An Order of Protection is a Worthless Piece of Paper With Ink!

The events on December 27, 2009 in Stark County, Ohio, that lead up to the murders of Derrick Busto and Brandy Scheinder are chilling, yet a common theme we are witnessing as families ask questions after intimate partner homicide.

In this case Matthew Schneider the former husband of Brandy was on probation for a sexual assault against a minor child. When the former husband plead guilty the prrosecutors office decided to put on their "big girl panties" and slap a 12 day jail sentence on this man. Along with a 3 year probation and a requirement that he register as a sex offender every four months for the next 25 years.

During this time Brandy Schneider filed for divorce. After years of abuse and terror she as most victims left the marital residence with her son and try to move on with her life.

Brandy Schneider also secured and order of protection from the courts. Matthew Schneider was dangerous and on several ocassions threatened to take her life. Between May of 2009 and near the time of the murders Matthew Schneider was stalking his soon to be ex-wife. Not once but numerous sitings, following, harassing threatning and doing damage to property all while wearing an electronic monitoring braclet. This should have been an immediate termination of Matthew Schneider's parole. The offense was felony stalking.

Rather than police arresting Matthew Schneider and held until a hearing for violating parole and felony stalking Brandy Schneider like so many victims we read about after the fact was murdered for negligence by a system sworn to protect victims of intimate partner violence under the very laws created because of bloodshed.

Maybe the US Attorneys Office or Lynn Rosenthal in Washington can investigate the oversight into human life lost due to shear ignorance as it pertains to rebuilding a new system from the ground up. One that includes an understanding of the landscape as it relates to intimate parter violence and homicide.

Today, on the Susan Murphy Milano show Brandy's mother Cheri Reed was on for the hour. It is important to note that Ms. Reed's discussing her daughters murder so soon after was to help other families and victims caught in the crossfire of tragedy.

Later in the show Derrick Busto's mother also came on and talked about her son and how "the system failed" these two women's children. "What good is an order of protection? she asked. If it means nothing more than a piece of paper with ink in it."

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Clear Motive and A Legal System's Failure: The Susan Murphy Milano Show-Wednesday July 21, 2010 at 4:00 PM EST

In 2008, a violent offender plead guilty on a sexual case involving a 15- year old girl and only received 12 days in jail, and was placed on three years probation and classified a Tier II sex offender, which required him to register his address with authorities every 180 days for 25 years.

A year later, two days after Christmas and 18 days after the ink barely dry on the divorce papers on December 27, 2009, Mathew Schneider a convicted sex offender stormed into the home of his ex-wife as their 8year-old watched when "daddy" shot Mom and her new boyfriend multiple times before turning the gun on himself.

Brandy Schneider filed for divorce in Stark County Ohio, April 2009. And Brandy Schneider informed the courts and others "he is going to kill me."

To discuss this case and how the legal system failed we will be joined by her mother Cheri Reed.

To listen to the show live go to the direct link, join us in the live chat room: CLICK HERE

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Date: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 4:00 PM Eastern and 3:00 PM Central Time

Clear Motive

It was two days after Christmas and 18 days after the ink barely dry on the divorce papers when, Mathew Schneider stormed into the home of his ex-wife as their 8year-old watched when "daddy" shot Mom and her new boyfriend multiple times before turning the gun on himself.

Brandy Schneider filed for divorce in Stark County Ohio, April 2009. She informed the courts and others "he is going to kill me."

According to the police chief “we need to see who else we need to interview and start working backward from the crime to see what his (Schneider’s) state of mind was and his motives.”  The shooter’s state of mind is clear as is the motive. The police chief might want to start with the court records from the divorce.

Also the weapons: how did a criminal gain access to firearms?

Then I suggest family and friends personally visit the prosecutors who might want to remove the cob webs from beneath their desk and investigate how a dangerous sexual predator and felon on house arrest threatening to kill his soon to be ex-wife had access to weapons? And why was he not placed on a monitoring device?

In 2008, he plead guilty on a sexual case involving a 15- year old girl and only received 12 days in jail, and was placed on three years probation and classified a Tier II sex offender, which required him to register his address with authorities every 180 days for 25 years. Where the heck was his probation officer on vacation?


When the prosecutor obtains those answers perhaps they can see precisely how the legal system failed Brandy Schneider and implement a protocol within the domestic relations courthouse so others can have a fighting opportunity to remain alive. Then the family should, in my opinion. hire an attorney as they probably have an excellent case for a wrongful death lawsuit.

Divorce is often connected to repeated threats, stalking, harassment and yes, murder. A victim of abuse whether it be a man or a woman faces obstacles in the courts when judge’s fail to take accusations of threats seriously. This case is a classic example.

My least favorite example is when the courts reward the abusive parent, by granting access to not only the children, but, the victim. An abuser could care less about the kids often using them as a point of negotiation to either torment their victim further or stop the divorce procedings all together and return as a family under the same roof. Once the abuser has lost control they will play whatever hand is dealt them in order to win at any and all costs.

This is no longer an isolated war . The more law enforcement and the legal system ignore issues of abuse within cases of divorce expect a higher number of murdered children, mothers and fathers to increase in the years ahead.