The patient, the wife of a Monroe corrections officer, was bruised from "her nose to her toes" when police brought her to the hospital last month.

The woman told officers that her husband, Dallen Brown, had punched her in the face and jabbed her in the ribs with his handgun. She told officers the abuse had been going on for years. She detailed incidents when she was choked, kneed in the stomach, kicked and punched. The woman told officers that Brown had held a gun to her and told her "shape up," court papers said.

Brown, 27, was arrested last month. His wife had called a relative to ask that she come pick up the couple's children. The woman and her children were found hiding in an alley down the street.

The woman had a black eye and bruises along her stomach. The relative called 911.

Brown was charged Friday in Snohomish County Superior Court with three counts of second-degree domestic violence assault. Prosecutors allege that the assaults were committed under aggravating circumstances because they happened in front of the couple's children and over a prolonged period of time.

That opens the door for more prison time if Brown is convicted.

Brown is locked up in the county jail, his bail set at $50,000. He remains an employee of the state Department of Corrections, spokesman Chad Lewis said. Superintendent Scott Frakes will make a decision on what action to take when Brown reports to work, Lewis wrote in an e-mail earlier this month.

Brown came into the Monroe Police Department asking about his wife and children the day after she was taken to the hospital.

He reportedly said he and his wife had been in some fights. His said his wife attacked him first in each instance.

Brown allegedly told officers that he punched his wife in the face in self-defense.

"He said that he used a 'hammer-fist' strike in keeping with his defense tactics training from the prison, and that it was 'just a natural, instinctive thing,' " according to court papers.

Brown reportedly told investigators that he usually used a choke-hold to get his wife to calm down.

He told police that his wife was to blame for the violence in their relationship. He allegedly explained that she insulted him and "knew how to push his buttons," Baldock wrote in charging documents.

Investigators spoke with the couple's children who said they'd seen their parents fighting. They also collected a voice mail message the 6-year-old left with a relative last month.

"My mom and dad are fighting. My mom is going to get killed if you don't answer so please call. They're fighting right now," the girl said. [Full article here]

EXCERPTS FROM ARTICLE'S COMMENTS:

...Mr. Brown you are an embarresment to the men and women you worked with...

...To this narcissitic, poor excuse for a man, he has done nothing wrong and it's all her fault for "starting it"...

...Was he on meth or something? How can anyone be so stupid! To do it, to think he'd get away with it, and to try to justify it is just mind blowing...

...The voicemail recording from the 6 year old says it all...

...If he should recieve bail and reports back to work he will be automatically place on administrative leave with full pay and benies. But while in the county lockup awaiting trial he is placed on regular annual leave if he has any drawing hios full pay and benies. Once that annual leave is gone then he gets nothing until bailed out or released on PR. If and when he is convicted then he will be terminated that is the union agreement. So far he hasn't gotten bail and I don't see anyone running to his defense to bail him now...

...what a coward, just shameful!...

...If this coward is convicted he will be shipped out of state to do his time, but it won't take long for the inmates at the out of state prisons learn he is an ex prison gaurd, and then they will pounce on him, so he will most likley live in solitary...

...Way to go, blame the person you are kicking the crap out of... and then do it in front of your children...

...coward...
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety brutal washington state politics terroristic threats threatening hx repeat]

[GA] Not forgotten. Dougherty County Sheriff's Jail Officer Tasha George

2012-01-08T02:27:00.000-08:00

Dougherty County Georgia Sheriff's Jail Officer Tasha George was shot and killed by the boyfriend of 7 years that she was breaking up with. She had left work early to change the locks and have a security system installed when Travis Smith surprised her and fatally shot her. The media doesn't give hint whether Tasha feared for her life or was just trying to keep him out.

"...'My baby! My baby!' a woman shouted as she collapsed, sobbing, on the driveway... Another woman fell to her knees on the driveway and curled up on the ground face down. Law enforcement officials, including Dougherty County Sheriff Jamil Saba, surrounded the women, loved ones of slain Dougherty County Sheriff's Office employee Tasha George..."

There had been prior documented domestic violence. After shooting Tasha, Travis then carjacked someone to get away and was quickly apprehended. He was sentenced to life in prison and 10 years for a gun charge, to be served consecutively.

Date that Tasha's life was stolen: June 16, 2006.

DOUGHERTY COUNTY JAIL DETENTION OFFICER SHOT TO DEATH
WALB News 10
June 16, 2006
[Excerpts] New information tonight in a shooting that claimed the life of a detention officer with the Dougherty County Sheriff's Office. 25-year-old Tasha George may have been the victim of domestic violence. Less than a month ago, Albany Police arrested her boyfriend for battery. He's one of two men in custody in connection with her murder. At about 5 Friday evening, law enforcement responded to this normally quiet neighborhood... "We did get a call in reference to shots fired," says Chief James Younger of Albany Police. There they found Tasha George dead in a yard... They're now trying to piece together exactly what happened but police reports from May 19th show a history of domestic violence at the home. After 8 that night, police arrested live-in boyfriend Travis Smith. Records show Smith pushed George through a glass table. She had an abrasion to her right eye and a deep cut on her stomach... [Sheriff Jamil] Saba says George was a hard worker at the Dougherty County Jail for about 4 years. He's shocked that this happened especially since George just left work a short time before the shooting... We're told George was trying to end things with Smith. Just today she had the locks changed on her house and a security company was installing a burglar alarm. Unfortunately, it wasn't soon enough...

COUNTY JAILER SHOT, KILLED NEAR HER HOME: An Albany woman shot and killed Friday had worked for the Dougherty County Sheriff's Office for about four years.
The Albany Herald
Heather Darenberg & Joshua Brown
Saturday, June 17, 2006
[Excerpts] Screams of desperation echoed down tree-lined Temple Avenue Friday evening. "My baby! My baby!" a woman shouted as she collapsed, sobbing, on the driveway of a red brick house at 2404 Temple Avenue, which was surrounded by yellow crime scene tape. Another woman fell to her knees on the driveway and curled up on the ground face down. Law enforcement officials, including Dougherty County Sheriff Jamil Saba, surrounded the women, loved ones of slain Dougherty County Sheriff's Office employee Tasha George... Saba said the victim had been an employee of the Sheriff's Office for about four years... For the two hours following the shooting, the intersection of Temple and Stuart avenues was taped off as members of the Albany Police Department, Dougherty County Sheriff's Office, Georgia State Patrol, Dougherty County School System Police Department, Albany State University Police Department, Georgia Department of Corrections, the Dougherty County District Attorney's Office, the Albany Fire Department and Dougherty County Emergency Medical Services worked at the crime scene. About an hour after the shooting, several law enforcement vehicles peeled off, with lights flashing. A few minutes later, Dougherty County Jail spokesman Lt. Lance Montgerard said in a telephone interview that two people had been captured in Worth County in connection with the shooting. Younger confirmed Friday evening that the police department was questioning two "suspects," who he later said were "persons of interest"... Sylvester police caught two men, one white and one black, who appeared to be in their early 20s at about 6:30 p.m. in a McDonald's parking lot in Sylvester, Sylvester Police Chief Tony Strenth said. Strenth said the black man tried to run, but was apprehended a short distance away in front of a Subway restaurant. The white man did not run... Sylvester police left the car as it was so Albany police could search it, Strenth said. Strenth said the only thing found in the car that he knew of was a pistol... Saba said at about 10:30 p.m. Friday that the two men were not being held in the Dougherty County Jail. Saba described George as "a good officer." "She was a great worker," he said. "If you needed her there, she would be there. "Our heart and our sympathy goes out to the family... We're going to help the family and see what we can do for them."

SUSPECT NABBED IN JAILER SLAYING: A man arrested on a murder charge in connection with a detention officer's death was also arrested last month on a domestic violence charge.
Albany Herald
Heather Darenberg
6/18/2006
[Excerpts] Albany police arrested an Albany man on a murder charge Friday evening in connection with the slaying of a Dougherty County Sheriff's Office employee, jail records show. Travis Smith, 28, of 2404 Temple Avenue was booked into the Dougherty County Jail at 8:26 p.m. Friday, records show. Smith was released from the jail at 9:30 p.m. Friday... Lee County Jail officials confirmed Saturday they are housing Smith for Dougherty County authorities. Dougherty County Jail spokesman Lt. Lance Montgerard said Smith was not being held in Dougherty County "for his safety and security." Smith is suspected of fatally shooting his longtime girlfriend, Dougherty County detention officer Tasha George... An Albany Police Department Family Violence Incident Report from May shows that Smith was arrested in May on a charge of battery (domestic violence). Albany police Maj. Wilma Griffin and Dougherty County Jail officials confirmed Saturday that it was the same Smith that was arrested on the murder charge. The report, dated May 19, indicates that Smith was arrested in connection with an incident involving his girlfriend of seven years. The victim's name had been redacted from the report, but the report shows the victim was a 25-year-old employed by the Dougherty County Jail... The report states that Smith told police that he and his girlfriend were involved in "a severe pushing match" and "he struck (deleted) on the face"... Police noted that the woman had "an abrasion next to her right eye which caused visible swelling" and a "deep cut to (deleted) stomach area, which she said was caused when Travis pushed her on to a glass table top that was leaned against the kitchen wall," the report shows... Dougherty County Jail employees said Saturday they were not allowed to talk about George to the media...

MURDER SUSPECT INDICTED
WALB-TV
Jun 23, 2006
[Excerpts] The man accused of killing a Dougherty County jailer has been indicted. Twenty-eight-year old Travis Smith is charged with murdering twenty-five-year old Tasha George... Interestingly, the indictment also accuses him of battery and stalking, crimes that happened one month before Tasha George was killed. Smith and George were a couple at one time and Smith was arrested May 19th and charged with throwing George through a glass table. He was then let out of jail on bond and had not even been indicted when George was shot and killed June 16th. Now that he's charged with murder, prosecutors are speeding things up... Even though Albany police never reported it, Travis Smith is also accused of kidnapping and carjacking the man who was with him when he was caught in Sylvester last Friday.

LOVED ONES REMEMBER DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIM
walb.com
July 28, 2006
[Excerpts] A young Dougherty County jailer [Tasha George] murdered outside her home last month was remembered by her loved ones tonight... "Officer Tasha George, In Memory of, on August 26, 2002 to June 16, 2006. We Love You." Tasha George gave four years of service to the Dougherty County Sheriff's Office. Her mother and sister graciously took the flag of appreciation from Tasha's co-workers. For younger sister Denise Moffett, Tasha was a role model. "She played as a good role. She was helping me through school, prom, everything," said Denise Moffett. Tasha's friends from the Dougherty County Jail hosted a memorial celebration for her family. Wendy Griffin and Danny Brown met Tasha four years ago when they started jail school together. "She was always trying to stay on top of things, trying to better herself, her career, just always trying to move towards advancement," said Wendy Griffin. The three shared many experiences. Danny remembers joking with Tasha often... With laughter aside, Tasha was also a serious and spiritual person. Good friend and minister Terry Whitaker remembers the role God played in Tasha's life. "We know she was saved, we know she loved the Lord. When the Lord calls, it's time for you to go home. We can't go back and ask why the Lord made those decisions. We just want everyone to know that we loved her and we know that she's in a better place," said Terry Whitaker. A better place for this life cut short here on Earth, but a life that will be remembered by many for years to come...

DEFENDANT IS MENTALLY COMPETENT
walb.com
Jim Wallace
February 20, 2007
[Excerpts] A Judge rules an Albany man is mentally competent to stand trial for murder. Travis Smith's trial for killing Dougherty County Tasha George is set to begin in less than one month. Twenty-eight-year-old Travis Smith was brought into the courtroom at the Dougherty County Jail under heavy guard. Wearing handcuffs and leg irons, four deputies and bailiffs stood within feet of him throughout the competency hearing... A Dougherty County jailer, George had gone home from work early that day to have the locks changed on her house, and a security system installed. Prosecutors say Smith surprised her and shot her twice in the shoulder and the neck. On May 19th Smith was arrested for hitting George. He was released on bond the next day, but was ordered by the court to stay away from George. Smith is also charged with kidnapping, carjacking, and aggravated assault on Eric Griggs, a man prosecutors say Smith forced to go with him after George's murder... Smith was examined by two psychologists to determine if he was mentally able to be tried for murder. In the hearing, one psychologist testified that Smith said he had been treated at Southwestern State Hospital in Thomasville in June, after threatening George. Both psychologists testified that Smith appeared to be depressed, but was capable of understanding right from wrong... The Judge set a trial date of March 19th... Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty. If found guilty, Smith would face life in prison. Travis Smith is being held at Coastal State Prison near Savannah. Officials did not want to have him held at the Dougherty County jail, since he is charged with killing one of it's employees. Judge Goss today ordered that Smith be held either at the Lee County Jail or Lee State Prison during his trial...

TRIAL ENDS WITH GUILTY PLEA
walb.com
Nicole Johnson
March 1, 2007
[Excerpts] A surprise guilty plea today from an Albany man charged with killing his ex-girlfriend. 28-year old Travis Smith shocked prosecutors by telling them he wanted to plead guilty to the murder of Dougherty county jailer Tasha George... After Smith agreed to plea, a Dougherty Superior Court judge immediately sentenced him to life in prison. He was also sentenced to ten years on a firearms charge.

MAN GETS LIFE IN SLAYING OF DOUGHERTY COUNTY JAILER
By The Associated Press
March 2nd 2007
A 28-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison for killing a Dougherty County jailer. Travis Smith pleaded guilty Thursday to felony murder and two related firearms charges, Dougherty County Assistant District Attorney Greg Edwards said. Superior Court Judge Stephen Goss sentenced Smith to life in prison plus 10 years, to be served consecutively...
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder georgia state politics]

[MA] Ex-Brockton Police Lt. Lincoln jailed for not paying alimony

2012-01-06T07:03:00.000-08:00

Jan 06, 2012
Retired Brockton Massachusetts Police Lt. Charles Lincoln "who amassed the largest pension in Plymouth County history [$140,000 a year] is sitting in the Barnstable County jail after failing to pay support to his ex-wife... Brockton Probate Court issued an order for Lincoln to be jailed for failure to pay $13,700 in support... The order says that Lincoln 'neglected and refused to obey' the order to pay, and he was being held in contempt. Lincoln is to be held for 30 days or until he pays the money..." [LINK]

[AR] Shots fired. Fayetteville Officer Davis arrested on 1st degree felony battery, aggravated assault, burglary

2012-01-05T10:13:00.000-08:00

FAYETTEVILLE OFFICER ARRESTED, PLACED ON LEAVE
By Kate Ward
Posted: January 3, 2012
Washington County deputies arrested a Fayetteville police officer on Tuesday after he reportedly held his ex-wife’s boyfriend at gunpoint, according to a preliminary arrest report. Cpl. Terry Davis, 46, of 11859 Longstate Road in Elkins was arrested Tuesday in connection with felony first-degree battery and aggravated assault. He has been placed on paid administrative leave while the Fayetteville Police Department conducts an internal investigation. [LINK]

FAYETTEVILLE POLICE OFFICER ARRESTED IN DOMESTIC DISPUTE INVOLVING GUN, EX-WIFE'S BOYFRIEND
Associated Press
January 03, 2012
[Excerpts] A Fayetteville police officer faces charges over a domestic dispute in which he allegedly threatened his ex-wife's boyfriend with a gun and a knife. Washington County sheriff's deputies say 46-year-old Terry Davis of Elkins was arrested Tuesday for felony first-degree battery and aggravated assault... Davis, a Fayetteville police corporal, is on paid leave pending an internal investigation. The arrest report says he entered the home of his ex-wife's boyfriend and first threatened him with a knife... Davis allegedly fired at least one shot into the man's bed and threatened to kill him and take his own life... Davis was held without bond Tuesday pending a court appearance... [Full article here]

FAYETTEVILLE POLICE OFFICER ARRESTED: Corporal Terry Davis Placed On Administrative Leave
4029tv.com
January 3, 2012
[Excerpts] ...According to the Washington County website, Corp. Terry Davis was arrested by Washington County deputies on suspicion of aggravated residential burglary and first-degree battery... In court documents, investigators said police got a call from a woman who said an intruder was assaulting her boyfriend at her home... When officers arrived, the victim said that he was asleep when he heard someone trying to get into his home. He said he opened the door to see who it was and the man rushed inside and threatened him with a knife. The victim said that the intruder, who he identifed as Davis, also pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot him with it. The man said Davis fired two shots into his bed. The victim suffered cuts to his forehead and right hand during the incident.... [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal arkansas state politics]

[CA] HELP FIND MISSING California dog, Shiba. Looks like red fox. Lost after murder-suicide.

2012-01-05T04:14:00.000-08:00

REWARD FOR THE RETURN OF LOVED SHIBA

Friends of Lynn and Chris Shimek, the Gilroy couple who died Nov. 28 in an apparent murder-suicide, are seeking help in recovering one of the Shimek's family pets after it ran away Dec. 1 in Hollister...

PLEASE ADD AND SHARE FACEBOOK PAGE:
BRING SHIBA HOME

MISSING 2 YR OLD SHIBA INU ~ 408.805.0184 ~ FEMALE ~ INTACT ~ SHY ~ PLEASE DO NOT CHASE!!!!

PREVIOUS POST:
[CA] Lynn Shimek only wanted to be free. - ...Condolences to all who loved them...

The community is trying to find Shiba for he children who lost their parents. Please help.

Most complete recent article:

SHIMEK’S FAMILY DOG SIGHTED; STILL MISSING
Morgan Hill Times
by Blair Tellers
December 20, 2011

Friends of Lynn and Chris Shimek, the Gilroy couple who died Nov. 28 in an apparent murder-suicide, are seeking help in recovering one of the Shimek's family pets after it ran away Dec. 1 in Hollister.

The Shimeks have two dogs - a German Shepherd named Scarlet and a full-blooded Shiba Inu named Shiba.

Shiba went missing Dec. 1 after Julie Nagel, a close friend of the Shimeks who lives in Gilroy and was temporarily watching the two pets, brought Shiba to work Dec. 1 because the un-neutered dog was in heat and restless. Nagel works as a dental hygenist in Hollister.

Later that day, someone in the office took Shiba outside for a bathroom break and let the dog off the leash, at which point the dog ran away. Shiba is 7 years old and weighs about 20 pounds.

According to the Shimek's family pet sitter Trudi Souza, Shiba is still on the loose but there have been many confirmed sightings in the Hollister and Tres Pinos areas; specifically in front of the Tres Pinos Inn at 6991 Airline Highway.

Souza said Shiba has been spotted traveling along the riverbed in Tres Pinos with a black, male Labrador Retriever. Friends of the Shimeks believe Shiba - described as resembling a "little red fox" - could be pregnant and will likely become desperate for food in the coming weeks.

The plan is for both dogs to be returned to the Shimek's sons, 19-year-old Forest and his younger brother, 13, when permanent arrangements are made for the boys to move back to Gilroy. The siblings are currently staying with a paternal aunt in San Jose.

The other dog, Scarlet, is temporarily staying at a training/boarding facility called K9 Ambassadors in Hollister.

Call: (408) 966-8877

About the Shimeks

The bodies of Lynn, 43, and Chris, 51- a San Jose police sergeant of 16 years - were found by Gilroy police officers around 9:39 p.m. Nov. 28 inside the couples' two-story home on the 9400 block of Rodeo Drive in Gilroy.

Circulating reports from various media outlets cite "anonymous" sources who allege Lynn may have been strangled; that the couple was found lying side-by-side in the master bedroom with her hand in his; and that there were signs of a struggle.

When asked if he could confirm any of these claims, Capt. Jim Gillio with the Gilroy Police Department reiterated the GPD "absolutely has not" released any official information related to the cause of Lynn's death, or details of the crime scene.

According to the GPD, Chris died "from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound." Gillio said he did not know if the gun was Chris's personal property, nor if he used a police-issued gun to kill himself.

The Santa Clara County Coroner's Office does not have a projected timeline for releasing the Shimek's autopsy reports. It could take up to 12 weeks before Lynn's cause of death is released, the spokesman said.

Click picture to see larger

[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities state politics]

[AL] Goodbye to loved Randolph County Reserves Sheriff's Cpt. Brenda Sims

2012-01-05T02:22:00.000-08:00

Brenda Joyce Sims

Funeral services - Thursday January 5, at 1pm

Quattlebaum Funeral Chapel.

Burial: Randolph Memory Gardens.

...Because Mr. and Mrs. Sims worked with RCSO, Sheriff David Cofield called the Alabama Bureau of Investigation to work the case, which is under investigation but at this time appears to have been an accident...

RESERVE DEPUTY DIES WHEN GUN DISCHARGES
The Randolph Leader
Vanessa Sorrell Burnside
Wednesday, January 4, 2012 9:20 am
[Excerpts] WEHADKEE - A Randolph County Sheriff's Office reserve deputy was accidentally killed while preparing to shoot at targets in her back yard on New Year's Eve afternoon. According to the report, Brenda H. Sims, 59, of 3552 County Rd. 30 wanted to practice shooting in order to qualify for her pistol permit. Her husband, Robert Gary Sims Jr., 45, also a reserve deputy, set up the targets in the back yard and then brought out the bags in which the couple stored their guns. When Mr. Sims set the bags on the truck, he heard a pop, looked over at his wife and saw her slumping down. One of the guns had apparently fired from within the bag... He then put her in his reserve deputy car and drove to Corner One in Roanoke to meet the ambulance there.... Mrs. Sims was pronounced dead in the parking lot of Randolph Plaza. Because Mr. and Mrs. Sims worked with RCSO, Sheriff David Cofield called the Alabama Bureau of Investigation to work the case, which is under investigation but at this time appears to have been an accident... Mrs. Sims was a captain in the reserves and Mr. Sims is a major... [LINK]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities unsolved unresolved usur alabama state politics said alleged suicide]

[AL] Kathy Lowe will be tried 3rd time in shooting death of her Sheriff's Investigator husband, David Lowe

2012-01-04T13:41:00.000-08:00

Kathy Lowe will face a third trial in November for the November 11, 2008 death of her husband David Lowe. David, a former Marshall County Sheriff's Office deputy and investigator for the Marshall County District Attorney's office, was found shot twice in the back and side, at the Horton home the couple shared.

PREVIOUS POSTS:

[AL] Slain at home, Investigator Lowe had a pending domestic violence charge - ...WAFF 48 News has uncovered nine pages of court documents, including this arrest report dated for March 28, 2008 in which David Lowe was charged with domestic violence... Local judges and the staffers from the Marshall County district attorney’s office had recused themselves from the case...
[AL] Kathy Morgan Lowe arrested for murdering her dv-charged husband, former Sheriff's Investigator David Lowe- The Alabama Bureau of Investigation has charged Kathy Morgan Lowe with murder in the November shooting death of her husband, former Marshall County Sheriff's investigator David Lowe. Authorities said Lowe was arrested about 30 minutes ago...
[AL] Jury hung in murder trial - Investigator's wife Kathy Lowe will be retried - ...Wednesday, in [Lead ABI investigator Bradley] Renfroe's testimony, he said there appeared to be a romantic relationship between Kathy Lowe and a former firefighter. In his investigation, Renfroe testified there were 55 calls to the man's cell phone, totaling approximately 14 hours in use time. There were also 329 text messages from Lowe to him. Renfroe also testified he was informed by three insurance carriers of a total of 120,000 dollars in life insurance on David Lowe...

NEW DATE SET FOR KATHY LOWE RE-TRIAL
WAFF.com
Jan 04, 2011
Kathy Lowe will not go to trial as planned January 10th. Lowe is accused of killing her husband David Lowe, a former investigator for the Marshall County District Attorney's office. Her first trial in August ended in a mistrial when the jury could not reach a verdict. Her new trial date is scheduled for November 14th. [LINK]

EXCERPTS FROM RETRIAL NEWS ARTICLES:

LOWE MURDER RETRIAL CONTINUES
WAFF.com
By Stephen McLamb
Dec 15, 2011
[Excerpts] The retrial of a Marshall County woman charged with the murder of her husband was underway Thursday in Guntersville. An ABI computer forensics expert took the stand as prosecutors hope to show Kathy Lowe wasn't even at home during some of the time she claimed she was being held hostage by her husband... She's charged with the November 2008 murder of David Lowe who was shot twice in the lower left side of his back outside the couple's rural home in Marshall County. Investigators testified Wednesday Lowe claimed she had been held hostage by David that day... they questioned Lowe about more than a dozen cell phone calls made and received during the early to late evening hours that she failed to tell investigators about. An ABI computer forensics expert testified some of those calls were made nearly nine miles away from the family's home, saying it was unlikely those calls could have been made that far away from the family home... [Full article here]

KATHY LOWE TAKES STAND IN MURDER TRIAL
WAFF.com
Dec 16, 2011
[Excerpts] Prosecutors rested their case in Kathy Lowe's murder trial Friday and she was the first person her lawyers called to the stand... The first trial ended in a mistrial. Lowe claimed her husband held her hostage the day of his death, but investigators showed that her cell phone was used nearly 20 times that day... Lowe told jurors about abuse that went back some 20 years ago... Lowe also testified to abuse David allegedly did on their son and daughter including a domestic Incident with her, in which he was arrested just months before the shooting. But on the night in question just before she shot her husband she said, "He had a cold look on his face I had never seen before." She said she pulled up her gun and shot. [Full article here]

KATHY LOWE MURDER TRIAL COULD GO TO JURY BY TUESDAY
WAFF.com
By Stephen McLamb
Dec 19, 2011
[Excerpts] ...The defense in Kathy Lowe's murder trial started presenting some of their final witnesses Monday afternoon in Guntersville. Lowe's attorney hoped to portray the victim in the case as a domestic abuser to substantiate claims that Kathy Lowe was only trying to defend herself the night she shot her husband [David]... Prosecutors claim she shot him twice in the back while she claims she was only defending herself. In testimony, Bynam Turner testified he knew the Lowes through their work at the auctions. Turner said in the last three years of his life, David became not as friendly, not as nice. Turner also testified he saw Kathy with a black eye... [Full article here]

KATHY LOWE'S DAUGHTER: 'THINGS WERE NOT GOOD AT HOME'
Sand Mountain Reporter
By Elizabeth Summers
Posted: December 20, 2011 1:30 pm
Updated: Wed Dec 21, 2011.
[Excerpts] The daughter of Kathy Lowe testified Tuesday morning for the first time ever, saying she was afraid of her father and spent part of the night he was murdered hiding behind a tree with her brother Brian. Kathy Lowe is on trial for the second time in the shooting death of her husband, David Lowe on Nov. 11, 2008... Amanda Lowe testified she and her older brother, Brian, left their grandmother's home next door to the Lowe home after Kathy Lowe called Brian telling him not to let Amanda return to the home because "things were not good at home." At that point, Amanda said, Brian grabbed a gun and the pair ran across the yard, lying in a ditch near the tree that afforded them a view of the home, carport and pool. "I saw a figure sitting on the pool steps," Amanda said. "We heard two gunshots. I saw the sparks fly from the gun"... After calling 911, she and Brian heard three more shots and ran to the house... Amanda also testified she had been afraid of her father for many years and would come home from school, get off the school bus and lock herself in her room, "sitting behind the door." She would only come out after Kathy Lowe returned home from work. "I felt a little more safe with her there," Amanda testified. "She protected us." Following Amanda's testimony, her uncle Darryl Thacker took the stand... He also testified that David Lowe had a poor relationship with his son, Brian Lowe, and often called him names, many of which included explicatives. "Brian would call me and I would come over here from my home in the Madison/Huntsville area and take him back to my house"... [Full article here]

MISTRIAL DECLARED IN KATHY LOWE'S MURDER RETRIAL
Sand Mountain Reporter
By Elizabeth Summers
December 22, 2011
Kathy Lowe will stand trial for a third time in April for the shooting death of her husband. Jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict following two days of deliberations Thursday. According to Judge Tim Jolley, the five-woman, seven-man jury was split five to seven over the question of guilt and innocence... David, a former Marshall County Sheriff's Office deputy and investigator for the Marshall County District Attorney's office, was found shot twice in the back and side, at the Horton home the couple shared. Kathy Lowe admitted shooting David following a day-long argument, and alleged she had been held hostage by David most of the day at gunpoint. Prosecutors countered Kathy Lowe had plotted to kill David Lowe over several months. Special Prosecutor and Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey said following the mistrial declaration she would try the case again... Kathy Lowe, holding her head in her hands, was heard saying "I can't believe this happened again"... [Full article here]

JUDGE DECLARES MISTRIAL FOR KATHY LOWE; JURY SPLIT
Judge sets a third trial for Lowe in April 2012
WHNT NEWS 19, Sand Mountain News
Carson Clark
WHNT News 19 Reporter
December 22, 2011
[Excerpts] A Marshall County woman will face a third trial for the death of her husband [David Lowe]. Thursday afternoon, the judge declared Kathy Lowe's second trial to be a mistrial. The jury was split. The jury told the judge on Thursday morning they were stuck, and could not reach a unanimous decision. After hearing that, the judge urged the jury to keep deliberating. They came out with a question after 2:30 p.m. The mistrial declaration came shortly after 3:15 p.m. After Judge Tim Jolley declared the mistrial, he scheduled Lowe's third trial for April 2012. Lowe is accused of shooting her husband, David, at their home in November of 2008 so she could collect insurance money.... In closing arguments Wednesday, prosecutors said Kathy Lowe was thinking about one topic a lot during the summer and fall of 2008: the death of her husband David. Pamela Casey, lead prosecutor, presented evidence of the things Lowe did during that summer that involved her husband's eventual death. Casey said Lowe first took a 'Do Not Resuscitate' order to the local fire department. However, her husband had not signed off on it. The prosecutor also says Lowe spent a lot of time shopping for insurance and got one policy on her husband just a month before his death... But in the defense attorney's arguments, John Burleson told jurors the evidence shows Kathy Lowe was an abused and battered woman... Burleson also told jurors that yes, Lowe had bought insurance policies on David Lowe, but that they shouldn't read anymore into that than a woman who was trying to plan for her family's future. Lowe herself testified that she did pull the trigger that night, but it was in self defense to keep David Lowe from shooting her first. [LINK]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder female perp perpetrator alabama state politics]

[TX] After domestic assaults, Dallas Officer Davis fired for positive drug test, policy violations, and non-cooperation

2012-01-04T01:27:00.000-08:00

...[Dalas Police] Officer Rashad Davis was arrested in December and accused of beating his live-in girlfriend. He went missing after a second domestic disturbance... a police report says Davis attacked his girlfriend once more... Results came back on Dec. 13 and showed that Davis tested positive for using marijuana... According to a release issued Tuesday, Davis had also violated the conditions of the department’s Administrative Leave Policy and was insubordinate after he refused to cooperate in the internal investigation...

[CONTINUE TO TAKE ALL PRECAUTIONS.]

PREVIOUS POST:
[TX] BOLO for Dallas Police Officer Rashad Davis. His girlfriend has "additional protection" - ...Results came back on Dec. 13 and showed that Davis tested positive for using marijuana, a department statement said. According to a release issued Tuesday, Davis had also violated the conditions of the department’s Administrative Leave Policy and was insubordinate after he refused to cooperate in the internal investigation...

DALLAS COP FIRED FOR ILLEGAL DRUG USE
WFAA
January 3, 2012 at 4:34 PM
A Dallas police officer was fired by Chief David Brown on Tuesday after failing a drug test. In a written statement, police said Officer Rashad Davis tested positive for marijuana use last month. Davis also allegedly violated the department's administrative leave policy and failed to cooperate in an internal affairs investigation. Police said there were three additional investigations pending against Davis. The terminated officer had been on the force for four years and was assigned to the South Central Patrol Division. Police said Davis has a right to appeal for his job. [LINK]

DALLAS OFFICER ACCUSED IN BEATING FIRED
myFOXdfw.com
Adapted for Web by Tracy DeLatte
Tuesday, 03 Jan 2012
The Dallas police officer who disappeared after allegedly attacking his girlfriend has been fired from the department for multiple infractions. Officer Rashad Davis was arrested in December and accused of beating his live-in girlfriend. He went missing after a second domestic disturbance that resulted in additional assault charges. Police were unable to find him for days. Davis must now wear an ankle monitor until his case goes to court. Police said the four-year veteran was fired because he tested positive for marijuana, violated administrative leave policies and refused to cooperate in an internal affairs investigation. [LINK]

DPD FIRES OFFICER WHO FACES ASSAULT CHARGES, FAILED DRUG TEST
CBSDFW.com
By Matt Goodman
January 3, 2012 4:23 PM
An officer facing multiple charges for assaulting his girlfriend and who later tested positive for using marijuana has been fired following an internal investigation, a police department spokesman said Tuesday. Officer Rashad Davis, 32, was arrested Dec. 6 on an Assault (Family Violence) charge for attacking his live-in girlfriend. She alleged he grabbed her by the throat and threw her onto a bed. Davis was placed on administrative leave after he was released from jail. While on leave, a police report says Davis attacked his girlfriend once more, throwing her to the cement ground outside their apartment. This resulted in a second Class A Misdemeanor Assault (Family Violence) charge. According to police, as their investigation progressed, Davis’s girlfriend said he pointed a gun at her head in November. Police then filed a third charge of Aggravated Assault (Family Violence) and issued a warrant for his arrest. Police raided Davis’s apartment on Dec. 13, but he was not home. He turned himself in on Dec. 16 without incident, the department reported on its Facebook page. On Dec. 8, after being arrested the first time and placed on leave, police had Davis take a drug test. Results came back on Dec. 13 and showed that Davis tested positive for using marijuana, a department statement said. According to a release issued Tuesday, Davis had also violated the conditions of the department’s Administrative Leave Policy and was insubordinate after he refused to cooperate in the internal investigation. Davis, a four-year veteran of the force, was assigned to the South Central Patrol Division. He has the right to appeal the firing, the release notes. [LINK]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal terroristic threatening texas state terminated politics]

[WV] Paden Police Chief Billiter pleads guilty to downgraded domestic charge(s) then resigns

2012-01-01T22:45:00.000-08:00

...[Chief Michael] Billiter, who was arrested back in September after getting into a fight with his wife and in-laws originally faced three counts of domestic battery.

But the charges changed to just one count of domestic battery and one count of destruction of property...

PREVIOUS POST:
[WV] When Paden Police Chief allegedly assaulted his wife and her parents no formal protection order was issued? - When Paden City Police Chief Michael Billiter allegedly assaulted his wife and both of her parents, the law enforcement agencies that responded to the house... Billiter was "ordered" by the judge to stay away from the alleged victims but no formal order of protection appears to have been issued. THAT would have prevented him from keeping his weapons - and operating as chief...

PADEN CITY POLICE CHIEF RESIGNS
WTOV9
By Philip Stahl
Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011
Paden City police chief Michael Billiter has resigned his position as chief following his guilty plea in court last week. This is according to Paden City mayor Bill Fox. Billiter had been on unpaid leave since September when he was arrested for domestic battery, police said. Billiter pleaded guilty last week to one count of domestic battery and one count of destruction of property following a September incident, according to court documents. [LINK]

DAYS EARLIER:

POLICE CHIEF PLEADS IN COURT, SENTENCED
WTOV9
By Philip Stahl
Friday, Dec. 23, 2011
TYLER COUNTY, W.Va. - Paden City Police Chief Michael Billter pleaded guilty to two charges he faced in Tyler County Magistrate Court Thursday. Billiter, who was arrested back in September after getting into a fight with his wife and in-laws originally faced three counts of domestic battery. But, on Thursday, the charges changed to just one count of domestic battery and one count of destruction of property. Billiter has been on unpaid leave from the Paden City Police Department since the incident in September. Magistrate Mike Griffin sentenced Billiter to six months home confinement for the domestic battery charge, and one year probation for the destruction of property charge. However, should Billiter violate the probation, he will spend 30 days in jail. Special Prosecutor Jason Wharton tells NEWS9, now that Billiter has been convicted of domestic battery; he is prohibited from possessing a firearm. NEWS9 tried to contact the Paden City Mayor’s Office on the matter, but all personnel had left for the Christmas holiday weekend. [LINK]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety west virgina state politics brass]

[WA] Special treatment for Seattle Police Domestic Violence Detective Sgt. Murray who assaulted his girlfriend in public

2011-12-31T00:13:00.000-08:00

Seattle Police Detective Ronald Lee Murray, the Domestic Violence Unit Sgt. who was witnessed by other officers assaulting his girlfriend in public, got a sweet deal:

...“I don’t know the last time, if ever, we’ve done a deferred prosecution on a domestic violence case,” [Judge Nancy] Harmon said...

Previous Post:
[WA] Police say they saw SPD Domestic Violence Unit Sgt. Murray assault girlfriend in public - ...A few of our officers saw Mr. Murray dragging the female victim by the upper part of her jacket and hair through the gravel parking lot," [Chelan County Det. Sgt. Jerry Moore] told seattlepi.com. "Numerous witnesses as well as officers saw the assault take place"... Deputies noted the woman was intoxicated but did not indicate whether Murray was believed to be intoxicated. The arresting deputy noted that Murray said he knew he was wrong and had no excuse for his behavior... Police sources say the victim in this case also works for the department... "She was literally being dragged"...

The message to other abusive officers: Relax.

COP'S DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CASE DEFERRED FOR TREATMENT
Wenatchee World
By Jefferson Robbins
Friday, December 30, 2011
[Excerpts] The Seattle police detective charged with domestic violence after a Leavenworth Oktoberfest scuffle will avoid prosecution if he carries out a program of alcoholism treatment and probation. Ronald Lee Murray, 55, admitted to a history of alcoholism Thursday in Chelan County District Court, telling Judge Nancy Harmon he would undergo two years of treatment followed by three years of court supervision. State law allows such deferred prosecution in some cases involving alcoholism, drug dependency or mental illness. Eligible defendants must meet court-ordered conditions to qualify for dismissal of charges.... “I don’t know the last time, if ever, we’ve done a deferred prosecution on a domestic violence case,” Harmon said... Murray, at the time a detective sergeant with the Seattle Police Department’s Domestic Violence Unit, was arrested Oct. 15 after Chelan County sheriff’s deputies saw him dragging his girlfriend by her hair and coat across a gravel parking lot near the Oktoberfest venue... Deputies said Murray’s victim, identified as his 44-year-old live-in girlfriend, pleaded with them to release Murray and refused to give a statement about the incident... SPD spokesman Det. Jeff Kappel said now that Murray’s criminal case is closed, the department’s Office of Professional Accountability will begin an internal investigation. Murray was transferred out of the domestic violence unit after his arrest, although he remains on duty with the Seattle police. His girlfriend was also a Seattle police administrative employee at the time of the arrest... [Full article here]

In Chelan County Courts it appears that there is no higher standard for an officer of the law who has knowingly been concealing his alcoholism while being entrusted with a department issued firearm weapon and exercising his sworn powers of arrest over others who break the same law(s). There is no higher nature of offense or hypocrisy noted for a domestic violence unit sergeant assaulting his girlfriend in a publicly flagrant manner.

Teflon. No stick.

Deferred prosecution means if he fulfills the requirements being put on him, the charge for "4th degree assault" will likely be dismissed. It appears he admitted to alcoholism, but not to domestic violence. Slick. Admitting what you've done is a part of the requirements to be allowed to defer - so he was allowed to admit to something other than what he was there for. I don't see any indication that he has to enter domestic violence treatment of any kind. There's no indication in his sweet deal that dragging a woman across the rocks by her hair was a bad thing to do.

Smoke and mirrors.

Murray should at least resign.

AFTER THE INVESTIGATION INTO TACOMA WASHINGTON POLICE CHIEF DAVID BRAME COMMITTING MURDER-SUICIDE ON HIS WIFE CRYSTAL, OUR THEN ATTORNEY GENERAL, AND NOW GOVERNOR, CHRISTINE GREGOIRE SAID:
..."We have to get tough. I'm telling law enforcement, 'Either you do something about it or it will be done to you'. We must take a no-nonsense attitude. If there is a confirmed domestic violence incident, this person should not be an officer any more. There are plenty of jobs that don't require you carrying a gun"...
Source: Clean up your act, police told: 'We have to get tough' with abusive cops, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, By Ruth Teichroeb and Julie Davidow, July 25, 2003.
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety teflon preferential treatment cop on cop washington state politics]

[FL] DOC Corrections Officer Tucker attacked his wife on side of the road, witnesses say

2011-12-30T08:13:00.000-08:00

2 Witnesses say they saw Florida Department of Corrections Officer Johnny Tucker attack his screaming wife on the side of the road, sitting on her, pressing his forearm into her neck, snatching her up by her hair. Thanks to the professionalism of the responding Polk County Deputies, despite Tucker and his wife telling them that nothing physical happened, Tucker was arrested and charged with battery domestic violence.

Protect the wife.
Protect the prisoners he has control over.
Protect him from himself.

POLK CITY CORRECTIONS OFFICER CHARGED WITH DOMESTIC BATTERY
baynews9.com
December 28, 2011
[Excerpts] A Florida Department of Corrections officer employed at the Polk City state prison was arrested on domestic battery charges. Johnny Tucker, 28, was taken into custody Monday by Polk County Sheriff's deputies. He posted bond and was released from the Polk County jail Tuesday. According to the sheriff's office, witnesses said they saw a man, later identified as Tucker, assaulting a woman next to a white Jeep Cherokee parked on the roadside. One of the witnesses stopped and approached the couple, but the couple got back into the Jeep and left, deputies said... Tucker was arrested based on the accounts of the witnesses and the statements of Tucker and his wife, the sheriff's office said. He was charged with one count of battery domestic violence... [Full article here]

CORRECTIONS OFFICER CHARGED WITH DOMESTIC BATTERY IN POLK
Tbo.com
By Julio Ochoa
December 28, 2011
[Excerpts] A corrections officer for a state prison in Polk County was charged Monday with assaulting a woman after a witness saw the couple fighting on the side of a road, deputies said. Johnny Tucker, 28, a Florida Department of Corrections officer who works at the Polk Correctional Institute, was charged with battery domestic violence... A man and his wife were driving south on North Combee Road when they saw a woman fall out of the passenger side of a white Jeep Cherokee that was parked on the side of the road... Tucker came out of the passenger door and fell on top of the victim, deputies said. The witnesses pulled over and saw Tucker sit on top of the woman with his forearm on her neck... When the witness got out of his vehicle and confronted Tucker, he grabbed the victim by her hair and pushed her into the Jeep... The tag led a deputy to Tucker's home, where he confronted Tucker and the victim, who both said they had an argument but it was not physical, the affidavit said. The deputy got sworn statements from the witnesses and returned to Tucker's home and arrested him... [Full article here]

POLK DEPUTIES ARREST STATE CORRECTIONS OFFICER, CHARGED WITH ASSAULTING WIFE
The Ledger
By Chase Purdy
December 28, 2011
[Excerpts] Polk County deputies Monday arrested a state correctional officer on a charge he assaulted his wife during a roadside argument. An arrest affidavit states that Johnny Tucker, 28, of Lakeland, had pulled his white Jeep Cherokee to the side of Combee Road, and assaulted his screaming wife on the pavement... Two witnesses notified the Sheriff's Office upon driving up and watching as the dispute occurred, Deputy Stephen Harris wrote in the affidavit... The pair told authorities [they] saw Tucker push his forearm against the woman's neck. When one of the witnesses approached the quarreling couple,... When approached by a deputy at his house, Tucker denied assaulting his wife, authorities said. But when the pair was asked to fill out written statements, authorities found enough probable cause to make an arrest... This report will be updated. [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal choking strangulatin florida state politics]

[MA] Guilty plea of State Police Cpt. McCarthy rejected in anticipation of more charges

2011-12-30T05:34:00.000-08:00

Massachusetts State Police Cpt. Thomas McCarthy

...On Nov. 18, Saugus police responded to a woman’s home for an alarm sounding and reports of an argument. Police arrived to find the woman standing in the garage and McCarthy, in an unmarked Ford Crown Victoria police cruiser, driving away...

PREVIOUS POST:
[MA] Lawbreaking State Police Cpt. McCarthy gets to call the shots. - Massachusetts State Police /Trooper Cpt. Thomas "Tom" McCarthy - the evening shift commander for Troop C based in Holden - is charged only with failing to stop and failing to stay right of center. Amazing, but not surprising... The officer smells liquor, sees two unopened cans of beer, an empty can in the backseat, as well as McCarthy's service weapon - but can't get McCarthy to agree to turn off and step out of the vehicle.

TROOPER ACCUSED IN CHASE IN COURT: Officer reported smelling alcohol on his breath
FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com
Updated: Thursday, 29 Dec 2011
Published : Wednesday, 28 Dec 2011
[Excerpts] A Massachusetts State Police captain who was arrested in November after allegedly leading local police on a chase appeared in court on Wednesday. Thomas McCarthy, 47, faces charges of failure to stop and a marked lane violation on Nov. 19. His attorney entered a guilty plea for those charges. The judge would not accept the plea because more charges could be filed against McCarthy... The veteran state police captain has been suspended without pay... Saugus police say they were called for complaints about an argument at McCarthy's girlfriend's home and saw him driving away in an unmarked cruiser... The officer reported smelling alcohol on his breath and saw opened and unopened beers in McCarthy's car. But the state police captain took off again down Route 1 and was eventually arrested... Another hearing is set for Jan. 19. [Full article here]

STATE POLICE CAPTAIN COULD FACE OUI CHARGES AFTER NOVEMBER ARREST
cbslocal.com
December 28, 2011
[Excerpts] Massachusetts State Police Captain Thomas McCarthy expected plead guilty to some minor motor vehicle charges on Wednesday, but instead he may face more serious charges in the future... According to court documents, McCarthy was spotted committing a marked lanes violation a short time later. An officer pulled McCarthy over and allegedly smelled alcohol on his breath. Instead of getting out of the car, McCarthy allegedly sped away. Several Saugus police officers chased him down Route 1... McCarthy was originally supposed to face a judge last month, but he never showed up in court. His attorney said McCarthy was at a treatment center in Florida. [Full article here]

JUDGE REJECTS GUILTY PLEA FROM STATE POLICE CAPTAIN FOR DRIVING VIOLATIONS; MORE CHARGES MAY BE FILED
Boston Globe
By Brian R. Ballou
12/28/2011 3:25 PM
[Excerpts] The arraignment of a Massachusetts State Police captain [Thomas McCarthy] cited last month for traffic offenses was postponed this morning at the request of prosecutors who are seeking additional charges against him, including operating under the influence of alcohol... Essex Assistant District Attorney Susan Dolhun told Judge Albert Conlon that additional charges may be filed after a clerk’s hearing on Jan. 19... [His lawyer Daniel] O’Malley had tendered a guilty plea, but Conlon didn’t accept it, and instead continued the case until the hearing. Failure to stop is a criminal offense, punishable by a $100 fine. The marked lanes violation is a civil offense that also carries a maximum $100 fine. McCarthy works out of Troop C in Central Massachusetts and serves as an evening shift commander. State police captains earn about $110,000 per year, plus overtime. On Nov. 18, Saugus police responded to a woman’s home for an alarm sounding and reports of an argument. Police arrived to find the woman standing in the garage and McCarthy, in an unmarked Ford Crown Victoria police cruiser, driving away... [Full article here]
[Tom police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety professionalism accountability massachusetts state politics trooper]

[CA] 1948. Temple City Sheriff's Deputy Eggers was executed for the murder of his wife Dorothy

2011-12-27T11:32:00.000-08:00

Deputy Arthur Eggers changed his story enough that nothing he says or tells us about Dorothy Rosmond Eggers is worth believing. I've tried to find anything personal about Dorothy written by others. I wasn't successful.

EGGERS ADMITS HE SLEW WIFE: Coast Sheriff's Deputy
The Milwaukee Journal
Jan 27, 1946
[Excerpts]
Los Angeles. Calif. - Arthur Eggers. 52. has signed a confession admitting the slaying of his wife. Dorothy. 42... The woman's nude, headless and handless body was found near a mountain highway East Jan. 2... Sheriff Eugene Biscailuz, accompanied by several deputies and [Capt. Gordon] Bowers, left Saturday night with Eggers to renew a search for the missing parts of the body... Eggers, a sheriff's deputy in near-by Temple City for 22 years, was arrested last Tuesday. A charge of suspicion of murder was then filed against him, but he had steadfastly denied any knowledge of the woman's death. He reported his wife missing Jan. 2„ the day her torso was found in a ravine near the Rim of the World highway, east of San Bernardino.

CALIFORNIAN DEPUTY SHERIFF IS HELD IN MUTILATION SLAYING OF HIS WIFE, The Niagara Falls Gazette, Wednesday, January 23, 1946, Page 22

(More at above link)

PEOPLE V. EGGERS , 30 CAL.2D 676
Oct. 3, 1947.
OPINION
[Excerpts] Arthur R. Eggers has been convicted of the crime of murder of the first degree and sentenced to death. The proceedings to be reviewed include not only the trial upon the merits, but also the hearing in regard to the issue presented by his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity and the motion for a new trial... the jury found that Eggers was sane at the time of the commission of the crime. The judgment is challenged upon four grounds... The judgment and the order denying a new trial are affirmed... [Full article here]

OCT 15, 1948: A MURDEROUS HUSBAND IS EXECUTED
HISTORY.COM
Arthur Eggers, who was convicted of killing his wife, Dorothy, because of her alleged promiscuity, is executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin Prison. He probably would have gotten away with the crime had the investigators not received a few lucky breaks...

DOROTHY ROSMOND EGGERS
Los Angeles County, California Death Certificate Transcription
Dorothy Rosmond Eggers d. 1/1/1946
Female Cauc. b. 3/23/1903 ND
Age: 42 yrs 9mos 9dys
Residence/Deathplace: 202 N Rosemead Blvd, Temple City, Los Angeles County, California
SS# unknown
Lived in community 10 years and state 23 years
Occupation: Housewife
Married Spouse: Arthur Eggers, 52 years of age
Father. Percy David Lee, England
Mother. Mary Couch, Buffalo, NY
Burial: 8/5/1946 Valhalla Cemetery
Funeral Director: Mater & Simone, 2814 N Broadway, Los Angeles
Cause: Gunshot wound of the heart
Other condition: Post-mortem desmemberment of body
Coroner Investigation
Homicide 1/1/1946 Temple City, Los Angeles County, CA; @ home as above

ARTHUR AND DOROTHY EGGERS
in
The Casebook of Forensic Detection

By Colin Evans

THE SEXUAL CRIMINAL: A PSYCHOANALYTICAL STUDY
[First published in 1949 as a criminology/sexology textbook for law enforcement personnel]
[Excerpts] ...Two of Arthur Eggers’ friends – Robert Z. Jones, a retired deputy sheriff, and John C. Rotchford, his attorney – visited Eggers in jail on the morning of January 26. Jones told Eggers during their visit, “Art, I believe you are guilty. I believe you will have a better chance if you confess. Get it off your chest and lay it on the line.” Eggers waited a beat and then replied, “All right, I did it.” Deputy D.A. Barnes and Captain Gordon Bowers, chief of the sheriff’s bureau of investigation, were immediately brought in to take down Eggers’ confession, in which he said: "I killed her at 1 a.m. December 30. I was coming home from work and..." The next day Eggers changed his story again and stated: "It all happened on Friday, December 28, about 9 o’clock at night. Dorothy told me she was going to leave me for a man named Bob..." His new story wasn’t believed either... The Evening Herald and Express published an article by de River on February 12 in which the “noted psychiatrist and Los Angeles Police Department alienist” applied the technique of “depth psychology” to analyze the face of Eggers... Eggers’ murder trial began on May 5, 1946. He entered a double plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity, and a jury of ten women... Eggers took the witness stand on May 21 and offered yet another story of his wife’s murder... Eggers resigned from his job in a letter to Sheriff Biscailuz on May 29, and the jury found him guilty of first-degree murder on May 30. A trial to judge Eggers’ sanity started shortly afterward with a new jury of eleven women and one man... It was also reported by the newspaper that Eggers’ sister testified during the sanity hearing about “how their father, Frederick Eggers, former Sheriff of San Francisco County, had hallucinations that the late Gov. Friend Richardson was about to appoint him Warden of San Quentin Prison. Eggers leaped to his feet and shouted, ‘Let his spirit rest...The witness then told how Arthur had suffered several bad falls as a child, one of them leaving him unconscious for seven or eight hours.” The new jury found Eggers sane on June 28. On July 10, 1946, Eggers was sentenced to die in San Quentin’s gas chamber. Eggers told reporters as he was being led away from the courtroom, “Someday, somewhere, she’ll show up and make fools of all the prosecutors. She’s probably waiting to hear what happens to me and is probably laughing at my predicament.” After his appeals and a rejected appeal for clemency by Governor Earl Warren, Eggers received a stay of execution on February 5, 1948, less than one hour before his planned execution.... After a new series of stays, reprieves and sanity hearings, Eggers was executed on October 15, 1948...

A WARDEN ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
MANAS
Volume XV, No. 41
October 10,1962
[Excerpts] ...Most of the condemned individuals were known to [former warden of San Quentin prison, Clinton] Duffy — known, as we discover from the tone of his text, without negative bias and without maudlin sympathy. Particularly effective are the author's arguments that "the deterrent theory" of the threat of death for capital crime does not work. A good example is Duffy's account of one Arthur Eggers, who killed his wife while serving as a deputy sheriff. Eggers had seen several men condemned to death. After Duffy had gotten to know Eggers well, he asked him the crucial question. The conversation began:
"Arthur," I said, "what in the world ever made you think you could get away with this? You must have known that anyone who commits murder, even a cop, might end up here."
"I didn't think about it until after it was all over," he said.
"Why didn't the possibility of the gas chamber stop you from grabbing the gun in the first place?" I asked.
"That wouldn't stop anyone if he was mad enough," Eggers said. "And I blew my top completely. I caught my wife cheating, and I was going to kill her so she could never cheat again. I didn't have another thought."
"Including the gas chamber?"
"The gas chamber!" Eggers spat the words contemptuously as he looked through the bars of his cell. Then he said, "Why hell, warden, the gas chamber does only one thing—it kills people. But I'll bet it never prevented a murder. I used to believe in capital punishment because I figured if a guy killed a cop, for example, he ought to be executed to keep other guys from killing cops. But it doesn't work that way. Gas chamber or no gas chamber, guys will always be killing cops. People will always he killing people. You can't control anger, or passion, or greed, or jealousy, or fright, and that's what causes most murders. Only crackpots and the state kill in cold blood. Everybody else has a reason."
"Are you sorry you killed your wife?" I asked.
"Sure I'm sorry," he said, "I loved her."
"Would you kill her again under the same circumstances, even if you knew you'd go to the gas chamber for it?"
Eggers looked earnestly at me.
"Warden," he said, "the gas chamber would have nothing to do with it"...
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder california state politics]

[OH] Lorain Officer Lachner accused of hitting web editor for The Chronicle-Telegram in the head multiple times

2011-12-26T17:06:00.000-08:00

The incident report on Lorain police officer William "Bill" Lachner's domestic violence arrest was not publicly available as is the practice, and Lachner was released from jail without seeing a judge - also not the way things are done. The Chronicle-Telegram’s web editor, Rona Proudfoot, called from her locked bathroom for help. She said he had assaulted her, punching her multiple times in the head. She did not sign an arrest affadavit against him and he would not fill out a written statement. The responding police sgt. did sign the arrest warrant. Lachner has been put on desk duty, disarmed, and due to a temporary restraining order, not supposed to go near his web editor girlfriend, Rona Proudfoot.

Updates:

12/28/2011 - At Proudfoot’s request, Judge Mark Mihok lifted a temporary protection order against Lachner. Proudfoot said she was not in fear of him...
12/29/2011 - Mihok said he was lifting the order based on Proudfoot’s request to do so and because Lachner was reportedly seeking counseling...

LORAIN POLICE OFFICER CHARGED WITH DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
chronicle.northcoastnow.com
Filed by Evan Goodenow
December 24th, 2011
[Excerpts] ...Police reports are usually left out at the police department for the public for 48 hours after they are released, but the report was not available until it was requested. However, Police Chief Cel Rivera said Saturday there was no attempt to conceal the incident and the department takes domestic violence charges against officers seriously. “These guys are human beings. They have the same frailties as everybody else... There’s consequences to that, and that’s something he’s going to have to deal with if it’s true.” Rivera said Lachner is innocent until proven guilty and has no history of violence, but the department will conduct an internal investigation of Lachner in addition to the criminal investigation... [Full article here]

LORAIN POLICE OFFICER ARRESTED FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
The Morning Journal
Saturday, December 24, 2011
[Excerpts] Lorain Police Officer William Lachner, 44, was arrested for domestic violence early Friday after his girlfriend reported that he had assaulted her during an argument. Lachner allegedly struck 32-year-old Rona Proudfoot of Lorain in the head multiple times, according to the police report. Proudfoot had no visible injuries, police noted. She told police she was not hurt, and she declined to press charges, stating that she just wanted Lachner gone for the night... However, charges were filed on her behalf by police... Proudfoot stated that Lachner shoved her around the house “and struck her several times in her head with his fist”... While officers were conducting their interview with Proudfoot, Lachner called her phone and spoke to Sgt. Kenneth Zapolski. He agreed to meet police at the station. Lachner told police the argument was strictly verbal and he left the scene so it would not escalate. In the police report, Sgt. Michael Hendershot states, “William advised me that he did not push or assault Proudfoot and that there was no physical violence between the two of them.” Lachner declined to fill out a written statement... Officers arrested Lachner at the police station and took him to the city jail. He was released several hours later on $2,500 bond. Proudfoot works as the Web Editor for The Chronicle-Telegram in Elyria. [Full article here]

UPDATE:
POLICE OFFICER PLEADS INNOCENT TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Morning Journal
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
[Excerpts] Lorain police officer William Lachner pleaded innocent to a domestic violence charge during his arraignment yesterday in Lorain Municipal Court... Lorain attorney Michael J. Kinlin entered the plea on Lachner’s behalf. Lachner and [Rona] Proudfoot appeared in court during the arraignment. At Proudfoot’s request, Judge Mark Mihok lifted a temporary protection order against Lachner. Proudfoot said she was not in fear of him... Proudfoot, an editor at the Chronicle Telegram, told police Lachner shoved her around the house and struck her several times in the head. She called police shortly around 2 a.m. after locking herself in the bathroom, according to the report. Lachner told police he did not push or assault her, and there was no physical evidence of violence between them... Lachner’s pretrial is scheduled for Feb. 1 at 10:30 a.m... [Full article here]

UPDATE:

PROTECTION ORDER LIFTED AGAINST LORAIN COP

Chronicle-Telegram

by Steve Fogarty

December 29th, 2011

[Excerpts] A temporary protection order was lifted Wednesday against a Lorain police officer accused of assaulting his girlfriend last week. Lorain Municipal Court Judge Mark Mihok agreed to lift the protection order after the alleged victim, Chronicle-Telegram Web Editor Rona Proudfoot, told the judge during a hearing Wednesday that she was no longer afraid of William Lachner... Mihok said he was lifting the order based on Proudfoot’s request to do so and because Lachner was reportedly seeking counseling... Lachner has denied attacking the 32-year-old Proudfoot, who told police he assaulted her inside her vehicle after becoming angry... The argument continued at Proudfoot’s home, where Lachner is accused of punching her several times in the head... Proudfoot also told police there had been previous incidents involving Lachner. Lorain Police Chief Cel Rivera has said the department is conducting its own investigation into Lachner... [Full article here]

[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder state politics]

[AZ] Amanda Blaies Rinaldi died as she feared she might.

2011-12-25T17:06:00.000-08:00

Amanda Blaies Rinaldi

Amanda's husband, Department of Corrections Officer Anthony Philip Rinaldi, is charged with 1st degree murder.

Amanda's best friend:
..."She was scared of him, but she wanted it to work, like any mother would, for her family... She said 'If anything happens to me, I want you to know who did it'"...

Amanda's sister:
"My mom has told her so many times to get away... She kept on saying 'I love him'... He kept on yelling at her, cussing at her"...

Amanda's mom:
"She was a wonderful mother, a wonderful person. She's loved and liked by everyone, very smart, but very stupid when it came to this person. She always went for the underdog, she thought she could fix him... I tried my best to explain she's abused, she thought he would never do it, but she said, if something happens to me, look for him. She said that to numerous friends. She made a will. This is a sick situation. She was worried he may do something like this"...

Blaiesing Heart for Amanda Blaies
A fund set up by Amanda's friend to to help Amanda's mother care for the two young children:
Blaiesing Heart for Amanda Blaies
c/o Florida Community Bank
2400 N. Tamiami Trail #100

HEARING SET FOR MAN CHARGED WITH KILLING FORMER COLLIER COUNTY RESIDENT IN ARIZONA
news-press.com
Denes Husty III
Dec. 22, 2011
[Excerpts] A Dec. 27 preliminary court hearing is scheduled in Phoenix for a man accused of killing a former Collier County resident in Arizona. Anthony Rinaldi, 26, was charged Dec. 13 with second-degree murder in the shooting death of his wife, Amanda Blaies-Rinaldi, in her Phoenix-area home... Rinaldi is accused of following her to Arizona and then shooting her. On Tuesday, a grand jury indicted Rinaldi on a first-degree murder charge, according to Maricopa County court records. [Full article here]

FORMER NAPLES MAN ACCUSED OF KILLING WIFE IN ARIZONA FACES FIRST-DEGREE MURDER CHARGE
Naples Daily News
December 20, 2011
[Excerpts] A former Naples man accused of killing his wife in Phoenix is now charged with first-degree murder after his stepson's testimony bolstered the case. Anthony Rinaldi, 26, of Phoenix, who was arrested on a second-degree murder charge Dec. 13, faces life in prison if convicted of the first-degree murder charge involving Amanda Blaies-Rinaldi, 28. Blaies-Rinaldi attended Barron Collier High School and worked for years at Tommy Bahamas in Naples and Roy's Hawaian Fusion restaurant in Bayfront. Rinaldi, a Marine who said he "snapped" due to post-traumatic stress disorder, remains jailed and also faces a disorderly conduct charge. The couple met 2½ years ago in Naples. Blaies obtained a restraining order against him last year... "Aidan's testimony changed it," said Tori Anderson, Blaies' best friend and godmother to Blaies' 7-year-old son... [Full article here]

EARLIER:

File: 2010 Protection order application [PDF]

POLICE: CHILDREN HEAR FATAL SHOOTING OF MOTHER
KPHO
By Phil Benson, Elizabeth Erwin, Steve Stout
Posted: Dec 13, 2011 7:51 PM PST
Updated: Dec 14, 2011 10:50 AM PST
[Excerpts] The man who police say confessed to shooting his wife while one of his children was on the phone to a 911 operator Tuesday night is a detention officer for the state Department of Corrections. Police said 26-year-old Anthony Philip Rinaldi was booked into jail on a charge of second-degree murder in the shooting death of his wife, 28-year-old Amanda Blaies-Rinaldi. Rinaldi had worked at the Lewisville facility... [Full article here]

LOVED ONES REMEMBER BARRON COLLIER GRAD MURDERED IN ARIZONA
WINK News
Dec 14, 2011
[Excerpts] WINK News is learning a brutal homicide in Arizona has a direct connection to Collier County. A 28-year-old Naples woman is allegedly murdered by her husband while while her two sons are in the next room on the phone with 911. It happened just outside of Phoenix Arizona. The mother, Amanda Blaies Rinaldi grew up in Naples and graduated from Barron Collier High School. Her husband, Anthony Rinaldi, is a corrections officer, now behind bars after confessing to killing his wife Amanda. Police say when they arrived, they found the two boys, ages two and seven with the body of their mother. The oldest son had called 911 and told operators his parents were fighting... Police say after the shooting, Rinaldi left the house and drove until he saw an officer doing a traffic stop. That's when he pulled over, got out of the car, and told the officer he had just shot his wife... Friends and family tell WINK News Amanda and Anthony had a strained relationship with a history of violence. "It's not right, it's not fair," says Tori Anderson, Amanda's best friend and the Godmother to her oldest son. Anderson describes her friend as a good spirited, family oriented person. "Someone just ripped this wonderful person from our lives and right now I just don't know how to get through it because I need answers. I need to know why"... Amanda's mother, Pamela Blaies, spoke to WINK News on the phone from Phoenix. She says their relationship was abusive from the beginning. "She was a wonderful mother, a wonderful person. She's loved and liked by everyone, very smart, but very stupid when it came to this person. She always went for the underdog, she thought she could fix him... I tried my best to explain she's abused, she thought he would never do it, but she said, if something happens to me, look for him. She said that to numerous friends. She made a will. This is a sick situation. She was worried he may do something like this"... [Full article here]

POLICE: CORRECTIONS OFFICER 'SNAPPED' BEFORE SHOOTING WIFE
KPHO
By Elizabeth Erwin
Posted: Dec 15, 2011
[Excerpts] A former soldier says he "snapped" and his military training kicked in before he shot his wife to death in Ahwatukee Tuesday night, according to Phoenix police. The death of Amanda Blaies Rinaldi also left two children without their mother, and her husband behind bars. Anthony Rinaldi worked as a detention officer at the Perryville prison.... "We're devastated. Devastated," said Pamela Blaies, Amanda's mother. Pamela Blaies is having to adjust to hearing the news her daughter had been murdered... Pamela Blaies says her daughter's husband has a violent history. "He's been violent ever since she's known him," Pamela said, adding that he had military training. "He was a sniper. He knew exactly how to fire a gun," she said... Court documents suggest PTSD might have played a part in Tuesday night's shooting. But Pamela Blaies disagreed. "He had issues from his childhood," she said. Pamela Blaies said Rinaldi has always been an angry person. Amanda's two children are with their grandmother. She says they're coping pretty well, and that the 7-year-old said he'll see his mom soon - in heaven. [Full article here]

NAPLES WOMAN KILLED IN ARIZONA TRIED TO FLEE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, FAMILY SAYS
Naples Daily News
By Victoria Macchi, Aisling Swift
Posted December 15, 2011 at 10:23 p.m.
Amanda Blaies-Rinaldi's family desperately tried to get her away from her abusive husband. They encouraged the 28-year-old woman to move from Naples to Arizona, where they lived, to put distance between the couple. "My mom has told her so many times to get away," said her sister Lea Miller, 35. "She kept on saying 'I love him.'... He kept on yelling at her, cussing at her," Miller said. Collier County court records show that in May 2010, Blaies-Rinaldi filed a petition against her "soon-to-be ex-husband" and obtained a temporary order of protection for her and her sons. But it was dismissed when she didn't show up for a hearing... Blaies-Rinaldi's mother said they begged her to leave. She tried to break free. She went to Arizona with her sons, obtained her child care license and ran a day care at home. But Anthony Rinaldi followed. "She was scared of him, but she wanted it to work, like any mother would, for her family," said Tori Anderson, a Naples hairdresser, Blaies-Rinaldi's best friend and godmother to her oldest son. "She said 'If anything happens to me, I want you to know who did it.' She was so strong" Anderson said of Blais-Rinaldi, who worked at Tommy Bahamas and Roy's Restaurant. "She fought and fought for her life and she overcame cancer. This man just took it away.”... The arrest report said Anthony Rinaldi had control issues, a history of domestic violence and violence against children or animals. It lists "possible mental issues, including military PTSD"... Pamela Blaies said that conflicts with the history of domestic violence her daughter suffered. "This is the final thing he did," Pamela Blaies said. "He did it to take her away (because) he hated us all." Pamela Blaies now has custody of the children... [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder jailer guard arizona state politics]

[FL] Resigned Cocoa Deputy Chief Jones' domestic charge ends in mistrial after 1 juror switches vote to not guilty

2011-12-24T17:14:00.000-08:00

Cocoa FL Deputy Chief Bobby Jones (left)

resigned during investigation into a

domestic battery charge against him.

The case of a former deputy police chief who was accused of beating his girlfriend ended Thursday in a mistrial... Prosecutors will weigh whether to retry former Cocoa Deputy Police Chief Bobby Jones for battery after a guilty verdict read in court Thursday was thrown out when a lone juror changed her mind... The defense tried to blame the victim's bruises on her job as a waitress... A homeless man who was working for a nearby thrift shop saw the fight and tried to intervene. "He grabbed her really hard by the hair, nape of her neck like a caveman, drug her down to the thing, dragging her on the asphalt to the car and stuffing her in the car like a bag of potatoes"... The investigation, which included one witness besides the victim, eventually prompted the deputy chief to resign...

PREVIOUS POSTS:
[FL] NOT ARRESTED FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: Cocoa Deputy Police Chief Bobby Jones - The witness who tried to help Jones' girlfriend as she was being assaulted says his life was threatened... "You need to stand back or I'll kill you. I'll 'f' you up"... The father of the assaulted woman says she has tried to get a protection order. Jones has a wife and kids. Nobody's safe. And despite photographs and a witness, this deputy chief was not arrested.
[FL] Legal trickery? Still no charges, no arrest for alleged public domestic attack by Deputy Chief Bobby Jones - A judge has granted the alleged victim in a dating violence investigation involving Cocoa Deputy Police Chief Bobby Jones a restraining order...
[FL] Assistant Police Chief Bobby Jones resigns after charged with assaulting then-girlfriend - Cocoa Assistant Police Chief Bobby Jones resigned on March 9th, 2011 and will probably avoid a completed investigation report by doing so. Now if he can get the charges dropped, on paper it will be as if it never happened and he will be fully employable again without accountability for any committed crime(s). Poof!

JURY HEARS TESTIMONY IN TRIAL OF EX-COCOA DEPUTY POLICE CHIEF
Florida Today
Dec. 21, 2011
[Excerpts] A jury began hearing testimony today from a woman accusing Cocoa's former deputy police chief of punching and pushing her during a domestic confrontation last year... She described getting out of the car and crossing the street when Jones ran toward her. "He threw me over his shoulder and put me in the front seat...he punched me in the chest, he punched me again in the throat," she told jurors, stopping for a brief moment to compose herself. Jones then left the scene shortly after police arrived. A man spotted the incident and yelled at Jones to stop, the woman testified. Jones, who quit his post earlier this year as second-in-command of the Cocoa Police Department, was charged after the State Attorney's Office issued a summons. Jones was named deputy chief in 2009. The trial began Dec. 19 in County Judge A. B. Majeed's courtroom at the Moore Justice Center in Viera... [Full article here]

VICTIM TESTIFIES IN DEPUTY POLICE CHIEF BATTERY TRIAL
WFTV
Dec. 21, 2011
[Excerpts] Prosecutors say former Cocoa Deputy Police Chief Bobby Jones became jealous after he thought his girlfriend was sleeping with his brother. Jones is facing battery charges for the alleged attack last December. Friday, the defense tried to blame the victim's bruises on her job as a waitress. Prosecutors showed jurors pictures of bruising on her arms where she said she was grabbed, and on her chest where she said she was punched. But the defense insinuated she would have much more bruising if she was actually punched... [Bobby Jones' former girlfriend C.A.] said the first sign of trouble came when they were leaving an after-hours club and she expressed concern they couldn't find his brother. "He started making comments and accusing me of wanting to sleep with his brother," said [C.A.]. [C.A.] said after he drove her back to her car the dispute turned violent and he punched her in the chest and throat... But Jones' defense attorney questioned how many beers she had that night and whether she remembered everything accurately. “Isn't it true that what you were arguing about is that you wanted to drive home and he didn't want you driving because you had been drinking?” the defense attorney asked. “That is not true," said [C.A.]. A homeless man who was working for a nearby thrift shop saw the fight and tried to intervene. "He grabbed her really hard by the hair, nape of her neck like a caveman, drug her down to the thing, dragging her on the asphalt to the car and stuffing her in the car like a bag of potatoes," the homeless man testified. Jones' defense attorney also challenged the homeless man’s credibility... [Full article here]

EX-COCOA DEPUTY POLICE CHIEF DRAGGED, PUNCHED ME, WOMAN TELLS JURY: Eyewitness testifies of 2010 incident
Florida Today
J.D. Gallop
Dec. 22, 2011
[Excerpts] Bobby Jones, former deputy chief of the Cocoa Police Department, is expected to take the stand in his own defense today to refute claims he dragged and punched his 22-year-old girlfriend during a birthday excursion last year... The trial testimony could make or break the argument from prosecutors that an off-duty Jones, 40, attacked the Indialantic woman in a fit of rage. The investigation, which included one witness besides the victim, eventually prompted the deputy chief to resign... “Bobby became very jealous. … He started making comments, accusing me of wanting to sleep with his brother,” the victim told jurors, her voice at times breaking with emotion. Later, she said, Jones, whom she described as weighing 140 pounds more than her, became angry and forced her into his car. “He was enraged, and he was starting to scare me... He threw me over his shoulder and put me in the front seat. … He punched me in the chest. He punched me again in the throat” ... Defense Attorney Jordan Kramer, who argued that Jones had been concerned the woman was attempting to drive off after drinking, cross-examined her and questioned whether she sought medical attention. “No,” the victim said as jurors, who earlier viewed photos taken that night of red marks on her neck and chest, looked on. The victim, later escorted home by a police officer, admitted she didn’t include several details in the report she wrote in the hours following the incident. “Now, over a year later, you seem to be a having a better recollection over what happened,” Kramer prodded. “I know what happened,” the victim stated... [Full article here]

PROSECUTORS PONDER RETRIAL FOR EX-COCOA DEPUTY POLICE CHIEF
Florida Today
Dec. 23, 2011
[Excerpts] Prosecutors will weigh whether to retry former Cocoa Deputy Police Chief Bobby Jones for battery after a guilty verdict read in court Thursday was thrown out when a lone juror changed her mind. “No,” the woman said twice when asked by County Judge A.B. Majeed if she agreed with the guilty verdict that only minutes before she signed off on with five other jurors. It was an unexpected and dramatic twist that prompted Assistant State Attorney Pat Whitaker to stand, raise his arms in bewilderment and say he had “never had this happen.” Jones was charged with misdemeanor battery after his then-girlfriend, [C.A.], 22, reported being punched and dragged by the off-duty deputy chief outside of a Melbourne pub Dec. 18, 2010... “The verdict is not a unanimous verdict. I cannot pronounce the defendant guilty in this matter ... a mistrial is granted,” Majeed said after the defense motioned for the trial to be dismissed... Whitaker said a decision on whether to file for a second trial would come later... [Full article here]

DEPUTY CHIEF BEATING TRIAL ENDS IN MISTRIAL: Jurors Fail To Agree On Verdict
WESH
December 22, 2011
[Excerpts] The case of a former deputy police chief who was accused of beating his girlfriend ended Thursday in a mistrial. A six-person jury was deliberating the fate of former Deputy Police Chief Bobby Jones. Jones took the stand in his own defense and said he was merely trying to keep her from driving while intoxicated... The alleged victim testified Wednesday that Jones threw her into his car and punched her because he was jealous of the attention she paid to his brother. Another witness also testified Jones dragged his former girlfriend by her hair... [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence (IPV) abuse law enforcement public safety adultery preferential treatment florida state repeat hx word games terroristic teflon brotherhood]

[FL] OCSO Deputy Dunn arrested on a domestic violence charge

2011-12-24T15:17:00.000-08:00

ORANGE CO. DEPUTY FACES DOMESTIC ABUSE CHARGE
WFTV
Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011
[Excerpts] An Orange County deputy sheriff has been relieved from duty after he was arrested on a domestic violence charge, accused of shoving his wife inside their home. Deputy Michael Dunn was released from the Orange County Jail Thursday night... Investigators said Dunn was drinking on Wednesday night when he got into a fight with his wife... According to the arrest report, Dunn's wife got physical first. The report said she pushed Dunn into the garage and shut the door. Dunn said, "Oh that's domestic abuse" and forced his way back through the door... "Michael pushed it open, knocked the door plate and cracked it," the report stated. She said he then "pushed her down with both of his hands on her chest area causing her to fall, and shouted, 'Now that was domestic violence!'" and told her to "go ahead and call 911." The Orange County Sheriff's Office responded to Dunn's home after his wife called 911. They said based on their investigation they determined that there was probable cause to take Dunn into custody and charge him with battery. Dunn lives in the home with his wife, who is a doctor, and their two teenage daughters... The Sheriff's Office said Dunn's credentials and firearms have been confiscated and he has been reassigned to administrative duty. The Orange County Sheriff's Office Professional Standards Section will be conducting an administrative review of the circumstances. [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety cop on doctor alcohol florida state politics]

[NM] Albuquerque police officer who killed dad says he was treated differently than APD officer accused of killing wife

2011-12-24T12:06:00.000-08:00

...[Albuquerque Police Officer] Orlando Camacho sued the city and Police Chief Ray Schultz for back pay and to get his job back with APD... In Camacho’s civil lawsuit - he claims he received far different treatment than that meted out to other officers in trouble, among them Levi Chavez, who is accused of murdering his wife [Tera] and faking [her] suicide...

PREVIOUS POST:
[NM] Ex -Officer Camacho acquitted of murder (Will he get his job back?) - ...A district court jury late Friday acquitted for Albuquerque police officer Orlando Camacho in the shooting death of the man he treated as his father... Police found drug paraphernalia and containers with drug residue on them when they searched Camacho's home... The homicide was investigated as a non-officer-involved shooting, with lower priority (although Camacho was in uniform and used his service weapon)... One of Camacho's girlfriends testified that Camacho had physically assaulted her hours before the shooting of Kirk Carroll, that he had pulled out his taser and threatened her with it, and that Camacho had made a veiled terroristic threat towards her and her young son. "I was really scared for my life and my son's life"... it was soon dismissed by District Court Judge Angela Jewell, who said that it "did not meet the burden of proof that Camacho committed an act of domestic violence."

KIRK DEWAYNE CARROLL
Obituary
Published On: Mon JULY 10, 2006
Kirk Dewayne Carroll was born in Albuquerque, NM on August 27, 1957 to Henry Carroll and Jessie Mae Nealy. He is survived by his son Orlando Camacho-Carroll of Albuquerque, New Mexico; his brother... his four sisters... seven nieces; four nephews; and a host of great-nieces, nephews, and cousins...

EX-COP WINS SUIT AGAINST CITY , SORT OF
kasa.com
Nancy Laflin
Thursday, 22 Dec 2011
[Excerpts] Orlando Camacho sued the city and Police Chief Ray Schultz for back pay and to get his job back with APD. Wednesday, a jury ruled in favor of Camacho but he didn't get everything he was asking for. The jury awarded Camacho $6,000, not for back pay but for violating Camacho's civil rights. Jurors ruled the city and Chief Schultz didn't give him due process. City attorneys say Camacho violated several department policies in 2006 when he shot and killed the man he called his father. Camacho fired his service weapon during an argument at the home the men shared. Camacho wasn't working that night, but was wearing his APD uniform. In 2009 Camacho was acquitted of the murder...Even though APD says they will never rehire Camacho, he says he'll keep on fighting to get his old job. He plans to take the issue to court again. [Full article here]

A COUPLE DAYS EARLIER:

FORMER COP BREAKS DOWN DURING TRIAL
Albuquerque Journal
By Scott Sandlin
Tue, Dec 20, 2011
The emotional toll extracted by the death of ex-Albuquerque Police Department officer Orlando Camacho’s father figure on July 4, 2006, was evident Monday as Camacho testified in a civil trial seeking to reclaim his job and damages for his firing. Camacho broke down as he described his father, angry at Camacho, emerging from a back room at the home they shared, kicking him in the groin and trying to wrest away the service revolver strapped at Camacho’s hip... Camacho’s gun discharged, fatally wounding Carroll in the chest. Camacho, now 31, was terminated by APD some seven months before he was indicted on charges of second-degree murder - charges a jury cleared him of two years ago. In Camacho’s civil lawsuit, which a different jury began hearing Monday before District Judge Nan Nash, he claims he received far different treatment than that meted out to other officers in trouble, among them Levi Chavez, who is accused of murdering his wife and faking a suicide. Camacho knew his father was mad at him because an ex-girlfriend had confronted Carroll to give him details of Camacho’s personal relationships. Camacho said he had put on his APD uniform, although he was not on duty at the time, and returned to the home with the idea that he could defuse the situation, but Carroll rushed him... Deputy City Attorney Kathryn Levy told jurors there was no reason for Camacho to be in uniform, carrying his Glock, badge and a Taser, on a day when he wasn’t working and knew his father would be livid about having been lied to. She said the fact that he was acquitted in the criminal case “is not the issue... Police Chief Ray Schultz made the difficult decision to fire Camacho for conduct unbecoming an officer and other charges that are not related to the Internal Affairs probes launched by Carroll’s complaints... [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder repeat hx teflon new mexico state politics]

[WI] "Ignorance is no excuse," says David Thomas, who helped write the IACP's officer-involved domestic violence policy

2011-12-23T08:10:00.000-08:00

DAVID R. THOMAS

..."Ignorance is no excuse," said David R. Thomas, an instructor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, who helped write a model policy for the international association [of Chiefs of Police - IACP]. "If they're willing to look the other way on this type of criminal activity, where does it stop?"... Friends who work in the criminal justice system also tend to believe abusive officers who label their victims crazy or dishonest, according to Thomas. "He's a master manipulator," Thomas said of an abusive officer. "He's a batterer with a PhD"... Police departments that give abusive officers access to their guns need to be aware of that possibility, according to Thomas, of Johns Hopkins. "People think you go on duty and all of the sudden there's a protective shield around you and you're not going to do anything stupid anymore? It's just ignorant," he said... While officers' attitudes about domestic violence in the community have evolved over time, most police around the country still don't take it seriously when the perpetrator is one of their own, according to experts. Handling such accusations the same as any other criminal allegation against police, as Milwaukee does, isn't good enough, experts say. Because responding officers can be biased, one of the goals of a model policy on officer-involved domestic violence is to remove their discretion, said Thomas, who retired from the Police Department in Montgomery County, Md., in 2000. Following written guidelines step by step protects the victim, the investigator and the alleged perpetrator, he said. "If I'm accused of being involved in this activity and I didn't do it, I want a good, clear exhaustive investigation so I can be exonerated," he said... "We should, in law enforcement, be held to a higher standard because we're supposed to enforce the law. ... Otherwise, it's the fox watching the henhouse"...

Source: Police department ignores national standards for officers accused of domestic violence, Milwaukee Journal SentinelBy Gina Barton

To see Journal Sentinel's
BOTH SIDES OF THE LAW
online project, click here.
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety state politics]

[WI][WA] "What good is the Wisconsin policy when it's not mandated that you use it?"

2011-12-23T07:34:00.000-08:00

To see Journal Sentinel's
BOTH SIDES OF THE LAW
online project, click here.

Lane Judson, father of Crystal Judson Brame - who was murdered by her Tacoma Washington police chief husband:

"A policy without a law to back it up is just a piece of paper. What good is the Wisconsin policy when it's not mandated that you use it?"...

MURDER BY LAW OFFICERS MET WITH ACTION, INERTIA
[Link to article online - includes photos]
The Journal Sentinel
By Gina Barton
Dec. 22, 2011

In 2003, the police chief of Tacoma, Wash., killed his wife, Crystal Judson Brame, and himself in front of their two young children. The community was shellshocked. A task force of some 80 people - including Washington's attorney general and a state Supreme Court justice - came together to lobby for law and policy changes that would protect the spouses and romantic partners of violent police officers.

In 2007, a sheriff's deputy in Forest County, Wis., killed his estranged girlfriend and five others with his department-issued assault rifle. Then he killed himself.

The community was shellshocked. A task force came together.

That's where the similarities end.

While the State of Washington passed an unprecedented law that requires police departments to enact greater safeguards for victims of officer-involved domestic violence, Wisconsin was left with a model policy that police departments are free to ignore.

"Washington is not unique in terms of the disproportionate power that police have in society," said Barbara Madsen, now chief justice of the Washington state Supreme Court, who co-chaired the task force. "If a victim can't go to the police, where can she go?"

The Washington task force identified gaps in the system that prevented Crystal Judson Brame and others like her from getting the help they needed - gaps that still exist in Wisconsin. They include: Inadequate psychological screening for potential police hires; investigations influenced by the perpetrator or his associates; and a lack of support for victims.

At the Milwaukee Police Department, at least 16 officers on the force as of Oct. 1 had been disciplined after internal investigators concluded they had committed acts of domestic violence, according to a Journal Sentinel investigation published earlier this year. In 18 cases, officers' wives or romantic partners have sought restraining orders - although many were not granted.

At the time of Crystal Brame's death, the Tacoma Police Department's policy on officer-involved domestic violence was similar to one used in Milwaukee today. It consisted of a few paragraphs specific to officers who are also perpetrators. Beyond that, domestic violence incidents within police families were to be treated virtually the same as any other case.

Crystal's death helped the department - and the state - realize they needed a special set of rules for domestic abusers who are also officers, said Tacoma police Capt. Tom Strickland.

"If we have a suspect who is an officer, they are much more dangerous than a non-police officer domestic violence suspect," Strickland said. "Officers can be more conniving, use surveillance techniques and all kinds of other things. They know the law and they are armed."

An abusive officer can evade justice in ways that would be impossible for an average citizen, experts say.

Officers know how to pursue people and physically restrain them - in many cases, without leaving a mark. When they use force, they know how to provide legal justification. For example, the abuser might call 911 himself as a way to bolster a later claim of self-defense.

Friends who work in the criminal justice system tend to believe abusive officers who label their victims crazy or downplay their own actions. Abusive cops know the locations of domestic violence shelters. And victim advocates who work in those shelters are reluctant to side against an officer for fear of losing the department's cooperation in other cases.

"The police may be great at catching abusers and batterers who are not police, who are not people in positions of power," said attorney Debra Hannula, who co-chaired the Washington task force. "When it comes to policing their own, you seem to get away with a lot."

Domestic violence is far more common among the families of police officers than among the rest of the population, according to the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Center for Women and Policing. At least 40% of police families are affected by domestic violence, as opposed to an estimated 10% in other households.

David Brame abused his wife without consequences for years, according to Crystal's parents, Lane and Patty Judson. Despite that abuse and other warning signs, he was also allowed to rise through the ranks of the Tacoma Police Department.

Ten years before Brame married Crystal Judson in 1991, he was hired by the department despite a psychologist's findings he was a potential danger to himself, other officers and the community, according to records obtained by Crystal's parents during a civil suit in the wake of her death.

He was evaluated twice more: the second examiner, whom Brame paid for, deemed him suitable for the job; the third recommended against his hiring.

Early in Brame's career, a woman reported him to internal affairs, alleging he had raped her after a date, leaving his gun on the nightstand to threaten her. Despite investigators' belief that Brame had done it and his admission to another officer, the case was closed as not provable and he was not disciplined, according to court records. The case was not referred to prosecutors for potential charges.

Crystal, who had been an outgoing woman with many friends, started to withdraw shortly after the wedding, her parents said. Brame strictly limited her access to money and monitored her movements, they said. She first called 911 in fear of her husband in 1996. During an argument, Brame gathered up his guns and threatened Crystal and their daughter, then 2.

"He told her, 'A bullet in both your heads would take care of both of you,' " Lane Judson said.

The police department in the Washington town where they lived, Gig Harbor, responded. Officers there simply forwarded the information to the neighboring Tacoma police, where Brame was a sergeant, Lane Judson said.

"Nothing came of it," he said.

A few weeks later, Brame was the one to call the Gig Harbor police, claiming that Crystal - a foot shorter and 75 pounds lighter - had attacked him. He backed off when an officer told him he would have to testify in order for the case to go forward, her parents said.

In 1997, Crystal went to see a lawyer about a divorce. In the middle of the meeting, Brame came in and told the lawyer, who had done some work for Tacoma police, that Crystal was crazy. She gave up on the idea of divorce a few weeks later, when she realized she was pregnant with their second child, her parents said.

In 2001, Brame was named police chief.

When Crystal sought help from a domestic violence advocacy group, they told her they couldn't help her because of her husband's position. When she called Tacoma's assistant chief to report that Brame threatened her life, the assistant chief took four pages of notes, then turned them over to Brame, her parents later learned.

"She said, 'You know, Dad, I feel like I'm fighting the whole city of Tacoma,' " her father recalled.

In February 2003, Brame pointed a gun at his wife's head and told her, "Accidents happen," according to her father.

Crystal moved out and filed for divorce.

The last time Patty Judson spoke with her daughter was April 26, 2003. Crystal was on her way back from a parenting class, required by the State of Washington for divorcing couples with children.

She usually didn't drive alone.

Although her mother warned her against it, Crystal stopped at a strip mall to get some cough drops, maybe go tanning. No one knows for sure if Brame showed up in the same parking lot by coincidence or if he had followed her there.

Brame locked his children in the car. Then he pulled his Police Department gun out of his pocket and headed across the parking lot toward his wife.

Eight-year-old Haley told her little brother to be quiet and opened the car door. She had to save her mother, she would later tell her grandmother. She had to call for help.

The car alarm blared.

And then, the shots rang out.

Questioned change

Despite Crystal's death and the systemic problems it revealed, police agencies in Washington questioned the necessity for change, Madsen said. They tried to heap all the blame for Crystal's death on Brame, ignoring the holes in the system that allowed it to happen. They also complained about the cost, both of changing their procedures and of training officers.

It became clear fairly quickly that unless there was a law requiring departments to improve, they probably wouldn't, Madsen said.

"They were not going to do it anyway," she said. "Not with that attitude."

The task force Madsen helped lead successfully lobbied for legislation that requires every police agency in Washington to adopt and enforce a stand-alone policy on officer-involved domestic violence.

At a minimum, each policy must lay out protocols for screening potential police hires for domestic incidents; responding to reports of domestic violence by police officers; sharing information about those reports with other agencies; maintaining independence during the investigations; disciplining officers; controlling officers' access to weapons; and supporting victims.

Departments may adopt the state's model policy or expand on it with their own solutions.

For example, as a way to support victims, the Tacoma Police Department created the position of family violence coordinator. The coordinator's job is to help victims understand what is going on with the investigation and to keep them safe by connecting them with services, said Strickland, who held the position for five years.

"We do care about our families," he said. "We are going to hold our people accountable if they step over the line. We don't want anything else terrible to happen, and we're going to do whatever we can to stop it."

The penalty for failure to enact an acceptable policy under the law is decertification by the state, Madsen said. Within three years of the law's passage, 98.5% of law enforcement agencies had written policies and trained their officers on how to comply.

Washington state Sen. Debbie Regala (D-Tacoma), who championed the legislation, said it prevents authorities from ignoring officer-involved domestic violence.

"Sometimes people see these things going on and pretend they don't know about it because they really don't want to address it," she said. "This (law) sees that it's addressed, and addressed before it escalates to something like the murder of Crystal."

Wisconsin legislation

In Wisconsin - even after the 2007 mass murder in Crandon and an incident around the same time in which a Wausau police officer seriously injured his wife by crashing their car into a concrete bridge - a bill that would have required psychological screening for potential police hires didn't pass.

Some smaller departments complained it was too expensive, according to an aide to state Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay), who co-sponsored the bill.

While the two incidents resulted in the drafting of a statewide policy on officer-involved domestic violence, there was no discussion about passing a law that would require departments to use it, said Patti Seger, executive director of the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Seger said she and the others who helped write the policy hoped departments would adopt it because it was endorsed by the state Department of Justice's Law Enforcement Standards Board.

The 104-page policy contains an educational component that discusses the causes of the problem and its impact on the community. It gives clear, step-by-step instructions for investigations, including lists of who should be called to the scene and what kinds of paperwork should be completed. The policy also addresses how departments should deal with abusive officers.

The Department of Justice convened two training sessions in 2009, shortly after the policy was approved by the standards board, according to spokeswoman Dana Brueck. Participants included 131 people representing 69 law enforcement agencies, including nine from the Milwaukee Police Department. In addition, the state's Office of Justice Assistance has provided training for approximately 200 people.

But no one tracks how many departments have adopted the policy.

"A policy without a law to back it up is just a piece of paper," said Lane Judson. "What good is the Wisconsin policy when it's not mandated that you use it?"

The assistant chief who until recently oversaw officer performance and discipline at the Milwaukee Police Department, Darryl Winston, said in May he had not read the state's model policy.

At a November meeting with Journal Sentinel editors and reporters, Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said the policy was too long and too detailed.

"It has everything from park the car, turn off the car, put the keys in your pocket, you know?" he said.

Instead, when a complaint of domestic violence is lodged against a Milwaukee police officer, investigators follow a 32-page general policy on domestic violence that applies to both civilians and police officers, Flynn said. Four paragraphs apply specifically to officers.

The key difference is that when the perpetrator is a cop, the responding officer is required to notify a supervisor, he said.

"The chain of command has got to get involved," Flynn said. "Everything else that affects that officer involved in domestic violence is the exact same thing that affects every other citizen."

Flynn argued his department meets or exceeds national standards for dealing with abusive officers.

But he said he doesn't have a problem with allowing officers who have committed acts of domestic violence to investigate it - a direct contradiction to the recommendations in the state's model policy.

That includes officers such as Robert Velez, who was arrested for domestic violence battery, battery while armed and misconduct in public office in 2001 after he used his badge to track down his wife, who had gone to a hotel to escape his abuse, according to internal-affairs records.

Velez lied to hotel staff, telling them he was working a drug investigation undercover. When he got to the room, Velez punched his wife in the face and beat the man who was there with her, the records say. Velez ultimately pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery for beating the man. He served a year of probation and spent three days in jail. He was suspended from the department for three days.

Shortly after Velez's history was first reported as part of the newspaper's "Both Sides of the Law" series in October, he contacted a reporter via Facebook to say he and his wife have saved their 24-year marriage and raised two sons, who are now in college. He did not reply to requests for an interview.

Velez is allowed to respond when battered women call for help, records show.

Not allowing him - or the 15 other officers who have been disciplined after internal investigators determined they committed acts of domestic violence - to respond to such calls would be a "slippery slope," said Flynn.

"The fact that they have been accused of domestic violence or had an argument with their wife that the neighbors called (police) on, or what have you, they're still expected to do their jobs and enforce the law," Flynn said. "The same is true of those who have driven through speed traps. That doesn't disqualify them from writing speeding tickets. . . . They are police officers. We expect them to do their duty."

Comparing domestic violence with speeding tells victims the department isn't taking them seriously, said Seger, head of the state's anti-domestic violence coalition.

"We know that domestic violence always has the consequences of intimidating, threatening scaring, hurting and sometimes killing another person," she said. "It is very different."
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder state politics]

[AR] 6'5", 335lb LRPD Police Officer Bracey said to have face-punched wife in front of the kids

2011-12-22T02:36:00.000-08:00

LR POLICE OFFICER CHARGED WITH WIFE'S ASSAULT SURRENDERS
arkansasmatters.com
Reported by: KARK 4 News
Monday, December 12 2011
[Excerpts] A Little Rock Police officer accused of hitting his wife Friday night has surrendered. Officer John Bracey, 47, is charged with assault of a family member... Mrs. Bracey said the couple was arguing about their 14-year-old son going hunting when Mr. Bracey broke her laptop by tossing it into a door and she then threw his laptop onto the floor. Mary Bracey told officers after her husband accused she and their son of being disrespectful, he then grabbed her by the neck, threw her on a couch, held her down and punched her in the eye with a closed fist. The son and the couple's 8-year-old daughter ran outside at that point, according to the incident report, and Bracey let his wife go while he tried to get them back inside before he left the house. Investigating officers tried unsuccessfully to reach Bracey on his cell phone and then removed his police issue gear from the Bracey home before taking his wife downtown for questioning. Officer Bracey has been with the Little Rock Police Department since September 1995... [Full article here]

UPDATE: LRPD OFFICER PLEADS NOT GUILTY AFTER REPORTEDLY PUNCHING WIFE
Fox16
Updated: 12/13 3:41 pm Published: 12/12 4:01 pm
[Excerpts] The Little Rock Police Officer accused of punching his wife in a domestic dispute Friday has plead not guilty. His next court date has been set for February 14, 2012... The police report lists John Bracey as being 6’5” and 335 pounds. Police say that Bracey has been with the department for 16 years. Police say Officer Bracey turned himself in with his attorney on Monday. He has been charged with aggravated assault on a household member... the alleged assault took place in front of their son and 8-year-old daughter... [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety children arkansas state politics]

[MA] Retired Officer Brosnahan killed his wife’s mother and her two brothers, then himself

2011-12-21T23:32:00.000-08:00

...A family member confirmed that the shooter [retired Bedford police officer John “Jack” Brosnahan] killed three members of his wife’s family. He killed his wife’s mother [Mary Pizzuto] and her two brothers [Robert and Patrick Pizzuto]... "This is another horrific example of domestic violence, a familial incident leading to three dead persons in that house"... Police said the murders were a domestic incident and an ongoing dispute led to the killings... Brosnahan was employed by the Bedford Police Department for 28 years and also served as the police prosecutor at Concord District Court. Upon his retirement in January 2000, Brosnahan was assigned to the detective bureau... after he retired he worked as a federal court officer...

MARY A. (FEROLITO) PIZZUTO Obituary and Guestbook
ROBERT J. PIZZUTO Obituary and Guestbook
PATRICK P. PIZZUTO Obituary and Guestbook

FAMILY IN CAMBRIDGE SHOOTING TRAGEDY MOURNED
bostonherald.com
By Natalie Sherman
Thursday, December 15, 2011
[Excerpts] The senseless killings of two brothers gunned down with their elderly mother in Cambridge last week caused even the family priest to doubt his faith, he admitted... Robert Pizzuto, 52, and Patrick Pizzuto, 63, were shot Dec. 9 with Mary Pizzuto, 91, by her son-in-law, former Bedford cop Jack Brosnahan, 67, who then shot himself... “It’s a sad day for everyone involved,” Robert Pizzuto Jr. said at his father’s funeral. “But seeing everyone here today, it’s hard for me to feel sad. It’s hard for me to feel anything but proud. These were two great men.” Robert Jr. recalled his father as an expert storyteller. Patrick had just celebrated his 40th wedding anniversary in November. Daughter Anne Boyle recalled how her father, the retired owner of Waltham Fruit Co., was once kicked out of a grocery store for taking pictures of the produce and how he taught his children to be competitive over board games, never letting them win. “He would tell me never to grow up, and I would laugh, and only now do I know what he meant”... [Full article here]

FAMILY, FRIENDS MOURN BROTHERS KILLED IN CAMBRIDGE TRIPLE MURDER
Wicked Local Cambridge
By Scott Wachtler
Posted Dec 14, 2011
[Excerpts] Hundreds filled the pews of Sacred Heart Church in Watertown to pay their last respects to two brothers who were killed in last week’s triple homicide in Cambridge. Brothers Patrick, 63, and Robert Pizzuto, 52, along with their mother Mary Pizzuto, 91, were shot and killed last Friday by their in-law, retired Bedford police officer John “Jack” Brosnahan, 67, who was later found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in Brighton... The Rev. Joseph Baggetta, a family friend, gave the eulogy for the two brothers, and admitted that when he heard the news he had no idea what he could say that would bring the family together... Baggetta encouraged those in mourning to remember Robert, who lived in Arlington, and Patrick, who lived in Lexington and Hull, and remember the way they lived their lives. The brothers were best known for their Cambridge business, Waltham Fruit Company... [Full article here]

THREE PEOPLE FATALLY SHOT IN CAMBRIDGE: Former Bedford police officer shot 3 relatives and then himself, authorities say
Boston Globe
By Derek J. Anderson, Taylor M. Miles and and Matt Byrne
December 10, 2011
[Excerpts] Three people were shot and killed in a domestic incident in Cambridge yesterday, and the suspect committed suicide hours later, the Middlesex district attorney’s office said. Police were called to 161 Grove St. at approximately 6:40 p.m. and discovered three adults, all related, dead of gunshot wounds in the home in what District Attorney Gerald T. Leone Jr. referred to as a domestic violence case. “The unfortunate reality after they [authorities] arrived was that they found three people dead in the house evidencing obvious gunshot wounds,’’ Leone said. “This is another horrific example of domestic violence, a familial incident leading to three dead persons in that house.’’ Hours later, police found the suspect’s body with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the Charles River near 1400 Soldiers Field Road in Brighton... More than a dozen police vehicles had congregated around the scene by the water’s edge. A white sheet covered the body... At the Grove Street scene last night, a woman arrived at the one-story brick home, which was blocked off with yellow crime tape, and was crying hysterically as she talked to police... [Full article here]

FAMILY GATHERED TO REMEMBER FOUR DEAD IN CAMBRIDGE: Retired Bedford police officer kills three, then himself
wickedlocal.com
By David L. Harris and Auditi Guha
Posted Dec 15, 2011
[Excerpts] ...Brothers Patrick Pizzuto Jr., 63 and Robert Pizzuto Sr., 52 and their mother Mary Pizzuto, 91, were shot and killed by retired Bedford police officer John "Jack" Brosnahan... The Pizzutos murdered were Brosnahan’s brothers-in-law and mother-in law. A source told our news partner WCVB that an argument had broken out while family members were discussing the care of Brosnahan’s mother-in-law... Police spokesman Dan Riviello confirmed that Brosnahan had a valid license to carry, which he recently renewed through the Cambridge Police Department... On Friday night, relatives overcome with grief were seen near the house. Heavily armed police officers were seen outside the one-and-a-half story ranch home as a flood of reporters stood across the street... Brosnahan was employed by the Bedford Police Department for 28 years and also served as the police prosecutor at Concord District Court. Upon his retirement in January 2000, Brosnahan was assigned to the detective bureau... [Full article here]

INVESTIGATION BEGINS IN CAMBRIDGE MURDER, SUICIDE
whdh.com
Posted: 12/10/11
[Excerpts] ...Family members were devastated after hearing about the triple shooting. A family member confirmed that the shooter killed three members of his wife’s family. He killed his wife’s mother and her two brothers. The wife of one of the brothers said that there was an ongoing disagreement among the family members but she said that she never imagined that they were in mortal danger. She said that they knew the shooter had issues that caused him to be volatile but she wouldn’t have thought he would use deadly force. “Everybody in the neighborhood is in shock,” said Vinnie Borelli, a family friend... Those who worked with the retired police officer during his 28 years of service said he was a great man and that the crime was incredibly shocking news. They said Brosnahan was a ‘straight-laced’ patrolman who was friendly and well-liked. Brosnahan acted as a liaison between the police department and the Middlesex County prosecutors and that after he retired he worked as a federal court officer... Police said the murders were a domestic incident and an ongoing dispute led to the killings... [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder familicide triple murder suicide massachusttes state politics]

[AR] Former Fort Smith Officer Nelson who murdered his wife Virginia is denied clemency

2011-12-21T19:34:00.000-08:00

...[Former Fort Smith Police Officer] Bill Nelson was 22 when he shot his wife [Virginia Sue Nelson], 21, with a rifle at a Fort Smith apartment complex in front of family and friends... The witness and Mrs. Nelson left the apartment to meet some friends, and upon returning around midnight, found Nelson crouched beside the fence with a rifle. He ordered them into the house. There, in the presence of seven other persons, appellant raised his gun, cocked it, and shot his wife to death. There was testimony that he remarked, "I came, I did what I intended to do"...

EX-OFFICER WHO KILLED WIFE MISSES ON CLEMENCY PLEA
arkansasnews.com, Associated Press
Posted on 21 December 2011
[Excerpt] The Arkansas Parole Board has recommended against clemency for a former Fort Smith police officer serving life in prison for the slaying of his wife. The board announced its decision Wednesday, saying 61-year-old Bill Nelson II should remain in the Tucker Unit in southeast Arkansas. Nelson was convicted of first-degree murder in 1973 for the slaying of Virginia Sue Nelson... [Full article here]

PAROLE BOARD RECOMMENDS AGAINST CLEMENCY FOR FORT SMITH KILLER
Arkansas News Bureau
By John Lyon
21 December 2011
[Excerpts] The state Parole Board today recommended against clemency for a former Fort Smith police officer convicted of killing his estranged wife 38 years ago. The board recommended that Gov. Mike Beebe deny 61-year-old Bill Nelson II’s request for a commutation of his life sentence. Nelson was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1973 shooting death of Virginia Sue Nelson. Bill Nelson was 22 when he shot his wife, 21, with a rifle at a Fort Smith apartment complex in front of family and friends at a party she was hosting... At Nelson’s trial in Sebastian County Circuit Court, a physician for the defense testified that he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. A psychiatrist from the state hospital disputed that finding, testifying that Nelson was “as capable of controlling his actions as any angry young man.” In 1994, Nelson walked away from a furlough and was on the run for 45 days. While he was at large he contacted the Times Record newspaper in Fort Smith several times to rebut the claim that he was armed and dangerous. “I could be armed, but I don’t want to be,” Nelson told the newspaper at the time... Nelson, an inmate of the state Department of Correction’s Tucker unit in southeastern Arkansas, has made several previous unsuccessful attempts to get his sentence commuted... Nelson told the board that while in prison he has taken anger management classes and has become an experienced farm equipment mechanic. He wrote that he is “not a threat to anyone.” Sebastian County Sheriff Bill Hollenbeck and Sebastian County Prosecutor Daniel Shue opposed Nelson’s request. Shue said in a letter to the board that Nelson is a threat to others and noted that he has been disciplined numerous times in prison for violations such as escape, assault, counterfeiting, destroying state property and being insolent to staff members... [Full article here]

DOCUMENT FROM 1974

NELSON v. STATE
513 S.W.2d 496 (1974)

Bill C. NELSON, II, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Arkansas, Appellee.
No. CR 74-26.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.
September 16, 1974.

Sam Sexton, Jr., by Jim D. Spears, Fort Smith, for appellant.
Jim Guy Tucker, Atty. Gen., by O. H. Hargraves, Deputy Atty. Gen., Little Rock, for appellee.

HARRIS, Chief Justice.

Bill C. Nelson, II was convicted of slaying his wife, Virginia S. Nelson, the jury giving him life imprisonment for first degree murder. From such conviction, appellant brings this appeal. For reversal, six points are asserted, which we proceed to discuss, though not in the order set out by appellant.

It is contended that the court erred in overruling appellant's motion for a directed verdict as to the charge of first degree murder because of insufficiency of the evidence.

We do not agree. The evidence reflected that Nelson was estranged from his wife at the time of the shooting; that on the Thursday before the shooting (which occurred around midnight on Saturday), appellant called Laura Spaulding, a friend of his wife, and asked if his wife had been seeing her first husband, stating, "if he saw them out together he would blow both their heads off"; that on the next day, Nelson went to the apartment of Mrs. Spaulding, his wife being present, and though not getting into the apartment, argued with his wife from the outside, then left, after which Mrs. Nelson called the police. Nelson again returned to the apartment on Saturday afternoon, looking for his wife's ex-husband, went through various rooms, argued with his wife, and Mrs. Spaulding requested him to leave. The witness and Mrs. Nelson left the apartment to meet some friends, and upon returning around midnight, found Nelson crouched beside the fence with a rifle. He ordered them into the house. There, in the presence of seven other persons, appellant raised his gun, cocked it, and shot his wife to death. There was testimony that he remarked, "I came, I did what I intended to do" and left. There was also evidence, which will be more fully discussed in the next paragraph, to the effect that Nelson had taken out an insurance policy on his wife, to which she objected, about two weeks before the shooting. Of course, the evidence was sufficient to sustain the conviction, even without the testimony relating to insurance.

W. H. Weldon, manager of an insurance company, who was Nelson's last employer, testified that appellant had written a policy of life insurance on his wife in the amount of $10,000. Weldon said this was a "joint policy", both Nelson and his wife being the other's beneficiary. The witness said that a sales promotion campaign was in progress, with extra rewards to be given to salesmen who were successful during the campaign. Guy Morrow, a brother-in-law of Mrs. Nelson, testified that he was at the Nelson home when the insurance policy was discussed and that Mrs. Nelson did not seem pleased. He said that he overheard Nelson say "that if she didn't sign the policy, he was going to be very irritated and there would possibly be some family problems." Subsequently, he testified that Nelson "kind of laughed and said, `Well, I just may kill her and collect the money myself.'"

Counsel for appellant argues that this testimony was not relevant in any way "other than upon some wild theory as to a possible motive for murder." Counsel contends that the State's attorney did not offer this evidence in good faith, knowing that the policy was sold during a sales campaign and that all the company salesmen were being encouraged to take out these policies. We do not agree with this statement. While it appears from the record that jealousy was the primary motive for the shooting, the fact remains that there can be more than one motive and the prosecuting attorney was justified in offering this evidence to the jury. After all, it is the function of that body to determine what facts are significant or not significant, and whether the fact under discussion had any bearing on the killing.

Appellant argues that the court erred in permitting jurors to ask questions of the witnesses. This happened about a half dozen times, and the judge was very careful to tell each witness not to answer until he had held the question to be proper. A detailed discussion of this point is unnecessary since in the case of Ratton v. Busby, 230 Ark. 667, 326 S.W.2d 889, we held to the contrary, citing 58 Am.Jur. Witnesses, § 558 with approval to the effect that it is not error for a trial judge to give the jury permission to interrogate a witness without any special request from them so long as the questions asked are germane to the issue. In the case before us, as previously stated, the court was quite careful in determining that only proper questions were propounded and we see no abuse of discretion.

It is asserted that the court erred in permitting the prosecuting attorney to ask leading questions on re-direct examination. Six questions are listed, all of which, with the possible exception of one, we would not class as leading questions, but even if some of the questions could be considered in that category, we certainly can find no prejudice.

It is argued that on four occasions, the trial court erred in limiting defense counsel's cross-examination. Though we permit a full cross-examination of witnesses upon subjects mentioned in the examination in chief, we have held numerous times that the scope and extent of such examination are largely discretionary with the trial court. See Bartley and Jones v. State, 210 Ark. 1061, 199 S.W.2d 965, and cases cited therein. The first instance mentioned by appellant refers to several questions asked the witness relative to the expression on appellant's face when he shot his wife. The witness had already answered several times that she did not observe Nelson's face when he fired the shot and the court was merely curtailing repetition. This was not an abuse of discretion. See Vaughn v. State, 252 Ark. 260, 478 S.W.2d 759. While examining this witness, counsel also asked, "Mrs. Spaulding, is the reason you couldn't see his face, as you sit in the witness chair and you think about it, you know that at the time the shot was fired Bill Nelson had no awareness that the shot was being fired?" The court did not permit the question, stating to counsel that he was "testifying". As we said in Woodruff Electric Coop. v. Daniel, 251 Ark. 468, 472 S.W.2d 919, "Even though the cross-examiner has the right to ask leading questions, this does not accord him the right to in effect testify by making statements."

The second instance mentioned by appellant refers to the cross-examination of Ronnie Bogard, a young man of teen-age, who was present in the room when the shot was fired. On the original cross-examination, Bogard was asked if there were changes in the way Nelson appeared insofar "as the look that he had." Bogard answered that he had the same look until just before he fired the shot when "he kind of got a mean look on his face, and then did it." The next question on cross-examination was, "Did he have a wild look in his eye?" Counsel never during the balance of the cross-examination referred to the statement by Bogard relative to the "mean look". The apparent purpose of the cross-examination of Bogard was to support the contention of insanity, and an extensive examination was conducted of the witness for that purpose.

The last question asked on cross-examination was, "Ronnie, can you describe for the jury what Bill Nelson looked like at the time of this shooting?", to which the witness replied, "I'd say about two seconds before and right after he had did it, he looked like he went into some kind of a trance, like his mind went blank or something." Counsel then stated, "No further questions." On re-direct, when asked to describe the physical features of Nelson, Bogard again mentioned that appellant looked "mean". On re-cross, several questions were asked about the expressions "mean", "trance", and "blank". The court finally halted this examination, and we certainly find no abuse of discretion. In the first place, it appears that the subject was fully covered and the witness's answers were only a reiteration of earlier testimony. In the next place, the "mean" expression was used by the witness in his original cross-examination and no further questions asked. Likewise, the "trance" expression was used by the witness in the original cross-examination and no further questions asked. As pointed out in 98 C.J. S. Witnesses, § 429, p. 237:

"As a general rule, recross-examination is not allowable as a matter of right; the question of permitting recross-examination, and the scope and extent thereof, are in the sound discretion of the trial court, whose action will not be disturbed unless an abuse of discretion is shown."

The next instance mentioned by appellant as to curtailment of cross-examination relates to a question asked as follows:

"Q. Mr. Carruth, did he, Mr. Cowan, advise you that it appeared to him that Mr. Nelson did not know that the shot was fired at the time it was fired, and that he was shocked after discovering that Mrs. Nelson had been shot?"

The court sustained an objection, holding that the evidence was hearsay. Counsel for appellant agrees that such testimony was hearsay but contends that it was admissible as part of the res gestae. Cowan was one of the people present when the shooting occurred and Carruth was the first police officer to arrive. This officer questioned the various witnesses to the shooting and this was the basis of the question asked him by counsel. We agree with the State that Cowan's statement was not a part of the res gestae. For one thing, though it is indefinite as to when Carruth arrived and the statement was made, it is certain, as pointed out by the State, that if such a remark were made, it was not earlier than five to ten minutes after the shooting occurred and probably much later. In Liberty Cash Grocers Inc. v. Clements, 193 Ark. 808, 102 S.W.2d 836, we held that remarks made by a truck driver in an action to recover damages for negligence were not a part of the res gestae when the remarks were made five minutes after the accident, this court stating that the remarks constituted what the witness said about the act, rather than the act speaking for itself. The statement by Cowan was simply a response to questions from the officer and constituted only a narrative of a past occurrence. Cowan had testified during cross-examination that he had "okayed" a written statement by his wife which included a comment that Nelson had looked shocked that he had shot Mrs. Nelson. Cowan, when asked if he was agreeing that Nelson looked shocked replied, "No, not really. I just don't really know what he looked like." However, the questioning of Carruth was not for the purpose of testing Cowan's credibility, and, in fact, the court mentioned that if counsel subsequently ascertained that Cowan had made statements to Carruth different from his (Cowan's) testimony, Carruth could be placed back on the stand by appellant for the purpose of showing that fact. At any rate, we hold that this statement was not a part of the res gestae, and was therefore inadmissible as hearsay evidence.
The last contention of improper limitation on cross-examination refers to a question asked Officer Harvey of the Fort Smith Police Department as to whether it was "a matter of common knowledge in the police department that Bill Nelson was undergoing psychiatric care." Nelson was a former police officer, and of course the other officers were acquainted with him. Harvey answered that he had "heard statements to that effect", but had no personal knowledge of that fact. He was then asked:

"Q. Let me ask you this. Did anybody ever say to the Chief or Assistant Chief, `look, here's a man who's under psychiatric care. Is this what we really need on the Police Department?'"

An answer to this question would have been inadmissible for more than one reason, and certainly was not proper recross-examination since it ddi not relate to anything asked on redirect examination.1

Finally, it is asserted that the court erred in refusing to permit medical librarians to read from medical records which had been offered into evidence by appellant. These records were offered as a matter of furthering the defense of insanity and appellant desired that the hospital employees read inter alia the dates of several brain concussions suffered by appellant, medication prescribed, final diagnoses, and summary of the hospitalizations. The records were properly offered under the provisions of Ark.Stat.Ann. §§ 28-928 28-929 (Repl.1962), but this fact in itself does not necessarily mean that all the contents of such records were relevant or competent. In Royal Service v. Whitehead Construction Co., 254 Ark. 234, 492 S.W.2d 423, we stated that though certain business records may be admissible in evidence under the provisions of the statute just mentioned, said statute does not make such evidence either material or relevant. Appellant achieved his purpose in offering these records, for the matters heretofore mentioned, with the permission of the court, were not only fully discussed by Mr. and Mrs. Nelson, parents of appellant, but by both the psychiatrist who testified for the defense, and the psychiatrist who testified for the State. The several concussions and circumstances surrounding were related to the jury in detail, and we cannot say that the mere reading of such records by non-experts would have added anything of value to the evidence. Even if the ruling of the court had been erroneous, no possible prejudice could have resulted.

A reading of the record clearly reflects that the trial court carefully tried this case, rendered the rulings complained of only after studied thought, and conducted the proceedings with thorough competence and impartiality.

Affirmed.

Footnotes

1. Harvey had originally testified that he had overheard an argument between Mr. and Mrs. Nelson at their former apartment. On redirect examination, two questions were asked, first, the date that Harvey visited the apartment, and second, if this occurred before Nelson "went into the hospital." Appellant contends that the reference to "hospital" permitted the question herein under discussion.

[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder arkansas state politics]

[ID] The wife of State Police Sgt. Bonner had visible injuries

2011-12-21T06:33:00.000-08:00

ISP SERGEANT ARRESTED, PLACED ON LEAVE AFTER FIGHT
FOX 12 Idaho
Dec 19, 2011
[Excerpts] An Idaho State Police officer was arrested over the weekend after his wife filed a domestic violence report... Colin Patrick Bonner was arrested Sunday morning on suspicion of misdemeanor assault after Bonner's wife called police in Meridian at about 5:30 a.m. Sunday. Officers met the woman at the hospital, where she said she and her husband fought at their house the night before. She had visible injuries... Bonner was interviewed at his house and police said they had enough probable cause to arrest him. He can't be released from jail until he appears before a judge. Bonner is a sergeant... [Full article here]

IDAHO STATE POLICE OFFICER ARRESTED
KBOI-TV
By Janea Walker
Dec 19, 2011 at 1:06 PM MST
[Excerpt] ...Bonner has been with ISP for many years and served in their commercial vehicle safety division. He has since been placed on administrative leave. [Full article here]

ISP TROOPER ARRESTED ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CHARGES IN MERIDIAN THIS WEEKEND
Idaho Statesman
Published: 12/19/11
[Excerpts] Colin Patrick Bonner is being held in the Ada County Jail on a misdemeanor charge of assault after Meridian police investigated a report of domestic violence at his home late Saturday night... Bonner has been placed on administrative leave and ISP officials said Monday they will do an internal investigation into the case. Meridian police say they were contacted by Bonner’s wife around 5:30 a.m. Sunday, who told officers about a fight at the couple’s home the night before... [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety idaho state politics]

[TX] Police Officer Morgan facing felony charges for beating up wife and kids

2011-12-20T23:19:00.000-08:00

A Wichita Falls police officer [Gerald Anthony Morgan] was arrested Saturday afternoon on allegations he assaulted his wife and two young children during an argument at their home... The boy later told police he could not breathe during the struggle... The girl told police she tried to pull Morgan off as well, but he also struck her causing her to fall to the ground... He is charged with two felony counts of injury to a child and assault family violence, choking, as well as a misdemeanor charge for assault family violence...

WICHITA FALLS POLICE OFFICER FACING FELONY CHARGES
newschannel6now
Dec 19, 2011
[Excerpts] Wichita Falls Police Officer Gerald Tony Morgan is on administrative leave and facing felony charges after an alleged incident this weekend... Morgan's wife told police she and Morgan got into an argument... Morgan pushed her causing her to fall over into a 10-year-old girl. She also said Morgan assaulted a 15-year-old boy when the boy demanded back her medication. She alleges he grabbed the boy's throat and slammed him against the wall. When she attempted to get between the two, Morgan allegedly threw her and struck her in the throat and forearm. She also said, when she was being assaulted by Morgan, Morgan struck a 10-year-old girl who attempted to pull Morgan off her... The Office of Professional Conduct and Wichita Falls detectives are investigating the case. Morgan has been a part of WFPD since 1999.... He is currently out on $22,000 in total bonds. [Full article here]

POLICE OFFICER ARRESTED ON ASSAULT CHARGES
Times Record News
By Matt Ledesma
Posted December 19, 2011
[Excerpts] A Wichita Falls police officer was arrested Saturday afternoon on allegations he assaulted his wife and two young children during an argument at their home. Officer Gerald Anthony Morgan, 35, was charged with two felony counts of injury to a child and assault family violence, choking, as well as a misdemeanor charge for assault family violence following his arrest. Morgan received a total of $22,500 in bonds on the charges... On Dec. 17, about 3:26 p.m., officers were called to the 5100 block of Jamaica Drive on a disturbance report. Officers spoke with [M.M.] on scene who told them her husband, Gerald Morgan, had assaulted her and their 15-year-old son and 10-year old daughter. The woman said she had been at a mall with her children when she received texts from Morgan accusing her of taking his medication. She said she returned home and immediately began arguing with her husband. She said Morgan took her medication out of her purse and she felt he might destroy them. The woman told police her life would be endangered if she didn't have the medicine. She said she tried to take them back from Morgan, but he pushed her and she fell onto her daughter. She said Morgan tried to walk out of the house, but their son stood in front of the door. That's when the woman said Morgan grabbed his son's throat and pushed him against the closed door. The boy later told police he could not breathe during the struggle. The woman said she tried to pull Morgan off, but he overpowered her, threw her against a wall and struck her in the throat with his forearm. She said he continued to strike her while she tried to fight back. The girl told police she tried to pull Morgan off as well, but he also struck her causing her to fall to the ground... [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal tactics tactical child abuse children texas state politics]

[FL] Deputy Shambaugh's wife says he's a good man and the fight was minor

2011-12-20T21:29:00.000-08:00

...She also said her husband [Orange County Deputy sheriff Michael Shambaugh] is a good man and a good deputy. According to a police report, Shambaugh isn’t allowed to go to his home unless he’s invited. But his wife said she is going to talk to the judge on Monday to get that changed...

ORANGE COUNTY DEPUTY SHERIFF ARRESTED

cfnews13.com

December 17, 2011

[Excerpts] Orange County Deputy Sheriff Michael Shambaugh has been arrested by Lake Mary police for domestic violence. At about 7 p.m. Friday, police officers were called to the home of Shambaugh in reference of assisting an investigation by Child Protective Services. When they arrived, they noticed the physical condition of Shambaugh’s wife and determined there was probable cause to take Shambaugh into custody. Shambaugh’s law enforcement credentials and guns were confiscated from him and he was relieved from duty as an Orange County deputy sheriff. [LINK]

ORANGE COUNTY DEPUTY ARRESTED FOR DOMESTIC BATTERY

Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011

[Excerpts] ...[Orange County Sheriff's Deputy Michael] Shambaugh’s wife told WFTV an anonymous tip into Child Protective Services brought police to their house. While there, she says an officer noticed an injury on her foot from a minor fight with her husband. Investigators say that was enough evidence to arrest Shambaugh. Shambaugh is facing one count of domestic battery... Shambaugh’s wife said she and her two kids are doing fine. She also said her husband is a good man and a good deputy. According to a police report, Shambaugh isn’t allowed to go to his home unless he’s invited. But his wife said she is going to talk to the judge on Monday to get that changed. [Full article here]

ORANGE COUNTY DEPUTY FIRED AFTER ARREST

clickorlando.com

Dec 17 2011

[Excerpts] ...An Orange County watch commander responded to the Seminole County Jail and confiscated Shambaugh's law enforcement credentials and firearms, and relieved him from duty as an Orange County deputy sheriff. Shambaugh was also placed on administrative leave back in 2007 after he shot and killed a man who he saw beating an elderly woman and a boy with a table leg. At the time, Sheriff Kevin Beary defended the actions of Shambaugh, saying he did what he had to do to protect the victims. [Full article here]

ARRESTED ORANGE COUNTY DEPUTY 'RELIEVED OF DUTY,' OFFICIALS SAY

Orlando Sentinel

By Arelis R. Hernández

December 17, 2011

[Excerpts] ...[Orange County Sheriff's Office spokesman Jeff Williamson] said the Sheriff's Office will conduct an administrative review of Shambaugh's case. In the meantime, he will be reassigned to paid administrative duties. Shambaugh, who has been employed by the Sheriff's Office nearly 15 years, was a school resource deputy at Lockhart Middle School and has been recognized for his work with youth and gang-prevention ... [Full article here]

[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety child abuse professionalism zero tolerance florida state politics]

[WI] DA doesn't say why Milwaukee Officer Farkas won't be charged with domestic disorderly conduct

2011-12-20T16:29:00.000-08:00

...Contrary to the office's usual practice, the prosecutor who reviewed the case did not write a letter to the police department explaining the decision...

To see Journal Sentinel's
BOTH SIDES OF THE LAW
online project, click here.

2 OFFICERS ARRESTED IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CASES WON'T BE CHARGED
Journal Sentinel
By Gina Barton
Dec. 16, 2011
[Excerpts] The Milwaukee County district attorney's office has declined to charge two Milwaukee police officers arrested in domestic violence-related incidents earlier this year, according to records released this week... August Farkas, was arrested Nov. 26 in connection with an incident of domestic violence related disorderly conduct. He, too, was referred to the district attorney's office, but will not be prosecuted, according to the district attorney's office. Contrary to the office's usual practice, the prosecutor who reviewed the case did not write a letter to the police department explaining the decision. A spokesman for the district attorney's office said prosecution was declined for "a series of reasons," but did not say what those reasons were... Domestic violence is far more common among the families of police officers than among the rest of the population, according to the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Center for Women and Policing... At least 16 Milwaukee police officers currently on the force have been disciplined after internal investigators concluded they had committed acts of domestic violence, a Journal Sentinel investigation published in October found. [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety wisconsin state politics]

[WI] The wife of Milwaukee Officer Quist backs him up against domestic violence charge

2011-12-20T16:04:00.000-08:00

To see Journal Sentinel's
BOTH SIDES OF THE LAW
online project, click here.

2 officers arrested in domestic violence cases won't be charged
Journal Sentinel
By Gina Barton
Dec. 16, 2011
[Excerpts] The Milwaukee County district attorney's office has declined to charge two Milwaukee police officers arrested in domestic violence-related incidents earlier this year, according to records released this week. Detective Matthew Quist was arrested on a preliminary charge of domestic violence battery about 1:30 a.m. Feb. 16... The department's Professional Performance Division, which investigates allegations of wrongdoing by officers, referred the case to the district attorney's office. Prosecutors convened a John Doe investigation, which is a secret hearing in which witnesses can be subpoenaed to testify, according to a letter from Deputy District Attorney Patrick Kenney to the police detective who investigated the case. The letter was released to the Journal Sentinel this week in response to a public records request. Quist said he acted in self-defense, according to the district attorney's office. During the hearing, the victim testified that "Matthew Quist's physical contact with her consisted primarily of Det. Quist attempting to confine (her) while she was attempting to strike him," the letter says. The victim also denied previous domestic incidents documented in the police report, the letter says... Domestic violence is far more common among the families of police officers than among the rest of the population, according to the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Center for Women and Policing... At least 16 Milwaukee police officers currently on the force have been disciplined after internal investigators concluded they had committed acts of domestic violence... [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety recanting wisconsin state politics]

[NY] Retired State Police Cpt. Phelan stabbed his estranged wife, then killed himself

2011-12-20T14:43:00.000-08:00

...Saturday night, police swarmed the former cop's home after fielding a domestic dispute call. Inside officers found the woman stabbed in the neck and discovered [retired New York State Police Captain Thomas] Phelan committed suicide... One neighbor adding he was worried about the wife's wellbeing. "I was afraid because he had guns and rifles and all kinds of things"... Phelan, 52, was a state trooper from 1982 to 2009...

His wife survived and I'm not naming her here.

THOMAS PHELAN III
April 30, 1959 - December 18, 2011
Middletown, NY
[Excerpts] Thomas Phelan III of Middletown, NY died unexpectedly Sunday, December 18, 2011 at home.... He is survived by his wife... his son... his daughter... his mother... one brother... and his wife... and one siste... Visitation hours will be 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, December 21, at Applebee-McPhillips Funeral Home, 130 Highland Ave., Middletown, NY. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Thursday, December 22, at 11 a.m. at St. Joseph's R.C. Church, 149 Cottage St. Burial will follow in the family plot in St. Joseph's Cemetery, Middletown. Memorial contributions in his name may be made to NYS Trooper Foundation in Latham NY. Arrangements under the direction of the Applebee-McPhillips Funeral Home. [Full article here.]

DETAILS EMERGE ON MURDER-SUICIDE IN CROSS RIVER
12/19/11
[Excerpts] The suicide of a former police captain after police say he stabbed his wife has left the Middletown community shaken. Friends say former New York State Police Capt. Tom Phelan had suffered a stroke that left him despondent. "He went from basically being a speed reader to not being able to drive a car, so that can be very frustrating for somebody," says Nicole DiCostanzo, of Middletown... [Full article here]

POLICE: RETIRED STATE TROOPER STABS WIFE, KILLS HIMSELF
Hudson Valley
By: Elaina Athans
Updated 12/19/2011 06:18 PM
[Excerpts] ...Unsettling news along Starhaven Avenue in Middletown. Police say retired New York State Police Captain Tom Phelan stabbed his wife and then killed himself... Saturday night, police swarmed the former cop's home after fielding a domestic dispute call. Inside officers found the woman stabbed in the neck and discovered Phelan committed suicide. State Police say Phelan was with the force for 21 years and retired as a captain with Troop K. Neighbors describe Phelan as a reserved man, who was sick for some time and often seen in a wheelchair. One neighbor adding he was worried about the wife's wellbeing. "I was afraid because he had guns and rifles and all kinds of things"... Police are not saying how many times the woman was stabbed... An autopsy is being done on Phelan's body and the findings are expected in the next couple days. Police says the investigation is ongoing. The wife, meanwhile, has been treated and released from the hospital to the relief of residents. "(She is) very pleasant, very gracious woman. Lovely mom"... [Full article here]

RETIRED STATE TROOPER SLASHES WIFE, KILLS SELF IN MIDDLETOWN
Times Herald-Record
By Nathan Brown
12/20/11
[Excerpts] A retired state police captain slashed his wife in the throat, then killed himself Saturday night. Thomas Phelan's wife, [E.], and 19-year-old daughter were visiting him at 26 Starhaven Ave. Saturday evening, where he had lived alone since he and [E.] separated... As they finished the visit and [E.] left the residence, Thomas slashed her throat with a serrated kitchen knife. [E.] fled to a neighbor's residence, where her daughter already was, the source said, and Thomas returned to the residence. Middletown city police responded, set up a perimeter around the house due to uncertainty about possible weapons inside, and tried to contact Thomas. Receiving no response, the Orange County Sheriff's Department's Special Operations Group entered the house and found Thomas dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound... Phelan, 52, was a state trooper from 1982 to 2009. His last posting was at Troop K, which is based in Poughkeepsie.... [Full article here]

MAN WHO STABBED HIS WIFE BEFORE KILLING HIMSELF REMEMBERED AS CONSUMMATE STATE TROOPER
Mid-Hudson News
DECEMBER 20, 2011
[Excerpts] ...Phalen was a 27-year veteran of the force. He worked for a while with Saugerties Police Chief Louis Barbaria when he was in chrge of the Kingston Barracks. “Tom was always the consummate State Police employee and very dedicated to his job,” Barbaria said. “He was promoted as captain and sent to K troop where he worked. He was very professional.” Phalen retired from the State Police at the rank of captain in August 2009. [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities suicide attempted murder new york state politics]

[CO] Officer Schmedeke's domestic charges dismissed but he's fired for the same allegations

2011-12-18T18:59:00.000-08:00

..."The Craig Police Department takes the responsibility of investigating officer misconduct seriously... Commander DeLong’s investigation found that Officer Schmedeke’s actions violated department policy and values. Although the 14th Judicial District ruled that there was not sufficient evidence to proceed with prosecutio... Chief Walt Vanatta terminated Officer Schmedeke’s employment as a Craig police officer on Friday, Dec. 16th."

PREVIOUS POST:
[CO] Officer Schmedeke arrested and investigated for harassment of wife

NEWS EXCERPTS FROM DECEMBER 14TH AND 17TH:

CASE DISMISSED AGAINST CRAIG POLICE DEPARTMENT OFFICER
Craig Daily Press
By Joe Moylan
December 12, 2011
Updated: December 14, 2011
[Excerpts] The 14th Judicial District Attorney’s office announced Monday the case against a Craig Police Department officer has been dismissed. Officer Frank Schmedeke was arrested Nov. 27 on suspicion of harassment and domestic violence stemming from an incident with his wife at their home in the 1100 block of Legion Street... Rusty Prindle, Routt County chief deputy district attorney for the 14th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, handled the case. He issued a statement Monday afternoon in a news release. “After a thorough review of the available evidence, the district attorney’s office has concluded that given the information officers had at the time, there was enough probable cause to arrest Frank Schmedeke following the incident... However, following the arrest, additional evidence came to light that would essentially make the charge impossible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt”... Jerry DeLong, a commander with the police department, said the department is continuing with its internal investigation of Schmedeke... Schmedeke remains on paid administrative leave until the internal investigation is complete. [Full article here]

CRAIG POLICE DEPARTMENT: INTERNAL INVESTIGATION RESULTS IN OFFICER TERMINATION
Craig Daily Press
December 16, 2011
Updated: December 17, 2011
[Excerpts] The Craig Police Department issued a news release Friday morning regarding the department’s internal investigation of Officer Frank Schmedeke... “On Nov. 27, 2011, at approximately 10:15 p.m., officers from the Craig Police Department were dispatched to (the 1100 block of) Legion Street in reference to a domestic violence incident that Officer Frank Schmedeke was involved in... The Craig Police Department takes the responsibility of investigating officer misconduct seriously, and we have an obligation to conduct objective, fair and impartial investigations into any employee’s actions that may fall outside the parameters of the department’s core values of integrity, respect, service and equality. Commander DeLong’s investigation found that Officer Schmedeke’s actions violated department policy and values. Although the 14th Judicial District ruled that there was not sufficient evidence to proceed with prosecution, the fact remains that the incident occurred. After reviewing all the information developed in the above investigations, Chief Walt Vanatta terminated Officer Schmedeke’s employment as a Craig police officer on Friday, Dec. 16th.” [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety harassment professional colorado state politics]

[OK] Not forgetting Corrections Officer Yvonne Mansfield

2011-12-17T23:02:00.000-08:00

...[Yvonne Hart]
Mansfield was a
corrections officer
with the Texas
Youth Commission
in Vernon, Texas,
and attended the
House of Prayer
in Blair...

...The call came from Jackson County sheriff's deputy James Mansfield stating that his wife had shot herself... The gun used was James Mansfield's service weapon...

ALTUS DEPUTY'S WIFE FOUND DEAD
Tulsa World, AP Wire Service.
Aug 19, 2004.
[Excerpts] Police officers found a woman dead after responding to a Jackson County sheriff's deputy's call that his wife had shot herself. Police found Yvonne Mansfield, 32, dead of a gunshot wound and her husband, Deputy James Mansfield, with a gunshot wound to his hand, just before 10 p.m. Tuesday... James Mansfield called 911 and said his wife had shot herself, police 911 logs show... The weapon that was used was James Mansfield's service revolver. Investigators haven't determined who discharged the weapon... Altus Police Chief Mike Patterson said his officers secured the crime scene but turned it over to the OSBI as soon as state investigators arrived... "This is a total surprise to me," Jackson County Sheriff Morris Roberts said. "James has been a good employee." James Mansfield had recently graduated from the Council of Law Enforcement Education and Training after serving as a patrol deputy for about six months. He was hired in 1999 as a jailer by former Sheriff Kenneth Lemaster.

WOMAN DEAD, DEPUTY SHOT; DEATH REPORTED AS SUICIDE
Altus Times
by Mike Andrews
Aug 20, 2004
[Excerpts] An Altus woman is dead and her husband, a Jackson County sheriff's deputy, is recovering from a wound in his hand. Altus police responded to a 911 call at 9:53 p.m. Tuesday at the Apple Creek Apartments on Ridgecrest Road. The call came from Dep. James Mansfield stating that his wife had shot herself, according to 911 logs kept by the Altus Police Department. When authorities arrived at apartment 1114 they found 32-year-old Yvonne Mansfield dead of a gunshot wound and James Mansfield with a gunshot wound to his hand... [Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Jessica] Brown confirmed that the gun used was James Mansfield's service weapon. Brown said that an arrest is not imminent in the case and that it has not been determined who discharged the weapon. The Mansfields' 2-year-old son, who was in the home at the time of the shooting, is staying with relatives...

MEDICAL EXAMINER, OSBI INVESTIGATING SUICIDE SCENARIO
Altus Times
by Mike Andrews, Times editor
Publish Date: August 19, 2004
[Excerpts] The state medical examiner has determined the cause of Yvonne Mansfield's death to be a gunshot wound to the neck, but the determination as to whether it was suicide may take a couple of weeks... Jackson County Sheriff's Deputy James Mansfield has told investigators that his 32-year-old wife took his service weapon Tuesday night in their Apple Creek apartment in south Altus and that his hand was shot trying to prevent her from committing suicide... After final determination of Yvonne Mansfield's manner of death is made by the state medical examiner, it will be up to District Attorney John Wampler to decide how to move forward with the case... Sheriff Morris Roberts said he has not spoken to his officer but had spoken to Mansfield's attorney, who told him Mansfield would have surgery on his hand tomorrow in an Oklahoma City hospital... Roberts said that if the investigation clears Mansfield, he will be welcome to come back to work with the sheriff's department.

YVONNE HART MANSFIELD
Date: August 20, 2004
Yvonne Hart Mansfield, Altus, was born July 27, 1971, in Texas... and died Aug. 17, 2004, in Altus at the age of 33 years and 20 days. She was married to James Mansfield at Las Vegas on Feb. 13, 2004. Mansfield was a corrections officer with the Texas Youth Commission in Vernon, Texas, and attended the House of Prayer in Blair. She was a graduate of Blair High School and Western Oklahoma State College at Altus...[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder said alleged suicide unsolved unresolved oklahoma state politics cop on cop]

[NYPD] Retired Officer Cash killed his Investigator wife, Tracey Young, but couldn't kill himself

2011-12-17T10:15:00.000-08:00

Retired New York Police Officer Clarence Cash shot his state investigator wife, Tracey Young, multiple times, killing her in their Briarwood Queens Condo. He says that Tracey told him she was leaving him after he punched her in the face. He also says that after murdering Tracey that he then wandered wanting to kill himself - but he just couldn't do it. What completely happened we will never know now because Tracey can no longer speak for her self.

...Ms. Young worked in the Criminal Investigations Division of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. She was involved in surveillance work and undercover stings against illicit cigarette importers... Young carried a gun for her job... “I’m a retired cop,” [Cash] said before describing his heinous crime and sniveling, “I tried to kill myself, but I couldn’t do it”... Cash had no arrest record but was involved in domestic incidents in January 2003 and March 2011. In each case, the complainant was another woman, who complained to cops in the 105th Precinct in eastern Queens... Neighbors admitted that they had heard Young and Cash arguing, then loud bangs — but none ever called cops, even though at least one of them suspected gunfire...

NEWS EXCERPTS

Remember that the story of what happened is according to Cash. (Personally I don't trust anything a wife-slayer says.)

EX-OFFICER KILLS HIS WIFE, A STATE TAX AGENT, IN QUEENS, THE POLICE SAY
New York Times
By Alan Feuer and Tim Stelloh
Published: December 11, 2011
[Excerpts] A state tax agent who specialized in investigating the trafficking of illegal cigarettes was shot to death by her husband, a former New York police officer... The body of the investigator, Tracey Young, 42, was discovered by the police and paramedics shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday in her apartment on the eighth floor of 143-41 84th Drive, in Briarwood, Queens. She had been shot several times in the head and torso, and was pronounced dead at the scene. Early Sunday, Ms. Young’s husband, Clarence Cash, 49, turned himself in to the police and was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon... Ms. Young worked in the Criminal Investigations Division of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. She was involved in surveillance work and undercover stings against illicit cigarette importers. “She was an energetic, enthusiastic, constantly upbeat investigator,” said William Comiskey, a former deputy commissioner of the department... Ms. Young was also the president of the board of the homeowners’ association for her building, an eight-floor brick apartment house. Her neighbors described her as invariably helpful and always responsive to problems in the units, adding that she had recently put up a Christmas tree and other decorations in the lobby... Two residents of the sixth floor said they rarely saw Ms. Young, who had lived in the building for only a couple of years, with her husband. They added, however, that they had seen the couple on the elevator within the last few weeks and that they seemed happy. “As soon as the door opened, they burst out laughing,” one of the residents recalled. “They were like two kids in love.”... [Full article here]

EX-NYPD COP CLARENCE CASH SHOOTS WIFE DEAD, SURRENDERS TO POLICE: The Victim, Top Criminal Investigator Tracey Young, Was Shot Seven Times
By Erik Badia, Henrick Karoliszyn, Barry Paddock & Rocco Parascandola
New York Daily News
December 11 2011
[Excerpts] A hullking ex-cop riddled his wife with bullets... “She didn’t deserve that,” Clarence Cash told cops when he walked into the Midtown South stationhouse at 6 a.m. with a bag of guns to give himself up... ‘She did not deserve that, she did not deserve that’”... Tracey Young, 42, one of the top 10 criminal investigators for the state’s tax and finance department, died... Cash, 49, a retired cop from the 32nd Precinct in Harlem who married Young two years ago, told police a romantic evening with his wife went sour, going from candles and backrubs to yelling. “According to him, she put her hand on him and kind of mushed his face. He punched her in the face, and she said, ‘That’s it. I’m going to my sister’s house. I’m done with you. I’m leaving you,’ ” a police source said. “He snapped.” Hanophy said Cash became enraged, “pulled out his gun and shot her.” Cash said he went to Rockaway Beach to kill himself — but couldn’t do it, Hanophy said. Friends and relatives noted a tragic irony: Young’s mother was murdered by her own partner three decades ago. “This is like history repeating itself,” said a cousin of the slain woman. “Thirty-one years later, she died just like her mother.” Cash was charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon and faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted. He is due back in court Jan. 3... Young carried a gun for her job investigating cigarette smuggling for the Department of Taxation and Finance... Police said the couple had no history of domestic complaints, and several neighbors in Queens said they seemed happy... [Full article here]

EX-COP CONFESSES TO SHOOTING WIFE OVER HOLIDAY MONEY WOES
By Doug Auer, Larry Celona and Bob Fredericks
Last Updated: 6:19 AM, December 12, 2011
Posted: 12:51 AM, December 12, 2011
[Excerpts] A cash-strapped ex-NYPD cop who’d just bought his wife a pricey Louis Vuitton handbag for Christmas flipped under the financial stress of the holidays and killed her, police sources said yesterday. “I just shot my wife,” muscle-bound Clarence Cash, 49, calmly told officers hours after allegedly pumping 10 bullets into his pretty wife, Tracey Young, 42 — a top tax investigator who specialized in busting tobacco smugglers — in their posh Queens condo... Neighbors admitted that they had heard Young and Cash arguing, then loud bangs — but none ever called cops, even though at least one of them suspected gunfire. After allegedly killing Young at around 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Cash - a body-building, part-time guard at the federal courthouse on Pearl Street - fled... Instead, Cash turned himself in at the Midtown South Precinct at about 6 a.m. yesterday, handing over two handguns - his Glock and her registered Sig Sauer, the sources said. “I’m a retired cop,” he said before describing his heinous crime and sniveling, “I tried to kill myself, but I couldn’t do it”... Cash was charged with first-degree murder. He was remanded without bail, and his lawyer asked that he be placed in protective custody at Rikers... Shortly before 10 p.m., Young desperately called her sister, April Young, in The Bronx saying she was coming over. A half-hour later, Tracey texted her sister that her iron-pumping hubby - who had to wear custom-made suits to fit his beefy frame — had hit her. “When we were arguing, she mushed me in the face, and I punched her,” Cash allegedly told cops. A furious Tracey Young told Cash “she was going to leave him’’ — and he whipped out a gun and began blasting, sources said. Cash later told authorities he thought he shot her only three or four times. Meanwhile, April Young raced to the couple’s eighth-floor apartment, where she rang the bell but got no answer... April called 911 at 11:09 p.m. Cops entered the couple’s blood-splattered apartment and found Young... Cash had retired from the 32nd Precinct in Harlem in 2006 and was working part time for the Marshal’s Service, escorting prisoners to the Pearl Street courthouse from their holding cells... Cash had no arrest record but was involved in domestic incidents in January 2003 and March 2011. In each case, the complainant was another woman, who complained to cops in the 105th Precinct in eastern Queens. Young, an investigator since 2002 with the state Department of Taxation and Finance, was an ace undercover who specialized in cigarette smuggling, her bosses sai... [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder suicidal steroids new york state politics]

[TX] Alice Police Officer Jose Gonzales allowed bail after killing wife Leslie Morin and 2 hour SWAT standoff

2011-12-16T15:53:00.000-08:00

Leslie Morin's life has been stolen.

She was a loving and dedicated

mother,

daughter,

sister,

and friend

who was always smiling, helpful to anyone who needed help, funny, and who volunteered in her free time at their son's elementary school and helped out at her father's church..

December 9, 1980 - Monday, December 12, 2011

Leave condolences for the family

online at Garza Funeral Home.

A fund has been set up for the children's
ongoing care at Wells Fargo

Facebook page set up for Christmas presents
for Leslie's two children: Coastal Bend Christmas Angel's.
(See news article about it here.)

Leslie had been staying with family members for less than a couple of weeks after leaving her husband, Alice Police Officer Jose "Joey" Gonzales. He came busting into the house breaking down the door - in uniform, found Leslie and her mom hiding huddled in a bedroom closet, fatally shot Leslie multiple times, took their 8 year old son and fled. Police found him at his home and he stalled them in a 2 hour SWAT standoff - with child - that involved Corpus Christi Police, Alice Police, Department of Public Safety troopers, and Jim Wells County Sheriff's deputies. At some point even the U.S. Marshals were there. After negotiating, the young boy was allowed to come out of the house, followed by a surrendering bloody Gonzales.

It is too hard to imagine Leslie's last fearful moments,

or her mother and son's terror,

the level of loss and heartbreak.

The police say they didn't see this coming but when you see an officer who has just murdered the mother of his child, resisted captue, and has SIX stints of law enforcement officer employment with FIVE agencies, it strongly suggests that there is something that someone knew - or should have known along the way. Gonzales has worked for Jim Wells County Sheriff’s Office, San Diego Police Department, Freer Police Department, U.S. Border Patrol, and for the Alice Police Department - twice.

Despite Officer Gonzales breaking down a door to a house that isn't his, "armed with police-issued rifles and handguns" - repeatedly shooting Leslie, scaring everyone by grabbing their son and fleeing, and then waging a standoff - Judge Angelica Hernandez of the 105th District Court has granted him bail. She put conditions on his release - but what difference does that make to a man who has already committed the worst crime? What does he have to lose? WHAT was she thinking? That he deserves to be free? That he's not a danger?

For Leslie:

CHIEF: OFFICER IN CUSTODY, TRANSPORTED TO NUECES COUNTY JAIL
Alice Echo News Journal
Ofelia Garcia Hunter
Monday, December 12, 2011 10:41 am
Updated: Dec 13, 2011.
[Excerpts] An 8-year-old boy is safe with his grandparents after a SWAT standoff with his father ended peacefully. Alice police officer Joey Gonzales surrendered and is accused of the shooting death of his wife in the Annaville area Monday morning. The woman was identified as his wife, Leslie Morin, 31. “We have officer Joey Gonzales in custody,” Alice Police Chief Daniel Bueno said during the press conference Monday.... Gonzales surrendered about 11 a.m. Monday after a brief standoff with officers... He also released his son with a suitcase to police before giving himself up. Corpus Christi Police and SWAT team were on the scene... Lt. Michael Alanis, with the Corpus Christi Police Department, said Morin was shot multiple times just after 7:30 a.m. Monday. Alanis said Morin and suspect were estranged... After shooting the victim, Alanis said the suspect fled the scene with the boy. None of the other people in the home were injured... Gonzales was an officer with the police department for six years. He left for a time to work as a Border Patrol agent, but returned to the police force.... [Full article here]

CORPUS CHRISTI POLICE: WOMAN SHOT TO DEATH MONDAY, ALICE POLICE OFFICER ARRESTED
Corpus Christi Caller Times
By Mark Collette
December 12, 2011
[Excerpts] Alice police officer Jose Gonzales III was supposed to report for duty at 7 a.m. Monday. Instead, authorities said Gonzales, wearing his police uniform pants and a jacket, and armed with police-issued rifles and handguns, went to Corpus Christi for a fatal confrontation with his common-law wife, who left him less than two weeks ago. Leslie Morin, 31, died after being shot multiple times... Authorities have not released a motive for the shooting, saying it is still under investigation. Alice Police Chief Daniel Bueno said Gonzales had been upset about the recent separation from Morin. “She left to Annaville; he stayed behind,” Bueno said... Morin and her mother were hiding in a closet when Gonzales broke open the door, grabbed Morin and shot her, Ortiz said. Morin’s mother was unharmed... Authorities in two counties searched for Gonzales before finding his pickup parked at his home in Alice within about an hour of the shooting... During the search, one of Gonzales’ superiors, Alice Police Lt. Alberto Martinez, spoke with Gonzales on the phone, even praying with him in hopes of keeping him calm... “As he kept talking to him,” Bueno said, Gonzales “kept getting calmer and calmer and calmer”... [Alice Mayor John] Lemon called the day tragic and said his heart goes out to Morin’s family. “If there’s anything that the city can do for the family, please let us know,” he said... It was Martinez who convinced Gonzales to allow the child to walk to a car where his grandparents were waiting, Bueno said, and Martinez who ultimately talked Gonzales into giving up... The day’s events stunned the close-knit Alice Police Department, which has about 50 employees. “To some of my people here, it still hasn’t sunk in,” Bueno said. He didn’t know Morin personally, but had met her when she attended department Christmas parties with Gonzales. “I like to say we’re family,” Bueno said. “It does put a sad chapter in our lives. I’ve been here 34 years. This is my second home. To see something like this is very difficult, but we want to go on and we must continue to provide our community with the best service we can”... [Full article here]

SHOOTING VICTIM WAS STAYING WITH RELATIVES
KRISTV
by Melissa Shroeder - mschroeder@kristv.com
Dec 12, 2011
[Excerpts] Police Chief Danny Bueno says one his own officers, Joe Gonzales, is in custody after he allegedly shot and killed his common law wife at an Annaville area mobile home park. Around 7:30am Corpus Christi police got the call about a woman who had been shot inside a unit at the Jacksonwood mobile home park. The medical examiners office says Leslie Morin was shot multiple times. We're told the shooting scene was disturbing as there was still cake and balloons from the victim's birthday party over the weekend. Police say Gonzales forced his way inside the home as he was armed with a handgun and chased the victim to her parents bedroom where she was shot. Neighbors say they saw a man leaving the scene with a young boy who appeared to be in shock. We're told the man was covered in blood as he left the home. The suspect and the boy left the area in a Chevrolet Silverado, causing police to put out an alert not to try and confront the armed suspect... Authorities have identified Leslie Morin as the woman who was killed this morning. Neighbors say she had just recently started staying at the mobile home with her family members. [Full article here]

What sense does that make?

A judge would let this man out?

APD NEGOTIATIONS HELPED DEFUSE SITUATION: APD Chief Daniel Bueno addresses the media.
Alice24-7
Johnny De La Zerda Jr.
Mon, Dec 12, 2011.
[Excerpts] ...Daniel Bueno, Chief of Police for the Alice Police Department, said the incident took place at 109 Highwood in Annaville. "It was through prayer and constant communication that we were able to ensure the safety of the community and nearby schools," Bueno said. "It was the work of my team and the negotiations conducted by the Alice Police Department that brought this to a safe conclusion. The child involved will now be turned over to his grandparent after being interviewed. The safety of our community and schools is our number one priority and we did everything possible to make sure that happened." Chief Bueno said the negotiations of Sgt. Albert Martinez were instrumental to bringing the situation to as best of a conclusion as possible... [Link no longer online.]

...Reporter: "Did they have any history of domestic violence before?"
Chief: "I don't have that information."...

QUOTES FROM PRESS CONFERENCE:

ALICE POLICE CHIEF DANIEL BUENO - "...I want to emphasize the fact that ur team, Alice Police Department, City of Alice, were able to make sure no one else would get hurt... to make sure that our child - and we call him our child because *he's the son of our officer* - our child was going to be safe..."

ALICE CITY MANAGER RAY DE LOS SANTOS - "While today is a very sad day for the City of Alice, and for the Alice Police Department, and for the *Gonzales family*, while it is a very sad day, we are very fortunate to have professionals..."

A FRIEND REMEMBERS MORIN
Alice Echo News Journal
By: Mauricio Julian Cuellar Jr.
Posted: Monday, December 12, 2011 1:07 pm
Updated: 2:31 pm, Mon Dec 12, 2011.
[Excerpts] The last call Irene Hernandez made to her friend Leslie Morin was to wish her a happy birthday. One week later, Hernandez added a photo of Morin, who she calls a sister, to her facebook page. The message posted underneath the picture said “Rest in Peace.” “It's just unreal. There were no difficulties between them as far as I saw. They were always together, very loving,” Hernandez said... Officers with the Corpus Christi and Alice Police Departments along with Department of Public Safety troopers and Jim Wells County deputies held a two hour standoff with Gonzales outside his home on Washington Street in Alice. Gonzales eventually released his son into police custody, and surrendered minutes later... Hernandez described Morin as a good mother, who liked to spend her free time during the day volunteering at Schallert Elementary School, where the couple's son attends school. “She was always with her kids, she kept to herself, but she was friendly. She was a great wife,” Hernandez said. Hernandez said the couple had been together for 10 years, and had never shown any outward signs of disagreement or violence... She called the pair a close couple, with Morin's happy nature matched well with Gonzales, whom Hernandez called a generous man when it came to his time, both with Morin and the children... “Joey would volunteer for events at school, and he was a good parent, always with the kids. Leslie's daughter was from her first marriage, but Joey, she was not different to him. He treated them the same... If we needed him for anything, he was always there. This is just something crazy, I don't know what got into him”... [Full article here]

ATTORNEY: GONZALES IN A STATE OF SHOCK
KZTV10
Dec 13, 2011
[Excerpts] An Alice police officer accused of killing his common-law wife appeared in court this morning to learn the conditions of his potential release on bond... This morning a District Judge Angelica Hernandez set his bond at $250,000.... His defense attorney, Mark Gonzalez, called us today to share how his first meeting with his client went last night. The attorney says, "Mr. Gonzales was very emotional, crying, and in a state of shock. He was concerned about his son. He said he didn't do anything to himself, because he didn't want to leave his son without both parents." [Full article here]

FAMILY OF WOMAN SHOT TO DEATH MONDAY SAID THEY NEVER SAW SIGNS OF ABUSE BUT HAVE FORGIVEN HER KILLER: Alice police officer Jose Gonzales III, 44, was arrested on suspicion of murder for the death of Leslie Morin, 31
Corpus Christi Caller
By Michelle Villarreal
Posted December 13, 2011 at 6 p.m.,
updated December 14, 2011 at 6:15 a.m.
[Excerpts] The father of a woman police believe was shot to death by her common-law husband said he never saw signs of abuse in their relationship. Alice police officer Jose Gonzales III, 44, was arrested Monday on suspicion of murder for the death of Leslie Morin... "I never suspected anything," her father Arturo Morin said Tuesday. "I don't know what happened. I really don't." He said while the family is having a difficult time with her death they already have forgiven Gonzales. "We've just been praying and holding onto the word of God," he said. "I forgive him because I know the Lord will handle this. She's in a resting place now and nobody can hurt her." Gonzales has been placed on unpaid leave... Arturo Morin, a pastor at House of Surrender Christian Church in San Diego, said his daughter often helped with church functions. He described Leslie Morin as a lovable person who always was smiling and did everything for her two children. He said she would help people any way she could. "When you would go through bad trials, she was there," Arturo Morin said. "All you had to do was give her a call."... Leslie Morin left Gonzales less than two weeks ago... Judge Angelica Hernandez of the 105th District Court, ordered Gonzales, if he makes bail, to have no contact with Morin's family, including his son. He also would be subject to electronic monitoring and wouldn't be allowed access to weapons, including police-issued weapons.... [Full article here]

FRIENDS SAY MURDERED WOMAN LOVED HER KIDS AND VOLUNTEERING
KZTV10
by Stephanie Kusy - skusy@kristv.com
Posted: Dec 14, 2011
[Excerpts] We're learning more about the woman who was killed earlier this week in Annaville. Police said 31-year-old Leslie Morin was fatally shot Monday by her husband... A group of parent volunteers from Schallert Elementary gathered to remember their friend. They said they became very close to Morin over the past few years. "She loved to kid around," said one woman. "She was always laughing. Smiles, she always had a smile on her face. She was funny"... "She was very close to both her kids," a friend said.... "She will be deeply missed because she was loved by many many people," said her friend. [Full article here]

JUDGE BANS GONZALES FROM CONTACT WITH 8-YEAR-OLD SON: Former Alice policeman also banned from contact with victim's family
Alice Echo News Journal
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
[Excerpts] Alice police officer Jose Gonzales, accused of fatally shooting his wife early Monday morning, was told in court that if he makes bail, he is banned from contact with his 8-year-old son and the family of the victim. The ruling was given during a hearing in front of district judge Angelica Hernandez Tuesday in Corpus Christi. The judge said if Gonzalez meets his $250,000 bail, he will be required to wear a monitoring device and attend weekly visits with a parole officer. Contact with his son and the family of his estranged wife, Leslie Morin, is prohibited. Gonzalez is in the Nueces County jail on a $250,000 bond... Gonzales fled Annaville back to Alice with his son. The boy was released after a standoff... [Full article here]

MORIN'S FATHER FORGIVES
Alice Echo News Journal
By: Mauricio Julian Cuellar Jr.
Wed Dec 14, 2011
[Excerpts] Arturo Morin has placed his faith in God, he said from his home on Wednesday, after forgiving the man who Alice police allege shot and killed his daughter, 31-year old Leslie Morin. “I'm a pastor. I forgive this guy”... Morin said his daughter never gave any indication that there was a problem in her relationship with Gonzales. At times when family members did try to get Morin to open up about how she was doing or how her relationship was with Gonzales, she did not elaborate. “She bottled everything up. She never gave a hint of anything going on,” Morin said. “All she said was I'm okay; everything is ok... She was a very lovable person. She had a lot of friends, and she was well liked by all of them,” Morin said. “You can tell by her facebook page, all the messages people have left. A lot of people cared about her. She'll be missed by a lot of people.” Morin said his daughter had a kind heart and never harmed anyone.... As far as the charges against Gonzales, or if the case does eventually go to trial, Morin said he does not intend on being in the courtroom. “I'm done with that,” Morin said. “I'll just pray”... [Full article here]

BENEFIT ACCOUNT SET UP FOR SLAIN WOMAN'S CHILDREN
Alice Echo News Journal
Julie Neal
Thursday, December 15, 2011
[Excerpts] A benefit account has been set up at Wells Fargo for the family of Leslie Morin... Morin left behind a young son and daughter. Funeral Mass for Morin will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, December 16, 2011, at St. Francis de Paula Catholic Church in San Diego, Texas. Interment will follow at the New Collins Cemetery in Alice, Texas. [Full article here]

APD COMING TO TERMS WITH SHOOTING DEATH AS INVESTIGATION CONTINUES
Alice Echo News Journal
By Pete Garcia
Posted: Thursday, December 15, 2011 1:48 pm
Updated: 3:31 pm, Thu Dec 15, 2011.
[Excerpts] The Alice Police Department SWAT team and its other officers did their job Monday... "It's been very difficult," Alice Police Chief Danny Bueno said. "There's a healing process we have to go through as officers and we're getting through all of the stages. I think today, it's something we're all looking at a little differently than we did a few days ago"... According to the Nueces County Medical Examiner's Office, [Leslie] Morin was shot multiple times around her body... In the days after the fatal shooting and the officer's arrest, the police department reached out to its chaplaincy program which brought in local clergy to council officers. The Texas Department of Public Safety also offered to lend its grief counselors. "It was a horrible situation which could have been far worse," Bueno said. "As an officer, you see some things and go through some things and you think you're all right, but it catches up to you... We as law enforcement officers protect and serve,... This is a single action by a single person. I ask that the public please not let the actions of one individual reflect on everyone in our department... We serve and protect and we did everything we would to handle the situation as best as we could. We protected the child involved and we made an effective arrest. We did everything in our power every step of the way"... A key part of the investigation is the alleged weapon used in the shooting. Investigators haven't released any details of the weapon or if it was Gonzales' service weapon that was used... [Full article here]

"...She leaves fond memories to be cherished by her mother...her father... her sister... her brothers... and a half-sister... Leslie's pride and joy are her children..."

ONE OF THE SONGS LESLIE HAD ON HER MYSPACE PAGE:

"If Today Was Your Last Day"

[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder child terror brutal texas state politics]

[AZ] Officer Ramirez charged with aggravated assault of his wife and unlawfully firing his weapon

2011-12-15T15:50:00.000-08:00

...OFFICERS ARRESTED [PHOENIX POLICE ARMANDO RAMIREZ] RAMIREZ FOR ALLEGEDLY ASSAULTING HIS WIFE AND DISCHARGING A FIREARM...

PHOENIX OFFICER ACCUSED OF ASSAULTING WIFE IN CASA GRANDE
Tucson Citizen
by William Hermann
Dec. 13, 2011
[Excerpts] A Phoenix police officer who is also a Marine reservist and recently returned from a combat tour in Afghanistan has been arrested on charges of assaulting his wife and discharging a firearm. A Casa Grande police spokesman said Armando Ramirez was arrested Saturday and booked into a Pinal County jail on one count of aggravated assault/domestic violence, one count of disorderly conduct with a weapon and one count of unlawful discharge of a weapon... [Phoenix police spokesman Sgt. Trent] Crump also said Ramirez had previously served 10 years in the Marines and, since joining the Phoenix police, has done a combat tour in Iraq and a recent seven-month stint in Afghanistan... Ramirez has been placed on paid administrative leave and assigned to his home by the Professional Standards Bureau until an investigation is completed... Crump said he had spoken on the telephone with Ramirez. “He said to me that he loves his family very much and is going to do everything possible to make this right,” he said... [Full article here]

PHOENIX POLICE OFFICER ACCUSED OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
azfamily.com
by Jennifer Thomas
azfamily.com
Posted on December 13, 2011
[Excerpts] A Phoenix police officer was arrested on domestic violence charges in Casa Grande over the weekend. Police officers responded to multiple calls of a gunshot in the 1900 block of North Renford Lane early Saturday morning. Police said Casa Grande resident Armando Ramirez, 37, discharged a firearm during a domestic dispute. No one was injured by the gunshot. After further investigation, officers arrested Ramirez for allegedly assaulting his wife and discharging a firearm. Ramirez was booked into the Pinal County Jail for one count of aggravated assault/domestic violence, one count of disorderly conduct with a weapon, and one count of unlawful discharge of a weapon... [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal military ptsd arizona state politics]

[TX] BOLO for Dallas Police Officer Rashad Davis. His girlfriend has "additional protection".

2011-12-14T17:54:00.000-08:00

[Dallas Police] Officer Rashad Davis is armed and possibly avoiding capture. He is wanted for aggravated assault of his girlfriend on Tuesday. He allegedly held a gun to her head during a previous incident... Officers are being instructed that Davis may have a weapon and may be avoiding capture... Experts are finding domestic violence increasingly common in families with officers... So far, Dallas Police have been unable to locate Davis, but they are able to protect his girlfriend... Dallas Police Deputy Chief Sheryl Scott said, "She has taken every precaution to go to some safe surroundings. As far as the danger, we are cautious. We are cautious... We are concerned so much that we put out something letting the officers know that he is wanted on these two warrants, because officers may not know that"...

[UPDATE: DAVIS TURNED HIMSELF IN DECEMBER 16, 2011]

DALLAS POLICE OFFICER ON THE RUN AFTER DOMESTIC ASSAULT
Fort Worth Star Telegram
By Domingo Ramirez Jr.
Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011
[Excerpts] A Dallas police officer accused of assaulting his girlfriend earlier this month was on the run Wednesday as he faces more assault charges, authorities said. An arrest warrant has been issued for Rashad Davis, a four-year veteran of the department, charging him with aggravated assault (family violence). Davis was arrested Dec. 6 by Dallas police on a charge of assault (family violence) involving his live-in girlfriend. He was placed on administrative leave... While on leave, Davis is accused of assaulting his girlfriend a second time... Anyone with information about Davis' location should call 911... [Full article here]

DALLAS POLICE OFFICER BEING HUNTED ON FAMILY VIOLENCE WARRANTS
Dallas Morning News
By Tanya Eiserer/Reporter
Wed., Dec. 14, 2011
[Excerpts] Dallas police are hunting for one of their own in connection with two family violence assault warrants. Officer Rashad Davis, 32, is wanted on one warrant accusing him of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and another for Class A misdemeanor assault. Officers are being instructed that Davis may have a weapon and may be avoiding capture. According to police records, the aggravated assault incident occurred Nov. 15 in the 4200 block of Simpson Stuart Road. Davis' live-in girlfriend told police detectives that he held a gun to her head. The Class A misdemeanor incident occurred Tuesday morning ... "Complainant received visible injuries to her arms, shoulder and back along with pain" the report said... About 10 p.m. Tuesday, Dallas police officers went to the apartment where they attempted to arrest him on the outstanding warrants. A police report states that officers seized police uniforms and ammunition. Davis was placed on administrative leave last week after his girlfriend told police that he had attacked her at their apartment on Dec. 6... She told police that he grabbed her by the throat and pushed her onto the bed. Officers arrested Davis on a Class C misdemeanor charge, which is punishable by a fine of up to $500... [Full article here]

DALLAS POLICE OFFICER WANTED FOR ASSAULT ON GIRLFRIEND
WFAA
by Rebecca Lopez and Shannon Powell
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 11:51 AM
Updated today at 5:44 PM
[Excerpts] Officer Rashad Davis is armed and possibly avoiding capture. He is wanted for aggravated assault of his girlfriend on Tuesday. He allegedly held a gun to her head during a previous incident in November. The department's latest actions come after a shoving incident in which Davis was arrested on a family violence charge against the same live-in girlfriend. He was placed on administrative leave following that December 6 incident. Police officers who know Davis say they have tried contacting him by phone and he is not answering and he has not turned himself in on two outstanding warrants for his arrest. "We are concerned so much that we put out something letting the officers know that he is wanted on these two warrants, because officers may not know that," said Deputy Chief Sherryl Scott. "He might just walk up to them; the officers have no idea what he's been charged with." Davis' girlfriend, who was injured in the last incident, now has additional protection. Police ask the public to call 911 if they see Rashad Davis or know where he is... [Full article here]

DALLAS POLICE SEARCH FOR OFFICER ON THE RUN: Dallas Police are looking for Officer Rashad Davis after issuing a warrant for his arrest on domestic violence charges.
Amber Fisher
The 33 News
December 14, 2011
[Excerpts] Dallas Police are searching for own of their own. Wednesday, police issued an arrest warrant for Officer Rashad Davis, accused of several counts of domestic violence. Police were first called to the apartment Davis shared with his girlfriend on December 6. His girlfriend told police he had grabbed her by the throat and and thrown her onto a bed. Davis was arrested and placed on administrative leave. Tuesday, police were called back to the apartment. Davis girlfriend said he had pushed her to the ground, causing visibile injuries. The victim also told police about a previous incident that occurred a month ago, accusing the 35-year-old officer of holding a work-issued gun to her head... Dallas Police Deputy Chief Sheryl Scott said, "She has taken every precaution to go to some safe surroundings. As far as the danger, we are cautious. We are cautious... We are concerned so much that we put out something letting the officers know that he is wanted on these two warrants, because officers may not know that," Scott said... Experts are finding domestic violence increasingly common in families with officers. Domestic Violence Expert Dianne Samoff said, "When policemen deal with violence all day long, they come home and it's hard to turn that off. Sometimes when the wife does the least thing, he's already so stressed out that it's easy for him to lash back at her." Studies show domestic violence is 2 to 4 times more likely in police families when compared tot he general public. Samoff said,"Victims feel like the police are going to stick together. I'm not saying they will, but you feel like that."... So far, Dallas Police have been unable to locate Davis, but they are able to protect his girlfriend. "She's a victim," Scott said... [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal texas state politics]

[MO] Some system of accountability within law enforcement should have stopped Marvin Rice along his ever-increasing delusional way.

2011-12-14T03:41:00.000-08:00

Annette Durham and Steven Strotkamp's lives

were stolen on December 10th, 2011.

May angels attend them.

The news is full of articles titled "Ex-deputy" did this or that, but beyond that Annette lost her life. She lost everything while trying to deal with the father of her son. She lost life - her son, her daughter, her boyfriend, any chance of anything. Steven, Annette's boyfriend, lost his life too. The articles go into detail about the chase and shootout at a hotel, but don't tell us Annette's plans, fears or premonitions. We learn the shooter's history in law enforcement, but not what Steven was good at or wanted to do. Not what Annette's kids are going to live with - or live without.

Annette and Steven's murderer, Marvin Rice, was a cop in three places before his current job as a state corrections officer. He was fired from the most recent of those jobs and we arent' told and may never know what actually happened at any of them. I can only wonder if Rice had been held accountable instead of shuffled, whether Annette and Steven would be alive. When Rice could just move on from even this last job firing, his idea of what he can do and get away with - his sense of being full of himself - swells. His idea of who he is in this world - bends. Who made the monster? A string of jobs that gave him power over others? Walking away from allegations like a superhero walking through walls? How do you get fired from Dent County Sheriff's Office and hired / entrusted by the State's Missouri Department of Corrections - given such wide-sweeping power and control over people who are caged and who have little voice? Rice must have felt huge and invincible. He could take his and Annette's 2 year old son by force because force and entitlement are the tools he had repeatedly been given - and still had. He felt he could kill anyone who didn't comply, and thought that after the murders but before the chase that he had the authority to stop by his home and bestow custody of his and - now-murdered - Annette's son to his current wife by jotting some of his God words on a piece of paper.

...The 2-year-old boy was dropped off unharmed with Rice's wife, [K.R], along with a handwritten note saying he intended his wife to have permanent physical custody of the child...

Really? Regardless of anything he surely once knew, he thought that he could do that - murder the mother and her boyfriend and then designate reality for the child.

Some system of accountability and monitoring within law enforcement should have stopped Marvin Rice along his ever-increasing delusional way.

I'm sorry for Annette and Steven, for their people, for Marvin's people. I pray Annette's children are raised surrounded in healing love. Condolences also to Marvin's wife.

Put Marvin in the prison he worked in.

Marvin worked for the Houston (Missouri) Police Department, Texas County (Missouri) Sheriff's Department, Dent County sheriff's department, and then allowed to have a job with the Missouri Department of Corrections as a State Correctional Officer at the South Central Correctional Center in Licking.

GIRL, 6, GIVES WITNESS ACCOUNT FROM SCENE OF DOUBLE HOMICIDE
The Columbia Daily Tribune
By BRENNAN DAVID
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
First-degree murder charges were filed yesterday against a former sheriff’s deputy suspected in a Dent County double homicide that led to a Saturday shootout with police at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Jefferson City. Marvin D. Rice, 44, is charged in Dent County for allegedly shooting and killing Steven Strotkamp, 39, and Annette Durham, 32, at their home in Salem. He also was charged in Cole County with assaulting a law enforcement officer and armed criminal action for his role in a hotel shootout after fleeing from police... His son was with Durham at a residence in northern Dent County along with Strotkamp and another of Durham’s children, a 6-year-old girl. The 6-year-old identified Rice to investigators as the man who forced entry before the shooting. “I don’t like Marvin anymore. He killed my mommy,” she told investigators, according to court documents... After the shooting, the girl told investigators, Rice entered the bedroom where she and Rice’s son were hiding and took the 2-year-old from the residence... [Full article here]

EX-MO. DEPUTY CHARGED IN DOUBLE SLAYING, SHOOTOUT
Associated Press
By David A. Lieb
Dec. 12, 2011
[Excerpts] A former Missouri sheriff's deputy was charged Monday with murdering an ex-lover and her boyfriend and then assaulting a law enforcement officer by exchanging gunfire with police at a crowded hotel near the state Capitol. Marvin Rice, who was wounded in the Saturday night shootout, could face life in prison or the death penalty if convicted.... Rice admitted in a hospital room interview that he shot Annette Durham, 32, and Steven Strotkamp, 39... Rice also acknowledged firing at police after leading them on a high-speed chase through rural Missouri that ended 70 miles to the northwest at the Capitol Plaza Hotel, which was packed with hundreds of medical personnel attending a Christmas party... He faces two counts of first-degree murder in Dent County, where prosecutor Sid Pearson said... Rice also faces charges in Cole County of first-degree assault on a law enforcement officer, which is punishable by up to life in prison, and armed criminal action... Rice was demanding custody of his 2-year-old son from Durham. He described Durham and Strotkamp as girlfriend and boyfriend... Durham's 6-year-old daughter, who also was at the home, told police that after the shootings, Rice took her 2-year-old brother from a bedroom where they were hiding... The girl then ran to a neighbor, who called authorities... The 2-year-old boy was dropped off unharmed with Rice's wife, [K.R] , along with a handwritten note saying he intended his wife to have permanent physical custody of the child...[Full article here]

POLICE SAY FORMER SHERIFF'S DEPUTY KILLED EX-WIFE AND HER BOYFRIEND BEFORE SHOOTOUT
Associated Press
Published December 12, 2011
[Excerpts] ...The night's drama began about 70 miles to the southeast in the rural town of Salem, where authorities say former Dent County Sheriff's Deputy Marvin Rice, 44, went to the home of his ex-wife and her current boyfriend, demanding custody of his 2-year-old son and pulling out a handgun during an argument. Annette Durham, 32, and Steven Strotkamp, 39, were fatally shot. Rice fled with the boy... Rice left his son at his home with his current wife, then took off again in his vehicle, said Wayne Becker, an investigator for the sheriff's computer crimes task force who was called in to help track Rice's cell phone signal. Authorities picked up on Rice's cell phone heading north on U.S. 63, and a chase ensued at speeds of up to 100 mph. Rice may have been headed to a mental health facility at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Columbia, Becker said. The right front tire of his vehicle ran over spikes police had placed on the road near the Osage River and gradually deflated before Rice pulled into the parking lot of the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Jefferson City and ran inside, Reinsch said. A Jefferson City police officer was in close pursuit on foot as Rice entered the hotel lobby and ran past the check-in desk. To the right was a ballroom where an estimated 570 people were dancing at the annual Christmas party for employees of the Jefferson City Medical Group. Witnesses said the gunman turned to the left, toward the elevators and a swimming pool area that had just recently been vacated by members of a visiting youth hockey team from the St. Louis area. Then came a loud sound: pop, pop, pop... [Full article here]
[rant police officer involved gypsy cop hop domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder custody divorce danger risk missouri state politics]