When protection orders don't help

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by hacon1, Feb 11, 2008.


  1. hacon1

    hacon1 Monkey+++

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    When protection orders don't help

    Ready to live after playing dead


    Saturday, February 9, 2008 3:03 AM
    By John Futty and Misti Crane
    THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

    The bullet slammed into her back, tore through her liver and exited her abdomen.

    Amanda Groves collapsed in front of her Hilliard home and lay still as her estranged husband stood over her, gun in hand, and kicked her in the face.

    Playing dead probably saved her life.

    Less than five months later, Groves is back working as a waitress, still mending, and counting her blessings after learning about two other women who were attacked by estranged husbands in Ohio this week.

    "It was a miracle," she said of surviving the .38-caliber bullet fired by William Groves, who used the same gun to take his own life inside the house seconds later.

    She has avoided watching the news since then, but she heard about Christi Layne, the Portsmouth teacher who was critically injured this week when she was stabbed by William "Mike" Layne in her classroom Thursday. Mr. Layne fatally shot himself after officers followed him to his house.

    On Monday, Stacey Lee Znamenacek of Canal Winchester was shot to death by Michael Znamenacek, who jumped on the hood of her car near Lithopolis and fired through the windshield. He killed himself with a handgun after driving off in a minivan.

    Like those women, Groves had a civil protection order against her estranged husband, who she'd left after little more than a year of marriage. Asked how much protection the order provided, Groves held it up and said, "One month and a few days after it was filed, he shot me."

    Groves, 32, said he had stalked her in silence since she left him in June, finally confronting and assaulting her and a male friend at Griggs Reservoir in early August. Prosecutors declined to file charges, but she was granted the protection order because of the altercation. Mr. Groves continued to follow her, usually taking care to stay beyond the 500-foot limit set by a judge.

    "He was very smart about it," Groves said. She twice complained about his behavior, she said, but police didn't take action, and they told her they have no record of the complaints.

    Protection orders can sometimes provoke abusers, domestic-violence experts say. But, in general, they are thought of as useful, particularly in terms of giving law enforcement and the courts a tool to use against offenders.

    "It sort of cuts both ways," said Phyllis Carlson-Riehm, executive director of the Action Ohio Coalition for Battered Women.

    A protection order gives credence to a victim's complaints and provides evidence that she's serious about ending the abuse, she said.

    "Usually, we encourage people to take that step, but we realize it can cause more violence. … A protective order is a piece of paper, and a bullet can go through it and a knife can slash it."

    In a paper published last year, Judy Postmus of Rutgers University evaluated the research on protection orders and the negative assumptions surrounding them, including the belief that they aren't useful.

    Postmus, a social-work professor and director of the Center for Violence Against Women and Children, concluded that if the abuse is severe and long-lasting, a protection order might be ineffective and cause more problems for the victim.

    She said they should be pursued on a case-by-case basis and stressed the importance of courts and law enforcement taking protection orders seriously.

    "We really have to go with the judgment of the woman and that she knows her partner the best," Postmus said in an interview yesterday.

    Knowing who might respond appropriately to the orders is difficult, and some researchers are trying to develop risk assessments, she said.

    Groves encourages women with protection orders to make co-workers, family and friends aware of the situation.

    "Tell everybody," she said. "Make it known. And make a police report about every little thing that happens."

    Groves said she never imagined that her husband, who said he hated guns and never abused her while they were together, would try to kill her. In the hours before the Sept. 29 shooting, he made a video in which he calmly detailed what he was about to do, then broke into her house and waited for her to come home.

    He began firing from the darkness when she pushed open the door. One of the bullets struck her as she turned and ran.

    She spent 23 days in intensive care at Ohio State University Medical Center, nearly dying of blood loss the day after the shooting. She endured four surgeries and has a jagged, 12-inch scar down her abdomen.

    "I'm in a lot of pain," she said. "I'm very uncomfortable. I still can't lay flat. There are a lot of things I can't do."

    With no source of income during her recovery, Groves returned to work at Scrambler Marie's in Hilliard in early January, two months sooner than doctors advised. She and her 10-year-old son are living with family. She is seeing a counselor.

    She doesn't know what her future holds, but she said she won't let her late husband rob her of it.

    "I haven't come this far to let that happen."
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  2. monkeyman

    monkeyman Monkey+++ Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Orders of protection work great. After they walk through that piece of paper you shoot them then hand the piece of paper to responding officers as documentation that you were afraid for your life.
     
  3. E.L.

    E.L. Moderator of Lead Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Me thinks that the concealed carry license is a lot better piece of paper for these ladies.
     
  4. Tango3

    Tango3 Aimless wanderer

    form govt 1911??
     
  5. Tracy

    Tracy Insatiably Curious Moderator Founding Member

    ...after they kill the victim.

    A lot of abused women don't tell. No one outside of those closed doors has a clue, until it's too late.
     
  6. misty

    misty Monkey+++

    Protection orders don't stop bullets. Wish more women would wisen up and get their permit to carry concealed. Even if she didn't have her permit yet - better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.
     
  7. ColtCarbine

    ColtCarbine Monkey+++ Founding Member

    You guys are so pessimistic, don't cha know the po-po will protect you [troll]

    Welcome to the Monkey misty [beer]
     
  8. ozarkgoatman

    ozarkgoatman Resident goat herder

    I think that more people should just relize that the 2nd Admendment already covers them and do it. Yes I understand there are Un-Constitutional laws to deal with but if enough people would just wake up and not beg for the rights they already have, then the courts would never be able to get convictions on crap that is Un-Constitutional. Don't worry I'm not holding my breath on this happening.

    OGM

    BTW E.L. the rant was not directed towards you just because I quoted you. [beer]
     
  9. E.L.

    E.L. Moderator of Lead Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    I agree wholeheartedly, I am just not willing to chance a felony in the process.
     
  10. BAT1

    BAT1 Cowboys know no fear

    A gun in hand is better than a cop on the phone. Prevents tyranny of any form.
     
  11. misty

    misty Monkey+++

    Very true! .357 Sig is much better equipped to handle a situation than 9-1-1.
     
  12. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    I'll take the felony before the tombstone. [boozingbuddies][coffee2]
     
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