At Mayor David Coss’ election-right party, SFR ran into former First Judicial District Domestic Relations Hearing Officer Margaret Kegel, who was asked to resign last year under somewhat mysterious circumstances.
Now, Kegel is running for the new First District Judge position just created by the New Mexico State Legislature (at the expense of the hearing officer position now filled by Barbara Ann Michael).
This chart is from the Esperanza Shelter for Battered Families in Santa Fe. It shows the dramatic increase in the number of domestic violence victims, both adults and children, they tended to last year, as well as a slight increase in the number of offenders who got some form of counseling through the shelter.
The shelter’s figures don’t give a complete picture, however. Police statistics provided by Santa Fe Domestic & Sexual Violence Liaison Carol Horwitz show fewer 911 calls, but more arrests.
Those stats, and more, after the cut.
On Jan. 20, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported that “law-enforcement organizations haven’t expressed outright opposition” to a bill that would prevent convicted domestic violence offenders from becoming police officers.
SFR called it “The No Shit, Sherlock Act of 2010.”
However, the New Mex reported, the police organizations have some reservations—including the fear that officers could be decertified just for yelling at their wives.
But as New Mexico Domestic Violence Czar Sharon Pino tells SFR, law enforcement is effectively opposing the bill, HB 17. Pino says the New Mexico Police & Sheriff’s Association is fighting the bill, as is the New Mexico Fraternal Order of Police.
More on the DV bill—plus a video of what is likely the most horrific story told inside the Roundhouse so far this session—after the cut.
For the last several months, writer Corey Pein has been digging deep into the city’s domestic violence problem. This week, he looks at how DV plays out across income and status lines. A slideshow accompanies this week’s cover story, which can be viewed below as well as at sfreporter.com
No shit.
The quote comes from First Judicial District Court Judge Michael Vigil, in a Journal North story about a man who strangled his wife getting sentenced to…probation!
That’s the man, lucky duck Steve Romero, pictured at left. From the Journal story (available to subscribers only):
The woman, who was in the courtroom for Thursday’s hearing, told prosecutor Cynthia Hill that she did not want her husband to go to jail. It was because of “her being on board with the plea” that Romero was able to stay out of jail, according to Hill.
Blaming the victim again?
Update: I forgot to mention that the woman was pregnant. And that the Santa Fe New Mexican covered this as well (no subscription required):
A highly intoxicated Romero returned home about 2:30 a.m. while the woman was asleep, turned on the lights, pulled the blankets off her and began yelling at her, police have said. Romero told his wife to get up but she refused. He then punched her several times in the face, including one blow that knocked her off the bed and left her stunned on the floor, police have said.
Romero pulled her back on to the bed by her hair, then repeatedly punched her, threw her to the floor and broke her cell phone when she threatened to call 911. Romero told her he was going to kill her. After he left the room for a moment, his wife tried to climb out the window but he came back and caught her and dragged her back into the room, police have said.
Probation!
The Santa Fe Reporter
Loading ...
