Bonnie Russell Observes: In San Diego's mayoral race the war on women continues...
Turning our attention from the east coast and Congressman Wiener, we attempted to learn how disposable San Diego women might remain based on a question we asked representatives of each mayoral candidate last Thursday.
Specifically, each was asked: "Do you support family court judges using GPS with Victim Notification devices in Family Court?" Representatives were told we would be checking responses over the weekend and publishing on Monday.
At first blush a State Family Court might not seem to be a city council or mayoral problem. At second blush however, it ties in significantly, since everything begins with San Diego Police; which given the spate of San Diego police officer related sex crime arrests, is a problem.
Keeping in mind the San Diego City Council has mostly been quiet during what appears to be an ongoing police scandal, the inquiry is also timely given the murder rate of women trying to leave relationships.
(Despite of being kidnapped and raped by her estranged husband, DA Bonnie Dumanis refused to prosecute. Gonzalez was murdered shortly afterward, it is suspected by her husband. Who then disappeared.
Credits: Family photo)
In the case of Councilmember DeMaio we left a voice mail. But we communicated with representatives of each candidate - including Senator Christine Kehoe, who has not yet filed for office, but has formed an exploratory committee. To each we described the problem just as we had on October 19, 2010, during the public comment section of a City Council meeting. At that time we alerted the council San Diego women are paying taxes for police services the police refuse to provide when reporting inter-family crimes. Click here for that video clip.
San Diego women attempting to report physical or sexual attacks from family members expect responding officers to ask if weapons were involved, or to be shown bruises or other forms of evidence. Instead, officer response is to inquire if the women are going through a divorce or custody battle.
If the response is affirmative, San Diego police will not act. No reports will be made. Instead, officers will suggest women go to Family Court and "get a restraining order." If the crime is against a child, the officers will suggest a request "Supervised visitation" for the attacker.
Since most people are unaware the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Castle Rock vs. Gonzales, police aren't mandated to enforce Civil restraining orders - and since Family Court is considered a civil court; this is not helpful.
Separately, police failure to begin the process is what kept a child molester free and molesting for five years while Joyce Murphy repeatedly asked the the police and Family Court for relief. To no avail. Eventually Joyce broke down and ran with her daughter. She was caught and prosecuted by Bonnie Dumanis. After this news clip aired, however, Joyce's ex husband, who had been awarded full custody, was only arrested after making one mistake. He molested two girls from intact families, who then told their parents, who immediately called and received police services.
But prior his mistake, Joyce was enduring a five year "sentence" of supervised visitation by Family Court judge DeAnn Salcido knowing her former husband continued to molest other people's children. With impunity.
Supervised visitation is also problematic
As noted in Line One of the, California Judicial Council Form Number FL341(A) for Supervisd Visitation which clearly states:
"1. Evidence has been presented in support of a request that the contact with the (Petitioner) or (Respondent) with the children be supervised based on allegations of: abduction of the child(ren), Physical abuse, Sexual abuse, Domestic violence: etc.,"
this Family Court form decriminalizes crime. Kidnapping becomes "abduction," battery, is "domestic violence" and sexual molesting, becomes the softer sounding "abuse." This form keeps cases which should be in criminal court in Family Court. As the stats reflect, often with deadly results.
The above explains why all mayoral candidates were asked if they supported Family Court judges ordering GPS with Victim Notification as an enhancement to any restraining orders they might make, also necessary as the Family Justice Center's Lt. Lori Lunhow telephoned us last year to inform us the Family Justice Center is not interested in real-time GPS.
Women victims however, are. Because GPS with real monitoring, (not "tracking") means in real-time,and in time enough for women to vacate the area, a GPS monitoring staff member would notify them ahead of time as soon as the restrained person began to violate the court ordered stay-away distance. That means for the first time,
Technology is available for judges to craft an Effective restraining order.
With this technology women no longer have to remain the sitting ducks they have been. Click on any of the news clips, here. All devices featured could be used in Family Court if it wasn't for one thing.
Indifference at every level of government
Although each of the devices featured in the news clips could be adapted for family court and greatly reduce family murders, as seen here, the reality is San Diego Family Court judges don't have the same concern for victim litigants requesting their help as victims do with San Diego's Criminal Court judges. Family Court judges refuse to use the technology.
Responses to our query were as follows:
District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis: No response. No mention of the safety of women, her costly prosecution of Cynthia Sommers or the now dead, Diana Gonzalez. whose husband Dumanis "declined" to prosecute, then refused to explain. Also no mention of her defense of Deputy Lowell Bruce, who shot his wife in the face, killing her. Dumanis petitioned for another judge because she thought the Deputy's judge made a harsh comment about the deputy, a Los Colinas Women's Detention Center guard. Likewise there was no mention of her boycott of two other judges, as reported in the Voice of San Diego.
Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher: No response. Assemblyman Fletcher's representative indicated he was very busy. We advised his representative we had been calling Fletcher's office about this particular issue with family court since before the John Gardner trial. We noted on Sunday Assemblyman Fletcher participated in...
ag Day. We noted his website stresses family values and problem solving. But Fletcher did not respond to our question of last week, or the past two years.
Senator Christine Kehoe: No response. Senator Kehoe's representative informed us the senator was busy in redistricting meetings over the weekend. We advised her representative we had spoken to Senator Kehoe about this when she was in town months ago, including follow up calls.
