Domestic Violence and the Law Training : Office of the Attorney General South Caolina

The State of South Carolina

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

S.T.O.P. Violence Against Women Program

Presents

Domestic Violence and the Law

April 17, 2012 – Bill Rogers Community Center

DIRECTIONS CLICK HERE

Susan Murphy Milano will be leading a training session designed by the  South Carolina Office of the Attorney General to give Judges,Law Enforcement, Victim Advocates, and Attorneys an in depth and up to date picture of violence in the home.  Through the development of the Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit, Murphy Milano has changed the landscape for victims of violence to safely escape abusive relationships.

Finding safety from pathological abusers is obviously not as easy as it seems. Safety plans encompassing restraining orders, just leaving, living in transitional shelter care, or staying with others is not fool-proof regarding protection. Every day the headlines read more like obituaries with abusers not only murdering their partners, but their children as well.  With the Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit available to victims, the safety plan is now up to date.

Along with Sandra L. Brown, Founder of The Institute for Relational Harm Reduction,Susan Murphy Milano has created Document the Abuse. The partnership brings this simple process to the forefront which helps advocates, attorneys, judges, prosecutors, and investigators draw the right conclusion to the victim’s abuse experiences. A unique packaging of testimony + documentation + perpetrator historical profiling + pre-collected evidence delivered to established safe and legal persons = a delicate issue brilliantly wrapped up for successful prosecution.

Susan Murphy Milano is a specialist and expert in intimate partner violence and works nationally with corporations, faith based organizations, domestic violence programs, law enforcement and prosecutors providing technical and consulting services in “high risk” domestic violence and stalking related cases. Her principal objective is to intervene before a victim is seriously injured or killed. Utilizing a procedure which she devised, The Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit,© Murphy Milano’s clients are all still alive–a statistic that is remarkable considering the distinct increase in intimate partner homicides.

Her books  (Defending Our Lives, Moving Out, Moving On and Times Up!) and  corresponding strategies are taught world-wide and used by law enforcement,  social workers, attorneys, health care workers, human resource departments and domestic violence agencies. The comprehensive strategies and escape plans utilized by Susan have been successful and tested by time for over 20 years. Her newest book, Holding My Hand Through Hell will be released in October, 2012.

Along with Susan Murphy Milano other presenters include Sabrina Gast, Kelly Hall, Tom LeClare and Mardi Fair speaking about the topics of Wound Identification,Children and the Court, and Criminal Domestic Violence Laws and Testimony.

Connect with Susan Murphy Milano on the web:

Website: http://www.susanmurphy-milano.com

Website: http://documenttheabuse.com

Blog: http://murphymilanojournal.blogspot.com

www.imaginepublicity.com

Susan Murphy Milano is a staff member of the Institute for Relational Harm Reduction and Public Pathology Education as a educator and specialist with intimate partner violence prevention strategies directing prevention for high risk situations and cases.

 A national trainer to law enforcement, training officers, prosecutors, judges, legislators, social service providers, healthcare professionals, victim advocates and the faith based community and author.. In partnership with Management Resources Ltd. of New York addressing prevention and solutions within the community to the workplace. Host of The Susan Murphy Milano Show,"Time'sUp!" . She is a regular contributor to the nationally syndicated "The Roth Show" with Dr Laurie Roth and a co-host onCrime Wire. Online contributions: Forbes : Crime, She Writes providing commentary about the hottest topics on crime, justice, and law from a woman’s perspective, as well as Time's Up! a blog which searches for solutions (SOS) for victims of crime Susan is also the daughter of a Chicago Violent Crimes detective who murdered her mother before committing suicide. 

Crisis in Family Court: A Mother's Mission and Lifting the Silence

Duncan                                    Jack  

Back in September of 2009, just 5 months after Amy Leichtenberg's 2 boys Jack 7 years old and Duncan  9 years old were savagely murdered by their father during a court forced visitation, Amy gave an hour long interview.  During the show Amy discussed the steps taken to protect her children. Although her boys are gone, Amy's voice is not, she is shouting to stop the bloodshed of innocent lives.

The last time Amy saw her two boys alive, something was not right. Her estranged husband was acting out-of-sorts when they met at the police station. Amy refused to hand over her boys on March 7, 2009 an officer threatened her if she didn't give them to their father, she would be arrested according to her lawyer.

In 2007, Amy was awarded full custody of the boys with Connolly given supervised visitation. According to court reports from the family visitation center, Connolly's behavior was dangerous enough to temporarily cease all visits with the boys. In my experience, when a family visitation center terminates interaction between parent and child, it sends a red flag of danger. Connolly, the ever witty and clever abuser, was able to resume visits when his psychiatrist sent a "sympathy letter" to the judge "if my client is able to spend more time with his sons, Mr. Connolly's depression and outbursts would lessen."

The judge responded by setting a series of "behavioral guidelines." This included obtaining employment, housing and continued therapy.

In family court the two parties are presumed to be on a level playing field--law abiding individuals who have a disagreement over a private family matter. A core assumption of family law is that family disputes are not criminal disputes. As such, there are few safeguards built into the family court system to protect against the criminal dynamics that dominate family disputes in cases of family violence. In addition, the accusations the victim makes in family court, no matter how serious, carry no more authority than one person's say so. One of the most serious consequences is that when a family violence victim opens a case in family court against her abuser, the abuser is given equal opportunity to fight back against the victim's accusations, often because the abusers past is not an issue. Unless, of course, he is brought in from county or state prison sporting an orange jump suit and leg shackles.

There are lawyers and men’s groups who argue using domestic violence with a broad brush is not a reason to deny fathersvisitation with their children. Accusing mothers of lying or making up stories to keep fathers’ from their children.

Under the current laws, a parent without custody is entitled "reasonable visitation." There is a high burden of proof as evidenced in this case when a court refuses to take into account dangerous abusers pose to their children.

Until we place the issue of labeling these cases as a "private matter" or an isolated incident, expect the death toll among children to rise. And rise it has, with the recent murders of Charles 7 years of age and Braden 5 years of age on Sunday in the State of Washington.  Their father Josh Powell was the only person of interest since the boys mother Susan Cox vanished from the marital Utah residence on December 6, 2009.  Last week a judge ordered permanent placement of  Susan's children too her parents Chuck and Judy Cox.  However, as if this were a contestant game show Josh was given supervised visitation.  Josh Powell took an ax to each of his own children, doused gallons of gasoline in the home before lighting a match and blowing up the home.

If you are a judge, prosecutor, victim, mental heath provider, download the interview below and listen to Amy Leichtenberg.  Amy speaks for thousands of  other mothers across the country who are living the same fears.  If the abuser does not get their way from the victim and or the family courts, the children will die.  In many cases, they are all dying. Both men and women are murdering entire families before turning the gun on themselves and committing suicide.

Listen to internet radio with Susan Murphy Milano on Blog Talk Radio

Susan Murphy Milano is a staff member of the Institute for Relational Harm Reduction and Public Pathology Education as a educator and specialist with intimate partner violence prevention strategies directing prevention for high risk situations and cases.

 A national trainer to law enforcement, training officers, prosecutors, judges, legislators, social service providers, healthcare professionals, victim advocates and the faith based community and author.. In partnership with Management Resources Ltd. of New York addressing prevention and solutions within the community to the workplace. Host of The Susan Murphy Milano Show,"Time'sUp!" . She is a regular contributor to the nationally syndicated "The Roth Show" with Dr Laurie Roth and a co-host onCrime Wire. Online contributions: Forbes : Crime, She Writes providing commentary about the hottest topics on crime, justice, and law from a woman’s perspective, as well as Time's Up! a blog which searches for solutions (SOS) for victims of crime

 http://documenttheabuse.com/

How to Leave a Dangerous Man: Managing Abuse and Leaving with Your Life: The Susan Murphy Milano Show 2:00 PM Eastern Thursday 1/12/2012

Thursday, January 12, 2pm ET

Listen LIVE at: Here Women Talk

Sandra L. Brown, M. A. from The Institute for Relational Harm Reduction and Public Pathology Ed..., and Susan Murphy Milano welcome a special guest to the show who will walk the listeners through the measures taken to keep herself safe and alive.

For a year, she studied the book, “Time’s Up,” line by line, and followed the information contained to the letter, completing the Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit, and leaving her abuser safely.  She offered to come to the show to take the opportunity to explain to listeners the benefits to doing the work involved to live an abuse free life.

If you’re living in an abusive hell, this is a show you will want to make a point to listen to.  BEFORE you announce to your abuser that it’s over, you are leaving, or you are filing for divorce, there are specific steps you must take to manage your safety. Do not walk out with out it!

The Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit (E.A.A.)© is the mastermind process of violence expert Susan Murphy Milano that combines videotaping of an abuse victims’ actual words attesting to abuse, with witnessed and notarized legal documents that successfully satisfy legal hurdles often faced in intimate partner violence and stalking cases.

Document the Abuse.Com contains vital information on how the EAA can support each case of abuse from the perspective of the first responders and advocates, to an appearance in court.  It explains the legal benefits to the abuse victim, whether they are able to testify or not, how their words are forever documented and hold up in court, much like a Living Will.

www.documenttheabuse.com

I'm excited for this empowering show and like you say, keeping yourself 10 steps ahead is the key. i know i speak for others as well, we all pray for a successful survival and you Susan, have given us the tools to do so.

Completing an EAA educates how to stay safe along with taking all necessary steps to properly Document The Abuse. In addition, along with an emotional sense of security, if anything were to happen, the EAA will be in the hands of the appropriate agency for the appropriate actions and justice can be served because all steps to protect your safety and Document The Abuse have been taken. Thank you Susan for dedicating your life to educating and saving women's lives. forever grateful- comment from a survivor.

Court Watch Brevard: Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment

Court Watch Brevard has honored my work by prominently featuring it on their site. I encourage prosecutors, law enforcement and social service agencies to read through the information below in hopes of implementing the prescription for all victims of intimate partner violence and stalking.

Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit For Victims

The Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit

by Susan Murphy Milano

An expert in the area of intimate partner violence and the prevention of homicide, Susan has created specific tools and procedures which the abused need to safely leave a violent relationship.

See example of video affidavit

An “Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit" and video has the additional psychological benefit of being forced to face reality and admit that the potential for the ultimate kind of violence exists…and that if it occurs the perpetrator will be held accountable.

Domestic violence or intimate partner victims now are able to provide information, in their own words, about the fears, dangers, experiences they have had at the hands of their abuser. The" Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit" or "EAA" records victim's stories, histories, and experiences which are preserved and stored on their behalf. These videos will provide answers to the many questions, allegations, and fears that arise when a person has disappeared, gone missing, or been found dead.

Recent cases, such as missing mother Susan Powell of Utah, Renee Pernice of Kansas, Kelly Rothwell of Florida, Jacque Waller of Missouri and women like Stacy Peterson, where the victim’s police officer husband is the person of interest, is the classic example of the benefits of this type of evidence. If Stacy Peterson, or any woman found murdered or is missing, had done an Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit, ON TAPE, from following the information in the “Time’s Up" book ,they would be able to describe: threats made against her life or wellbeing, including details of how the perpetrator would carry out the threat
incidents of past abuse that the victim has endured admissions or comments made to her about other victims or people abused where evidence or weapons would or could be located possible alibis that the perpetrator would make up in his defense (including identification of people who could be co-defendant’s or co-suspects) portray visible injuries or marks

Read more here

Purchase Susan Murphy Milano books on escaping domestic violence safely here

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FOR STUDENTS

Case concerning the right to confront and prove intent to prevent the witness from testifying

Giles v. California, 554 U.S. 353 (2008)

Facts of the Case
When Dwayne Giles was tried in state court for the murder of his ex- girlfriend, he claimed self-defense. Giles stated that he had heard her vow to hurt him and a friend, and that she had previously shot a man and threatened people with knives. The prosecution then introduced evidence of a conversation between Giles' ex-girlfriend and police in which she claimed that he had assaulted her and threatened to kill her. The district court eventually convicted Giles of murder.

On appeal, Giles argued that use of the police conversation violated his Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses against him, namely, his deceased ex- girlfriend.

The California Supreme Court held that Giles had waived this right because he was the cause of his ex-girlfriend's absence. Although this exclusion was justified under common law rules of "forfeiture by wrongdoing", the Supreme Court had greatly constrained the admissibility of such evidence in its 2004 holding in Crawford v. Washington. Crawford essentially wiped out the admissibility of such out-of-court statements unless the testimony could be subject to cross-examination at trial, an option that would be impossible under these circumstances. This case gives the Court an opportunity to expand on its decision in Crawford and to apply it to a situation where the wrongdoing that kept the witness from appearing in court was not motivated by a desire to prevent the witness' testimony.

Question
Are a criminal defendant's rights under the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment violated when the common law "forfeiture by wrongdoing" doctrine is applied to allow out-of-court statements made by a witness, absent due to the defendant's own conduct, into evidence without giving defendant an opportunity to cross-examine the absent witness?

Conclusion
Yes. In a 6-3 decision, the Court held that the forfeiture by wrongdoing exception only applies to situations where the defendant causes the witness' absence with the intention of preventing that witness from testifying at trial. Without this intention, any act by the defendant making the witness unavailable does not waive that defendant's Sixth Amendment right to confront and cross-examine the witness, and therefore any out-of-court statements made by the witness are inadmissible as evidence. Justice Antonin Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court.

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a concurring opinion stressing his belief that statements such as those made by the witness in this case should not implicate the Confrontation Clause at all because the police questioning was not a "formalized dialogue." Justice Samuel Alito also wrote a concurring opinion suggesting that the witness' statements, in his view, did not fall within the Confrontation Clause but noting that neither party had made this argument before the Court. Justice David Souter, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, concurred in all parts of the majority opinion except one section denouncing the dissenting argument. Justice Souter stated that he did not find the dissent as wrongheaded as the majority suggested.

The dissent, written by Justice Stephen Breyer and joined by Justices John Paul Stevens and Anthony Kennedy, argued that a defendant loses his right to confrontation when he makes a witness unavailable due to his own wrongdoing, even if he did not act with the specific intention of preventing her from testifying at trial.

About CWB and UCF NEWS
CONTACT TO VOLUNTEER WITH COURT WATCH BREVARD
HONORED JUDGES
OFFICE OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Mandatory Reporters and Jerry Sandusky Indictment PDF
FDLE SEXUAL PREDATOR TRACKING IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
Students
Courts
Victims
CHILD ABUSE
LETTER TO JUDGES
A FEW GOOD MEN
ATTORNEYS: REPRESENTING VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENC AND THEIR CHILDREN IN COURT
COURT REFORM NEWS
Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit For Victims
FORMS FILE COMPLAINT AGAINST COURT PERSONNEL
JUDGES DUPED ... WHO IS TO BLAME?
National Domestic Violence Legal News and Events
PARENTAL ALIENATION ABUSER SCAM DEFENSE - LEGAL ISSUES
PETITION TO CONGRESS
THE DANGER OF RELYING ON FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGISTS IN CUSTODY EVALUATIONS
U.S.A. FAILING ITS LEGAL OBLIGATION TO PROTECT WOMEN FROM DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
EMOTIONAL/PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE
The Stephanie Haridopolis Story - Fairy Tales Do Come True


What is Court Watch Brevard?

Court Watch Brevard is a domestic violence gender bias education and awareness program for students, the community, and for judges. We observe and evaluate the criminal and civil justice processes, involving cases of domestic violence in Brevard County, Florida and the United States.

Through the use of volunteers, the program monitors compliance with domestic violence statutes and provides a forum for feedback to facilitate system change.

Court Watch Brevard educates and reminds the community that the public has a right to be involved and informed about what happens in the local courts and enables the public to create a more informed and involved justice system.

The program helps keep victims safe, holds offenders accountable for their actions, and facilitates a coordinated community response toward the greater goal of ending domestic violence.

Purpose

Court Watch Brevard™s purpose is to empower communities to have an active volunteer presence in our local courts, to monitor court policies, procedures, and practices regarding domestic violence cases.

Mission

CourtWatch Brevard™s mission is to provide an impartial assessment of the effectiveness with which domestic violence cases are handled in our local courts and report to the public, in an effort to promote victim safety and abuser accountability.

Prescription for "The Wrong Kind of Love"

(graphic by Amy Matthews)

We see one tragedy after another in our communities andr on the news about intimate partner violence. Society tends to think in terms of a “single incident” or, a “one time only” act of violence. Questions are raised and blame is more of a quid pro quo victims for anyone involved in these types of dangerous situations. We must comprehend that the world in which these victims live and breathe, similar to a contagious infection, is no different than captured and tortured prisioners of war. The vanished, the missing, the murdered all were calculated and planned out by an abusive, angry and controlling individual.

The term “DOMESTIC VIOLENCE” is a continuing pattern of behavior which can include :

• repeated harassment,
• stalking or surveillance of the victim,' threats and intimidation,
• bodily harm,
• sexual assault,
• child abduction
• or the constant threat , that can escalate, in some cases to murder .

In most abuse cases, the danger continues despite the victim’s attempts to get help from traditional sources.

For example, after a female victim seeks assistance from the courts or separates from her abuser, she statistically runs a greater risk of increased harm. The abuser is furious and steps up his behavior and violent attacks. Often the victim is left to fend for herself when it comes to protecting her life.
If you are in a potentially dangerous situation, I have a question:
How many more times are you going to allow the abuse? When someone you are with hurts you,
that is not love!You have options. Oh, I know all the excuses from he was drinking, to we are having financial problems, or how about when you are made to believe it was your fault. It is not.

Time's Up! If you doing nothing but prepare the abuse video and affidavit prescribed in the
information provided below, you have taken a big step towards having you words stick if
something happened to you. Telling a close friend or family member about the terror and abuse
is not enough to make an arrest or prosecute in a court of law.

The month of October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Intimate partner violence occurs 365 days a year, 7 days a week. Perhaps doing something for those who you know are in a rocky or violent relationship is a start to how you can help others.

Providing information on what you need to do if you or someone you know is in a potentially violent relationship is done with the hope of saving lives. My work in the area of intimate partner violence prevention is a direct result of not being able to save my own mother back in 1989, killed by her police detective husband prior to committing suicide.

If you are in a relationship that has a history of violence, simply mustering up the courage to confront the person and say it is over, without the proper tools, can cost you, your life!

One of the major reasons women stay in abusive relationships is fear. They are afraid of what will happen to them and their children if they leave. Sadly, their fears are often justified; statistics show that a woman is at the greatest risk for injury when she announces her plans or leaves an abusiverelationship. The book "Time's Up A Guide on How To Survive and Abusive and Stalking Relationship"is the prescription, if you will, that every person must obtain before they announce they are leaving. Below is an example from Chapter 4, one of many unique tools provided in the book. It is available on Amazon.com, or you can purchase via e-book or on a cd. If you have questions, the email address is: timesupforjustice@gmail.com

Before you decide that you have had enough and are ending the relationship, create for yourself the "Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit" and video (shown below).

If you do nothing else, please take one important step that if something does happen to you, if you do vanish like Stacy Peterson, Vensus Stewart, Rachel Anderson, Susan Powell, Lisa Stebic, or arefoundmurdered like Monica Beresford-Redmond, Franki Jacobson, Renee Pagel, Summer Inman,Kelly Rothwell and others where the person responsible has gotten away with murder that your voice and record of the abuse will be captured and recorded. Do it for you friends, family and loved ones. Do it for your children. Do it for you!

Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit by Susan Murphy Milano from the Book "Time's Up"from Courage Networkon Vimeo.

If you have questions, the email address is: timesupforjustice@gmail.com

This book doesn't merely discuss when you should leave or why you should leave, it tells you HOW you should leave. The book has step-by-step instructions how to covertly make a plan, set-up a safe escape, deal with financial issues, and the paperwork. Susan even takes you line-by-line through the process, the forms, the legal issues...she takes you by the hand, and, believe me, when you are being terrorized and you are an basket case, you don't need vague ideas, you need specific instructions. TIME'S UP can save your life and your sanity. If you need to get out, get this book before you make a mistake that could be fatal. It is money well spent.

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Susan Murphy Milano is a staff member of the Institute for Relational Harm Reduction and Public Pathology Education. She is a specialist with intimate partner violence prevention strategies and high risk cases and available for personal consultations through the Institute. She is also part of the team at Management Resources Limited of New York.

Susan is the author of "Time's Up: A Guide on How to Leave and Survive Abusive and Stalking Relationships,"Moving out, Moving on, and Defending Out Lives. Susan is the host of The Susan Murphy Milano Show, "Time's Up!" . She is a regular contributor to the nationally syndicated "The Roth Show" with Dr Laurie Roth and a co-host on Crime Wire.

If you would like to schedule Susan Murphy Milano for training and interviews, please contact:ImaginePublicity PO BOX 14946 Surfside Beach, SC 29587 Phone: 843.808.0859 email- contact@imaginepublicity.com