Legislature cracks down on domestic abuse
Proposed bill suggests stricter penalties
Derrick Knutson
Review Staff
Representatives from the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women presented a legislative proposal last week with the goal of reducing domestic abuse crime in Minnesota. The legislation, presented at the State Office Building in St. Paul on Feb. 9, came with the Coalition's annual report of fatalities related to domestic violence in 2009.
ThaoMee Xiong, the public policy specialist for the MCBW, presented a report that detailed how many people were killed as a result of domestic violence last year, and how those deaths occurred. According to the report, at least 28 people died last year as a direct result of domestic violence, one of those being North St. Paul Police Officer Rick Crittenden.
Crittenden was killed in the line of duty while responding to a domestic dispute between a man and his estranged wife at the Aspen Village Apartments in North St. Paul on Labor Day of last year. The man, Devon Dockery, disarmed Crittenden and killed him with his own gun. Maplewood Police Officer Julie Olson, who responded to the scene with Crittenden, shot and killed Dockery after he attacked her.
"If we want to end domestic violence, we need to strengthen our system's responses, invest in prevention, and engage men and boys in this fight to end domestic violence, or we can continue to pay the high price of domestic violence in our community, which is the loss of life," Xiong said.
Of the 28 deaths last year, Xiong said three involved cases where no-contact orders were in place between the perpetrator and the victim, which was the case when Crittenden was shot and killed
State Sen. Chuck Wiger, DFL-Maplewood, is one of the authors of the legislation that seeks to make it tougher for domestic abusers to violate orders for protection.
Xiong said the legislation includes strengthening the language in orders for protection, clarifying stalking legislation, increasing the tools available to the criminal justice system for setting bail and pre-trial release of offenders. It will also include mechanisms to better protect personal information on domestic violence and sexual assault victims, she said.
"You can never say if any of this (proposed legislation) would have prevented something, but it further regulates and further addresses that whole public safety issue," Wiger said in a phone interview last week.
Jennifer Denmark, a survivor of domestic violence, was on-hand to share her story at the State Office Building last week.
Denmark's husband had abused her verbally, emotionally and physically for 17 years before she decided to leave him in early 2008. She said she was afraid for her life and the lives of her three children, but she had to leave to stop the cycle of abuse. About a year later, her now-deceased husband found them and attempted to kill Denmark and one of her daughters with a knife, she told legislators at the Capitol last week.
Denmark was prepared, though. She had made good use of all the resources available to her, including the Southern Valley Alliance for Battered Women, her attorney and her local police department.
She had went over a plan of action with her children in case her husband ever tried to hurt them.
"Our code word was 'run,'" Denmark said. "That was the most terrifying day of my life. It will have lasting effects on my daughter and my entire family."
Denmark's plan of action and the swift response by her local police department saved her and her children that day.
She said she hopes the Minnesota Legislature approves funding for programs, like the ones that helped her, to prevent domestic violence fatalities.
"I am alive today because the system as a whole believed me and gave me the tools I needed to realize that my children and I were lives worth saving," she said.
Derrick Knutson can be reached at dknutson@lillienews.com or at 651-748-7825.
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