Domestic Violence Protective Orders

On July 2nd, 2004, Christopher Rezos was arrested & charged with attempted aggravated murder for trying to kill his wife, but, being a first-time offender, he was released after posting bond. Three weeks later, he tracked her down and shot her twice in the back of the head. While in jail, he tried to hire a hitman to kill his wife, her mother, and her brother. Last Wednesday he was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

This particular case is better known to us in and around Cincinnati because it happened here—at least up in Butler County, but, sadly, incidents such as this aren’t that rare of a thing. An article in the Enquirer the beginning of this month reported that “the Ohio Domestic Violence Network said there were 93, 436 domestic-violence calls in 2003, compared with 22, 486 in 2002; and in 2003, alone, there were more than 25,000 arrests on domestic violence charges.”

On May 21, 1999, Jessica Gonzales obtained a restraining order against her husband, in Castle Rock, Colorado. He proceeded, on June 22nd., to abduct and murder their three children, aged 10, 9 and 7, while she fought more with police and procedure. That case is now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court spawning from a civil action against the Castle Rock police department to determine their liability for failing to enforce the restraining order against the husband. The National Association of Women Lawyers/ National Crime Victim Bar Association’s brief is posted on the ABA website.

On Feb. 10th., largely through the efforts of Rezos’ wife and her family, H.B. 29 was introduced, seeking to strengthen the rules judges have to follow in determining bond for first-time domestic violence offenders, specifically that “a person charged with committing an offense of violence against a family or household member appear before the court for the setting of bail,” rather than the current requirement of being subject to a protective order. (S.B. 54 is a second version, now in the Senate)

Here in Cincinnati, the Abused Women’s Active Response Emergency (ABUSE) program was announced Wednesday, allowing victims to hit an alarm in their homes or in a pendant worn around the neck that will trigger a silent call for help from police. ADT Security Services, which is providing this service free of charge, initiated the program -- the first of its kind in the state-- back in 1992, implementing similar ones in 174 cities since. (See posting)

The situation as widespread as it is, most states have provision. Violence Against Women Online Resources has a linked summary of “individual state laws and policies regarding restraining orders” posted on the Internet.