Subscribe in a ReaderDomestic Violence and No-Contact Orders
November 1st, 2007 Filed Under Domestic Violence, Legal News
Nina Shapiro, a reporter at Seattle Weekly has written a very insightful article regarding domestic violence at Seattle Municipal Courts. Ms. Shapiro has consistently examined numerous areas of the Washington State Judicial system with a careful eye. Having dealt with Domestic Violence cases in our practice, this was a look at some of the issues that are rarely raised in a public forum, given the emotionally charged nature of these cases.
How the Cops and Courts Turn Abused Spouses Into Voiceless Victims
The “enlightened” approach to domestic abuse has left women passive and powerless.Andrea Rich-Bell waits anxiously in a hallway of Seattle Municipal Court, her heavily pregnant frame wrapped in a bulky black jacket. She’s due to give birth in three weeks, but the baby feels like it might drop any minute. It isn’t lightening her load that her husband, a construction worker named Roy, is in the “tank,” the courthouse’s basement holding cell. Nor that prosecutors are proceeding with a domestic violence case against Roy over her ardent objections.
“It’s more pressure on me,” says the 29-year-old Rich-Bell, who’s had six children with her husband over a 14-year relationship, not counting the one on the way. “I have to deal with all these kids. They don’t look at stuff like that.” Bail was set at $75,000, “like he’s a murderer,” says Rich-Bell.
According to the police report, two 911 calls were made on Sept. 22 at around 11 p.m., one from a witness reporting a fight downtown, the other from Rich-Bell herself claiming that Roy was “freaking out” because he had lost some drugs on a bus. When police arrived, she told them he had been swinging a cell phone charger around in a circle over his head, the report says, and she was fearful he would hit her.
As often happens in domestic violence cases, Rich-Bell is telling a different story now, saying she never called 911 (although Roy’s defense attorney concedes a tape of the call exists) or said anything about drugs. Rich-Bell admits her husband did have a phone charger in his hand and was swinging it, but “not at me.” She says she told the arriving officers that he didn’t do anything to her. “They said, ‘OK, we’ll take him to jail for being intoxicated.’” The next thing she knew, he was being charged with assault in the fourth degree and harassment.
The court also imposed a “no-contact order” that prohibits her from seeing her husband while the case is pending—a period during which she is likely to give birth to their child.
At 9 a.m., Roy’s public defender arrives. Rich-Bell smiles gamely at her, greeting her as an ally. The attorney then goes into a small conference room where prosecutors and defenders discuss possible deals. A short while later, the attorney returns to debrief Rich-Bell on the options. Prosecutors are willing to ask the judge to lift the no-contact—but only, ironically enough, if Roy pleads guilty to assaulting her. If he insists on a trial, the order stays.
“So they’re not going to give him a temporary release for the birth of my child?” Rich-Bell asks.
“Well, we can ask the judge,” the defender replies, adding they would have to set a hearing date on the matter.
Rich-Bell goes down to the tank to meet with Roy and returns with a decision: They will go to trial. The no-contact order will remain in effect for now.
Across town at her South Seattle home, a woman with very different life experiences has been grappling with the consequences of a no-contact order she didn’t want either. Ever since the arrest of her husband, City Council member Richard McIver, on charges related to domestic violence, Marlaina Kiner-McIver, a lawyer who once worked for the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, has indicated that she is displeased at the way events have played out.
“I’m just very frustrated that I can’t talk with my husband,” she says, reached at home by phone. “Let’s just say that if I had to do it over again, I would not have called 911.” Actually, she hung up rather than going through with the call. But when police came anyway, they say, she told them that her husband repeatedly grabbed her by the throat while going on a “profane tirade.” Although Kiner-McIver has said that such an incident never occurred before in their 34-year marriage, it is now largely up to prosecutors and the court to decide what the immediate future will hold.
That’s because it has become routine for no-contact orders to go into effect not only while a case is pending but for a period of two to five years should there be a conviction. In essence, the criminal justice system is forcing couples to separate—whether they want to or not.
That’s a problem, according to several defense attorneys who work frequently on domestic violence cases. “I’m not sure about all this state-mandated intervention in people’s lives,” says Roy’s attorney, Theresa Allman, who works for the Defender Association. “On the majority of my domestic violence cases, probably 90 percent of the time, the victim does not want a no-contact order.” Yet, she says, the victim “is not listened to. She’s not respected. Her opinions are not valued.”
“People have a right to make bad choices,” agrees Pat Valerio, another public defender who works for the Associated Counsel for the Accused. A no-contact order, she says, is supposed to be for the benefit of someone who wants to be protected. It’s not “to have all the power of government coming in and saying, ‘We know better than you; you need to get over this guy.’” The state’s policy, she says, is just another way of overpowering a person who’s supposedly already been overpowered by her partner.
Local practices around domestic violence are the result of a decades-long push by women’s groups and others to get such cases taken more seriously. In 1984, Washington state enacted a law requiring police to make an arrest when they arrive at a scene where they believe domestic violence has occurred. Merril Cousin, executive director of the King County Coalition Against Domestic Violence, says the law followed a number of studies suggesting that arrests reduce recidivism more than, say, “having the guy walk around the block, which is what they used to do.”
Then, she says, later studies argued that “arrests alone are not effective unless there’s accountability” through such things as prosecution, jail time, and no-contact orders. “The problem is that batterers will often continue to harass, intimidate, and control their partners” into not cooperating with the prosecution. So proceeding without such cooperation “sort of became state of the art,” she says, a trend that really picked up in the ’90s.
Cousin confesses to mixed feelings about the result. “We don’t want to say it’s up to the victims for a number of reasons.” For one, she says, domestic violence is a crime and it’s the community’s responsibility, not the victims’, to hold criminals accountable. “On the other hand,” she says, “there are often very good reasons why victims don’t want cases to go forward.” The financial consequences could be steep, for instance, or prosecution could trigger federal laws that would mandate victims’ partners be deported, not something they necessarily want.
“Sometimes victims’ wishes are not considered as strongly as I would like,” she allows. Consequently, she says, “often victims are angry.”
Sharon Hayden, director of the domestic violence unit in the City Attorney’s Office, says part of the reason why she can’t abide by a victim’s stated wishes is that the woman may not express “the deepest desire of her heart.”
“I tell victims when I’m talking to them on the phone, ‘I don’t know if he’s standing there with a gun to you head.’ They laugh and say, ‘Well, he’s not.’ He probably is not.” However, she says, “I’ve prosecuted numerous cases where victims came to court against their will and later thanked me. It’s a dilemma. Do we say, ‘We’re going to take this out of your hands so you’re not in further danger?’ Or do we say, ‘You’re an adult, you’re a self-determining individual, and we will honor that?’”
Making a decision on whether to proceed with a case is “an art, not a science,” she says, one that relies on the experience of police and prosecutors to make case-by-case decisions based on all the evidence at hand, including not only victims’ statements past and present but those of witnesses, photos of the alleged crime, and 911 tapes (all of which can convict a defendant with or without a victim’s cooperation). She says prosecutors also listen to “victim advocates” employed by the City Attorney, who meet with victims separately and push for their point of view within the office— “much more so here than any other place I’ve worked.”
Andrea Rich-Bell says, however, that when she talked to one such victim advocate, “she’s wasn’t helpful. She was, like, ‘This is what the prosecutor recommends.’ She was more on the prosecutor’s side.”
Says Allman: “I don’t know how many victims have said, ‘They’re not listening to me. I want him home.’”
In practice, Allman and other defense attorneys contend, prosecutors are not looking at cases individually. “My concern is there’s sort of a cookie-cutter approach,” says Karen Baker of the Associated Counsel for the Accused. With the specter of famous cases like the Tacoma murder of Crystal Brame by her police chief husband, prosecutors almost always seek and receive no-contact orders due to an assumption that women need to be separated from men who may actually kill them. But, Baker says, “that fear is not valid in the vast majority of cases, and the harm done by prosecutors acting on that fear is a huge problem.”
Baker points, in particular, to the effect of no-contact orders on children. The orders prohibit any communication, “directly or indirectly.” In practice, this often means that a domestic violence defendant can’t even have, say, his mother call to arrange a time for him to see his kids. Hayden, of the City Attorney’s Office, counters that the order would not bar that from happening.
But that’s not what the attorneys who work under Hayden argue in court, according to Baker. What’s more, she says, prosecutors usually fight her requests to include an exception to the order that would allow parental visitation. “Usually I lose,” Baker says. “There are a lot of kids going fatherless while their dads’ cases are pending.”
In theory, women could ignore no-contact orders they didn’t want, and sometimes they do. But their partners will face the consequences if, for example, the two of them are pulled over in a traffic stop. “We try to tell our clients it doesn’t matter who initiates contact,” says Valerio. “If they do anything but hang up the phone or walk away, he’s in violation.” She tells of one case in which her client called 911 because his alleged victim was on his front porch in the middle of the night, screaming. When police arrived, they jailed him for violation of the no-contact order.
“The reality is, many of the people involved in these situations are going to be together, and have families together,” Hayden acknowledges. “People don’t want to split up.” Allman believes that victims are looking for things they’re not getting from the prosecutor’s office: “more reasonable jail time,” perhaps family counseling, and “help at home with child care, the stressors that are causing offender behavior in the first place.”
Andrea Rich-Bell had her baby last week. With a trial set to start this month, Roy was still in jail and prohibited from communicating with his wife. Allman says she doesn’t know whether he heard the news or not.
By Nina Shapiro
October 31, 2007
Domestic violence is a complicated area of law with no easy answers or solutions. However, we should be able to reexamine our judicial system to determine whether processes are dragging to many innocent people into its current.
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10 Responses to “Domestic Violence and No-Contact Orders”
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Good grief! This is my story except for the pregnancy and the charger. My rights were totally taken away. I am very disappointed with the legal system. A child molester can get away with so much more! It makes me sick!
This seems to be my story as well.
America’s judicial system is set up to make America fail. One of the supposed strong points of our country is supposed to be the freedom to decide for yourself, and while I understand that in some cases the woman is being “forced” to drop charges IT IS NOT ALWAYS THE CASE!
I wish I NEVER called the police when he broke my closet door, because that is ALL that he did, and he left. I called because I was worried that it would escalate. I just wanted him to leave the house for the night.
NOW we have a no contact order, and I have a hearing for January 3rd to have it lifted, but the DV Prosecuting Attorney has told me that a “judge” has to decide.
The worst part is that our daughters first Christmas is this year, and the person who is supposed to be on MY side, but I can tell she is not. She is an advocate for womans rights, but only HER idea of what a womans rights are.
AND they didn’t even invite me to the arraignment, and I didn’t go b/c I didn’t think that I needed to, and I was watching my baby instead. I wish I went so I could have spoke my mind. Hell, he SLEPT AT MY HOUSE the night before his arraignment.
We resolved the situation ourselves, we don’t live together anymore. We’ve been getting along much better… for a whole WEEK before they gave the no contact order.
I hope to God that the judge understands.
What can we do to change this!?!
I’d like to give a perspective from the man’s side for a change. Think of this, you have done everything right all your life. You paid taxes, bought your home, worked for the betterment of your family, never struck your wife, and one time your wife gets pissed off at you, throws her cereal in your face, and you try to defend yourself over a 10 second period.
She taunts you, as you pack to get out for a while so she can cool off, and you stupidly throw it back in her face “Go ahead call the police”. Next thing you are in handcuffs, spending the next 36 hours in a cold jail sleeping on the cement floor. You are brought before the judge in handcuffs and schackles, where he puts a 5 year do not contact order in place. Sound reasonable?
I cannot go home or within 250 feet of it for any reason. I am no longer capable of performing one of my responsibilities for one of my businesses, which may lead to its failure. Sound Reasonable?
Does government belong in this role of mandating guilt where none exists, or taking away civil rights at the drop of a hat? If I want to live like this, I’ll move to Russia.
It’s happening to me too. What a total nightmare. Someone needs to get rid of this Draconian law.
Yes. I think the no contact law is bullshit. Well, unless it’s a big offense (like i.e. beating the hell out of you) I think jail time is bullshit. Have had 2 incidents. Both are very displeasing and show how the law can be a bunch of idiots.
1. Distant Past: Dating a guy, we lived together. At first, he would push me….got over it, talked about it etc. Thought past was past…yadda, yadda, yadda. After a while wwe starting fighting again. I told him to move out (The leas was in my name). Then, he went completely crazy on me. Beat me up to let me lay on the floor. Luckily, my phone was by me. I didn’t even call the police…I called my Aunt…she called the cops. All I could do was lay there. From that I had at least 8 bruises along with everything else that hurt. I followed through with everything. This guy gets of with 2 months jail time…tell me that?
2. 5 years later…left the past behind. Got married. Now, me and my husband are arguing. He Hits my arm. Whether accidental or not I call the cops because…been there. Not going to live through that again right? Now mind you we have a kid together. No contact…we only have one vehicle at the time (well, because of gas prices). Now, how the hell am I supposed to do anything? I’ve tried talking to the states attorney…nothing. She’s a victims advocate….oooohhh. My husband and I have come to work things out.
The thing I don’t get is why are they trying so hard to prosecute him (they want in jail for at least 2 yrs) yet the guy that actually beat me up walks free with only 2 months?…
This is actually starting to scare me. What scares me is that this seems to be happening everywhere and I’m hearing the same stories over and over again.
I’m from Ontario Canada and it’s the same up here. I was doing research for the site in the link on my signature and I came across this site.
My story is a little different though. My wife is bipolar and she mixed meds with alcohol which triggered an rapid cycling anger episode and she called 911. When they arrived they charged me immediately after noticing a scratch she had suffered earlier…and I mean just that a scratch. They asked her if I did it and she said no many, many times. The responding officer called her a liar in my presence and his partner handcuffed me and they took me away. (What scares me even more is that my wife used to be in landscaping 2 years ago and did tile work, bush planting, digging, stump removal etc. If she had that job now and the resulting scratches and bruises, would I have been blamed for causing them because a police officer imagines it?)
From holding cells to actual jail until bail could be arranged (my wife managed to call everyone in my cell phone and there was a troupe in court), and then the no contact rule, as well as using all savings for attorneys etc. I’ve just been informed that the case will not be going to trial until at least February 2009 and I will be a part from my family during that time. (In my case 500 feet) I was the major bread winner of the family, but because of the nature of the charge and no contact rule they also told me that I cannot give my wife money directly or it would look like coercion. My wife as a result is raising our 9 month old alone with nothing, had to go on social assistance which is an even further drain on the economy, and I will miss my older stepsons first day back at school, our sons first birthday, his first words, and his first steps, along with Christmas New Years and our anniversary.
They conducted no investigation and I have absolutely no criminal record, never even been charged for anything in 36 years. I work in a high security field and I have always kept my nose clean because I know my chosen field would require a criminal record check which is now also in jeopardy. If they manage to get this to go through or try to get me to deal so this ends sooner, I will be unable to find employment in my field. If they had just spent some time they would have discovered nothing at all happened, but the police, crown, everyone involved just doesn’t seem to care that they have ripped a family a part for a crime that never even took place. That is not justice.
Oh wow! I never thought that I would be in company of others who are dealing with the same issue!
My loving wife got hammered one evening and decided to get into an argument with me because she was drunk and wanted to watch something else on t.v. long story short. the 911 call was placed and hung up immediately because no crime was committed by either party and it was stupid drunk argument on both sides about it. i was getting ready to go half a mile to my parents house where they live when the police showed up. literally im outside getting ready to leave and they are there. they start pressuring me and questioning me as well as her. then asked a simple question about how i got literally a baby scratch like u could do it with a fingernail. which by the way happenned when we were making love earlier that evening. i explained how, next thing i know my wife is being taken out of the house in handcuffs. my children are asleep or so i thought. They witnessed mommy being taken away by the police. what kind of impact does that have on them? yeah, you can do the math! i get this victims packet like im some sort of victim. the jail is closed sunday and so i had to explain to the kids why mommy was gone, without making her be seen in a bad light nor the police as they need to grow up respecting them. monday i go to the arraignment and we are slapped with a no contact order which neither of us wanted. and its a protection order. “from what” my wife changing the channel on the television? come on what an abuse of power by the state, the officers are doing they’re job because this is the only mandate that they cannot use judgement on or they will be fired. its a glitch in the system. i will probably be deploying before this is over. my family wont survive financially and/or relationship wise because of this no contact order and the worst part about it is that it was over something soo stupid! i understand that in certain circumstances this may be justified if someone was beaten or a real crime committed but come on how dumb is this law? so far the 2nd week into this i have spent over $6000.00 dollars which was supposed to be for sustaining my family while im overseas as an emergency fund. now i may forced to be overseas fighting for our country and our freedom while my very own is being infringed upon by the state. not able to talk to my family via any communication while halfway around the world. where i could die at any moment. how messed up is that? that should be illegal! whoever created this law in 1985 may had good intentions but has overstepped their boundaries. what i want to know is how can we band together to get our rights and civil liberties rightfully back. so that this does’nt go on anymore. we are in 2008 almost 2009 thats 23 years of this nonsense. its time to fix this garbage mandate. police officer’s need to have more options in such cases as well as victim’s, defendants. its should be in the couple’s hands if they want to stay together or separate. not the state’s misguided regulation. furthermore, why in the world as the alleged victim am i getting propaganda which is all about a female being the victim. that is sexist and discriminatory! to say the least i am not a happy camper in the least bit and i will be heard as soon as i find out how to make my voice heard rest assured i will do so even if it takes 5 years. the legal system is supposed to be fair and non bias but its clear and evident that it is not the case. By the way, in my personal opinion the victim’s advocates are a joke and a waste of the tax payers dollars for the most part. they really dont do anything for you and can care less about the individual, they ARE NOT the VOICE of the victim as they self proclaim. you are better off getting a child to be your voice than the advocate. In my case i wanted the best attorney as my legal council and it broke the bank but it may be worth it, i will know tomorrow after i see the judge. for those of you who are victim’s and are upset YOU ARE NOT ALONE! the big question is how do we the people fix this faulty law? who do we talk to and how do we get this changed so others dont have to deal with this nightmare? this is NOT justice nor is this the intention of the person who put this in place, they must not have thought it through all the way before putting it in place.
Nick, so what happened after the judge?
no-contact order was lifted. charges will be dropped.
Please help with any advice whatsoever. I am the Victim - So the prosecuting atorneys office states. No-one will listen to me. My husbad had his arraingment and they said I not need to be there. I wrote a statment, though seems that it was ignored becsuse they said at his arraingment how do they know I really wrote it. (Because the Prosecuting attorneys office told me I could write it and send it in, so I did) Now I get a letter saying she’s from the Prosecuting attorneys office and victims advocate and here to help and direct me in a ny way. BS - They don’t give a crap that this was a Huge mistake, I big mistake, they just want to prosecute. {My daughter go scared, during a 5 min fight, husband trew a cup, she called 911 - No joke - Husband went to Jail}! MY Husband HAS NO criminal record and this has never happened EVER, I had not one scratch on me.
The cop was unpleaseant and now theres a “No Contact order” and the Next hearing is in a MONTH.
Now WHAT - Just wait??!!! I can’t do that, They also won’t even help try to get it lifted.
From all the comments I have read, Yes I agree a victim is someone that needs/wants help, who was hurt and bruised, or it has been an ongoing thing.
I am not the victim,and my husband is not the criminal. ANY advice would be so appreciated.
I talked with a lawyer and I can’t afford 6 thousand dollars.