With Three Domestic Violence Murders in Three Years, Advocates Say Problem Not Going Away
April 18, 2012

Over the past three years, all murders that have occurred in Petaluma have been domestic violence-related, pointing to a serious problem in the community, say advocates.

In 2010, Buapha Mullennix, a 37-year old Thai immigrant was shot in the face by her husband after he learned she was having an affair. Her husband is now on trial, although he says he shot the petite Buapha is self-defense.

Last July, Marin County Sheriff’s Deputy Jim Mathiesen was killed, along with the gunman, after he went to the Liberty Lane home of a friend whose boyfriend was stalking her after she told him the relationship was over.

On Sunday, 43-year-old Kim Conover became the latest victim, evidence that domestic violence exists in every community, no matter how otherwise peaceful or affluent, according to domestic violence experts.

“Domestic violence is the number one cause of injury for women in the United States and it crosses all cultural and economic lines,” said Jacque Reid, a navigator at the Family Justice Center in Santa Rosa, a one-stop shop run by Sonoma County where victims can apply for a restraining order, find shelter and if they are not citizens or permanent residents of the U.S. obtain legal and procedural advice from a bilingual caseworker.

“Sometimes when you live in a community where the neighbors aren’t as close, no one knows about what’s going because they are less likely to hear it,” Reid said.

Facing an abusive husband, Kim Conover tried to get a restraining order from the local courts, but then suddenly reversed course and asked that her request be dropped, according to court records.

At a March 27 hearing at the Sonoma County Superior Court Family Law division, Conover said that she no longer needed a restraining order. Then, after another altercation with her estranged husband, she changed her mind and sought an emergency restraining order from the Petaluma Police, which was denied by a Sonoma County judge. (Patch is trying to find out why)

Less than a week later Conover was dead, killed by her husband who then turned the gun on himself.

Reached by phone, Jeffrey Zimmerman, Kim Conover’s divorce attorney confirmed that she had pulled her restraining order application, but said he could not divulge as to why due to attorney-client privileges.

But Jennifer Lake, a director of operations at the YWCA of Sonoma County, which receives 2,500 hotline calls each year and houses 210 women and children fleeing domestic violence, says this happens all too often.

“There could be many reasons for it: threats to herself, the family or their children, threats of fleeing with the children and not seeing them or promises to leave her alone or feeling it would get better,” Lake said.

If Conover had succeeded in getting a restraining order, her husband's weapons would have been removed from his home as well as prevented him from purchasing new ones, potentially averting the tragedy.

"It's true that a restraining order is just a piece of paper, but it’s one tool among many and it’s important because it’s one step toward empowering victims," Lake said.

Experts say that the height of danger for a victim is when they finally leave their abuser, as Conover did several months ago moving to her parents home in West Petaluma. This is the time when an abuser often feels threatened and goes into panic mode, she said.

“We have to educate the community about the dynamics of domestic violence and what a healthy relationship looks like…but to this day people who have not experienced it don’t believe it’s happening in their backyard. The issue is minimized.”

At the Sonoma County Family Justice Center, located in Santa Rosa and which opened last fall, victims of domestic violence are matched up with a “navigator” who guides them through available resources, whether or not they want to press charges. But funding has been extremely tight and cuts have left just four trained domestic violence advocates who serve the entire county.

“What these murders say to me that there needs to be more focus on advocacy services for victims of domestic violence,” Lake said. “If they get the support they need, they can continue on the journey of getting restraining orders, otherwise they are left to their own devices.”
Related Topics: Conover murder.

I am glad you are highlighting the issue of domestic violence but i am wondering what justify posting this picture? I did not know the family at all but just thinking for one moment, if it were me i would never want such a picture to be published. Images stay on the internet for a good long while and i would never want my son to see this and have this as an image of me. This is a small town, let's all have respect for each other and the lives that have been lost.

Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole Speaks at the 12th Annual International Family Justice Center Conference
April 18, 2012

Good morning.   Thank you, Casey for that kind introduction.   I’d like to also thank you, Gael, and each of you here for your tireless work to protect victims of family violence.

It is a distinct honor to address all of you at the Twelfth Annual International Family Justice Center Conference.    The leadership that Casey Gwinn and Gael Strack provide in the Family Justice Center movement is invaluable.   The Department of Justice recognized your work during the past year, when Gael received the Department’s Innovation in Victim Services Award, and when the Attorney General selected Casey as a Finalist for the Anthony Sutin Civic Imagination Award, for his visionary thinking over the last 25 years.  

I also want to acknowledge and thank the City of New Orleans, the Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans, and all of the staff, partners, and allies of the New Orleans Family Justice Center who are with us today.    Your determined work to serve victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, no matter the odds, and your journey from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to the development of the New Orleans Family Justice Center is truly an inspiration for us all.             

The problems of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse continue to have a severe impact on our society, and we have much work left to do in this area. As each of you know, these devastating crimes impact not only the immediate victims, but their families, neighbors, friends, and indeed their entire communities.  It is a problem that affects people of every background, ethnicity, age, ability or sexual orientation.  

Despite significant progress, 1 in 4 women and 1 in 13 men will experience domestic violence in their lifetimes.   Nearly 1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men in the United States have been raped at some time in their lives.   Each day, on average, three women die in America as a result of domestic violence.   In fact, these numbers probably understate the problem. We all know that too many cases are not reported because victims are ashamed or afraid to tell the police, friends, or family about the abuse.   

Children who are victimized or who witness violence in their families or communities suffer in unimaginable ways.  Their own development can be tragically arrested and they may find themselves later involved with the court system as delinquents, runaways, or even perpetrators of violence against others.  These children are at a higher risk for school failure, substance abuse, repeat victimization and perhaps most tragically, for becoming violent adults themselves.  
 
This incidence of violence is simply unacceptable, and we must do everything possible to end it.  

While the Department of Justice does a great deal in this area, it is committed to doing more to serve survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse and to prevent these terrible crimes from occurring in the first place.   That is why, led by the excellent work of the Office on Violence Against Women, we are working to support a coordinated community response to address the causes and consequences of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and child abuse.   Of course, the Department has an important role in prosecuting the perpetrators of some of the worst of these crimes, and bringing them to justice. But to truly address this problem, the Department must do much more than simply bringing cases to court when we have jurisdiction.   We must treat domestic violence and sexual assault not just as a criminal justice issue, but also as a public health threat that requires sustained attention from entire communities.  

This means adopting a broad approach, partnering with state, local, and tribal law enforcement, faith-based organizations, advocates, and survivors.   Together, we must find practical, common-sense solutions that are grounded in survivors’ real world experiences.   We must identify and foster the most effective and innovative ideas to address these problems.   And we must give survivors hope and support, so that their lives are not defined solely by the violence of their darkest moments.

That’s why the work of family justice centers is so vitally important.   You are doing all this and more.  

The family justice centers are based on the simple notion that victims of domestic violence and their children, who are already suffering so much, should not have to go from place to place to get the help they need.    By giving victims access to trained advocates, police officers, prosecutors, judges, medical professionals, and others in one location, family justice centers offer a practical solution to problems that can seem overwhelming to victims.   By providing comprehensive services in one location, the centers enhance victims’ safety, and make it more likely that they can successfully navigate the criminal and civil justice processes.   Many family justice centers are now seeing the benefits of co-location for survivors of sexual assault and child abuse, and are expanding their collaborative partnerships and their range of services to address these crimes.  

We have seen what this actually means for communities, and we know it saves lives.   Thanks to the patience and persistence of Casey and Gael in San Diego, since 2002 when the city began co-locating services, domestic violence homicides have plummeted.  

The Department of Justice is proud to support these vital centers, and we are particularly proud of our work with the New Orleans Family Justice Center, founded on the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.   The New Orleans center has already dramatically improved services for victims of domestic violence in this city.   It is a truly remarkable achievement.   

After Katrina, like so much else, the criminal justice system and victim support services in New Orleans were devastated.    The infrastructure previously available to address violence against women was severely damaged, and the city lost many of its victims’ services organizations entirely.   But there was an amazing will in this community – across a wide range of stakeholders and elected offices   – to create a brighter future in the wake of that tragic loss.  

And you have succeeded.   Under the leadership of Mary Claire Landry, and the strong support of the City and Mayor Landrieu, our own United States Attorney Jim Letten and the Office on Violence Against Women, Catholic Charities, the District Attorney’s Office, the New Orleans Police Department, and others, the New Orleans Family Justice Center has brought together police officers, prosecutors, advocates, social service providers, and civil legal professionals in an unprecedented collaboration to aid victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse.   It has become a model for other family justice centers that are still in the planning or early stages.   This extraordinary partnership is making more and more of a difference everyday in the lives of survivors across the country.

Let me talk for a moment about the pending reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.   This law is an important reminder of the progress we have made as a nation, and the challenges we must overcome in the years ahead.   Since enactment of this landmark legislation, we have witnessed a sea-change in the ways that communities respond to violence against women.  Perhaps most importantly, it brought the issues of domestic violence and sexual assault out of the shadows, reflecting the broad national consensus that we must work together to end domestic violence and sexual assault.  

The law takes a comprehensive approach to violence against women by combining tough new penalties to prosecute offenders with programs to aid the victims of such violence, and it created the Department’s Office on Violence Against Women to support a sustained federal response to the problem.   It has also brought a critical shift in how the issue of violence against women is addressed in the United States -- encouraging jurisdictions to bring together stakeholders from diverse backgrounds to share information and to use their distinct roles to improve and expand the community responses to violence against women.

VAWA also provides vital funding that allows family justice centers to bring the coordinated community response to new levels.   All of these changes have had an enormous positive impact on communities throughout America.   The Department strongly supports reauthorization of VAWA.   It is a critical tool that enables us to invest in our nation’s response to these crimes, ensure that perpetrators are held accountable, and provide victims access to the safety and justice they need and deserve.

At the same time, our experience since the Act’s initial passage shows how much more must be done.   There are still too few resources to go around.   Providing support in rural communities, support for victims in need of civil legal services, and support for victims who become homeless as result of the violence that they experience, remains a critical challenge.    Many of the most vulnerable victims face the greatest obstacles in obtaining the services they need.   This is particularly true for many American Indian and Alaska Native women, because tribes often lack the resources to support domestic violence and sexual assault survivors.

 I want to challenge all of you to continue building partnerships and alliances among those who are working to combat this problem – across government and in private or faith-based organizations.  Resources are becoming scarcer even as the demand for services is increasing.  But remember that all of you are more powerful working together than you are in working in isolation.  

Law enforcement agencies and community-based agencies need to work together much more closely if we are ever going to address the demand for services we are facing.  None of us can solve this crisis alone.  But by working together, by using every tool at our disposal and by refusing to ever back down or give up, we can make a real difference in our homes, in our communities, in our nation, and around the world.  

 The Family Justice Center model is one of the leading life-saving, community-based policing strategies in this country.   We applaud you for showing us how to do it right, how to be responsive to all the needs of victims and their children, and how to ultimately break the generational cycle that destroys the lives of women, men, and families.

 Thank you for all you do and all you will do with the inspiration and information you gain at this conference.  You have the power to change the world, and we will all be forever grateful for your commitment to that end.

Medical Personnel Learn to Collect Forensic Evidence
April 13, 2012

Physician residents and nurses at the LSU Health Sciences Center-Monroe got a lesson on Thursday in how to administer sexual assault exams and collect forensic evidence in a way that can help law enforcement officials.

To mark Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the hospital hosted a training session through which the health professionals learned from trained Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners how to properly conduct a pelvic exam and how to collect forensic evidence.

"The residents who come through have never had any training in doing a sexual assault exam. They don't know how to do anything about forensic evidence collection," said Dr. Teri O'Neal, emergency staff physician and coroner. "They know how to test for things, look for medical exams and treat injuries, but when it comes to preservation of forensic evidence, their education frequently is lacking."

But it's important to preserve any forensic evidence and clearly label it to identify the chain of command, she said. That's why physician residents got a "how to" lesson on the elements of a Personal Injury Recovery Kit, the steps to take when recovering evidence, how to store it, and how to Northeast Louisiana has seen its fair share of sexual assault cases.

In 2011, 109 sexual assaults were reported to law enforcement in northeastern Louisiana, with eight parishes reported. This represents 37.5 per 100,000 inhabitants compared to 27.2 in Louisiana and 27.5 in the U.S., according to the Wellspring.

"We have a really high incidence of domestic violence and sexual assault in this area, and a lot of it involves pediatrics, and I think people don't realize that as well. We have as many pediatric cases as we have adults," O'Neal said.

Last month, Rhenda Hodnett, a child welfare administrator with the Louisiana Department of Children and Families, said in fiscal year 2011, the department investigated 438 allegations of sexual abuse in the northeastern Louisiana-Monroe region, and there was sufficient evidence to validate 117 of them. There are various criteria and categories the department uses to validate cases of sexual abuse, and in some cases, one victim could have multiple allegations, Hodnett said.

O'Neal said she didn't know why northeastern Louisiana's numbers show an unusual prevalence, but she said possible reasons could be an under-educated, low-income or low-socioeconomics population.

Plus, it may be that because of more awareness events such as these, more people are reporting in our area, she said.

She noted the repercussions of sexual assault.

The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control in 2003 reported that sexual assault contributes to more than $858.6 million in lost productivity; $4.1 billion in health care and mental health services for victims; and more than $5.8 billion to incarcerate convicted perpetrators.

For victims, it can damage them physically, mentally and emotionally, she said.

"They may become abusers, they may allow abuse to go on because in the back of their head they're thinking, 'This is how it's supposed to be, this is what I went through, therefore, I can't do anything about it,'" O'Neal said. "It's a cascade that spills over and over into other parts of their lives."

For children, it can impair their social skills to where they become afraid to trust or they may express their problems as anger toward other children.

Physically they may have chronic problems with scarring, fertility problems, or communicable diseases.

She said those who have been sexually abused should consult the Family Justice Center or the Wellspring in Monroe.

Shasta Family Justice Center Hosts Sock Hop and Ice Cream Social
April 13, 2012

The Shasta Family Justice Center (SFJC) will kick off the Kool April Nights events as they host the Second Annual Sock Hop and Ice Cream Social at the Redding Civic Auditorium on Monday, April 16, 2012 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.  Tickets are $5 and kids under 10-years-old are free.  Tickets can be purchased at Leatherby’s Family Creamery in Downtown Redding, the Redding Civic Auditorium, online at www.shastafjc.org or at the door.

The Sock Hop will include dancing to the oldies with DJ Wade Riggs, Kool Cars Display, Swing Dancing Lessons, Dance & Costume Contests, Presentations from WE Multimedia Theatre Group, Make your own Mary’s Pizza Shack Bambino Pizza, 50’s era food and beverages and more.  Just for the kids, the event will host Carnival Style Games, Bounce Houses, Face Painting, Balloon Animals and more.

As part of the event, the SFJC and Leatherby’s will be hosting an Ice Cream Making contest.  Participants are required to register at Leatherby’s for $10 per flavor.  They will receive a container and official rules for the event.  Each entry will only require one pint of ice cream and will need to be dropped off at Leatherby’s by April 13, 2012 at 6 p.m.  The winner of the contest will have their ice cream featured as the flavor of the month at Leatherby’s and receive $100’s in gift certificates to local restaurants.  There will also be prizes for second and third place.

The Shasta Family Justice Center provides co-located services for victims of family violence under one roof.  By housing a multi-disciplinary team of professionals, the Center is reducing the number of times a victim has to retell their story and number of places they have to travel to get the help they need.  In our first 18-months of operation, the SFJC received more than 4,000 visits for service.  For a full list of on and off site partners please visit www.shastafjc.org

“We wanted to host an event the whole family can enjoy,” said SFJC Executive Director Michael Burke.  “This is an event where families can dance, eat and most important laugh together.  We are hoping children and adults will make memories that will last a lifetime.”

Various levels of sponsorships are still available.  For more information or to become involved please visit www.shastafjc.org or call (530) 243-8868.

City to Set Up One-Stop-Shop for the Abused
May 07, 2012

Acting Mayor Rodrigo Duterte backed the idea of putting a one-stop-shop at the compound of Southern Philippines Medical Center catering to victims of domestic violence

Speaking in the public affairs program, “Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa,” he said that the move was proposed by Gabriela Partylist Representative Luzviminda Ilagan urging to speed up the government intervention in providing assistance, especially the battered women and children.

Duterte said the one-stop-shop will comprise members of the Women’s and Children’s Desk of the Davao City Police Office and lawyers.

He said clients will be provided medical assistance by doctors at the SPMC, then they will be interviewed right in the premises of the hospital with the corresponding legal assistance and protection order from barangay captain.

“Victims do not have to spend more for their fare.  They can be attended immediately within the hospital premises,” Duterte said.

He said he will look for funds for the construction of an office within the hospital compound for the legal and police assistance of the victims.

Duterte said under the proposed setup, victims would no longer have to do around the respective offices of the police and the city prosecutor to file cases.

“The fiscal has to come to facilitate in the swearing in of the complainants’ affidavits,” he said.