Mass DV Murder in Gwinnett

The AJC is reporting the deaths of four people and injuries to a four-year old in Gwinnett County:

Inside the two-story home on Clairidge Lane, police found the dead and the dying. Atania Butler, 28; her 11-year-old daughter; and Rico Zimmerman, 19, lay dead of gunshot wounds. Lakeisha Parker, 30, was taken to Gwinnett Medical Center. She later died.

The 4-year-old, also Butler’s daughter, was taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite for surgery. Police have released neither her name nor her condition.

Within hours, police posted an alert for 44-year-old Richard T. Ringold, saying he was armed and dangerous. Authorities believe he was Butler’s boyfriend.

Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said investigators believe the incident started out as a domestic dispute but quickly escalated into the county’s biggest multi-victim slaying in more than two decades. Ringold apparently began an argument with Butler in the front yard, pulled a gun, took her inside and shot her, Porter said.

Phil Wiley, chief assistant district attorney, said investigators believe Butler lived in the home with her two children. Parker was her friend and just happened to be there. Investigators are unsure how Zimmerman knew the victims, but it was his girlfriend who escaped the home and called 911, he said.

“She said when he came in, he just started opening fire and started shooting at everybody,” Wiley said.

At the risk of sounding repetitive, we have to emphasize once again that domestic violence is not just a private family matter. Friends and family members of victims and even innocent bystanders are regularly caught in the cross hairs. Police consider domestic violence calls to be some of the most dangerous to which to respond because of the degree of violence of which abusers are often capable. This is why planning for your safety while in or while leaving an abusive relationship is so vitally important. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please contact our 24-hour hotline at (404) 688-9436 or the national domestic violence hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE to make your plan.

Stalking: Still Not Funny

This blog is still getting comments almost two years later on our post about a t-shirt marketed toward teens that reads "Some call it stalking, I call it love." We're accused of taking things too seriously and not being able to take a joke. The problem is, stalking isn't funny. Or, at least, it shouldn't be. Yet people continue to minimize the damage that stalking does to victims by creating spoofs like these:

The real joke is how true to life these stalking behaviors are. But that still doesn't make it funny.

DV Attitudes Around the World

Domestic violence is the most common form of violence against women internationally. In studying child protection around the world, UNICEF collected data from 1999-2006 regarding whether women in 67 countries (not including the US) felt that domestic violence was ever acceptable. On average, half of girls and women aged 15–49 responded that a husband or partner is justified in beating his wife under certain circumstances.

Somehow we're not surprised. Women are raised in the same cultures as men, and if men feel justified in using violence against their partners, is it really a stretch for women to also believe that men are justified in using violence? Though the US wasn't included in this survey, things don't look much different here.

You can view data by country here.

Afghanistan's Marital Rape Law Revised, Sort Of

In March, we posted about a bill that Afghanistan's president pushed through parliament, which critics said would legalize marital rape. After protests and public outcry, the administration promised to rehash the law, a new version of which has been quietly passed. The change: husbands aren't allowed to rape their wives, but they are allowed to deny food and sustenance to wives who will not submit to their sexual demands. It is just us, or isn't that the same thing?

The new final draft of the legislation also grants guardianship of children exclusively to their fathers and grandfathers, and requires women to get permission from their husbands to work.

"It also effectively allows a rapist to avoid prosecution by paying 'blood money' to a girl who was injured when he raped her," the US charity Human Rights Watch said.

In early April, Barack Obama and Gordon Brown joined an international chorus of condemnation when the Guardian revealed that the earlier version of the law legalised rape within marriage, according to the UN.

Although Karzai appeared to back down, activists say the revised version of the law still contains repressive measures and contradicts the Afghan constitution and international treaties signed by the country.

Islamic law experts and human rights activists say that although the language of the original law has been changed, many of the provisions that alarmed women's rights groups remain, including this one: "Tamkeen is the readiness of the wife to submit to her husband's reasonable sexual enjoyment, and her prohibition from going out of the house, except in extreme circumstances, without her husband's permission. If any of the above provisions are not followed by the wife she is considered disobedient."

Melissa at Shakesville provides a draft letter and contact information for the State Department, asking that they take swift action to condemn the law.

Dear Secretary Clinton: I have recently become aware of the new law in Afghanistan which permits Shia men to deny their wives sustenance if they refuse submit sexually, denies mothers legal guardianship of their children, allows rapists to pay off their victims, and in other ways severely diminishes the lives of Afghan women. As I am aware of and resoundingly support your emphasis on the rights of women worldwide, I am hopeful that there will be a swift response to this appalling legislation, and I strongly encourage you to take a bold stance on behalf of the women of Afghanistan.

Best regards...

Fulton County Man Murders Pregnant Partner

Via the AJC:

A Fulton County Superior Court judge on Monday denied bond to a man accused of kidnapping his estranged girlfriend Sunday night, forcing her to lead police on a chase through three counties, then shooting the woman.

Detrick Corbett, 29, is facing charges of murder and aggravated stalking, and has pending charges in Fulton and Clayton Counties, authorities said.

Corbett’s ex-girlfriend, Shekeria Lane, 20, was shot once in the head Sunday night and later died at Grady Memorial Hospital, authorities said.

Lane was four months pregnant, and had a 2-year-old child with Corbett, with whom she had recently broken up, police said.

About 10:20 p.m. Sunday, Corbett went to Lane’s home on Fieldstone Drive near Riverdale, Clayton County police spokesman Kevin Hughes said.

“He got into the house and confronted other family members trying to find his ex-girlfriend,” Hughes said. “One male was shot in the buttocks when he turned to run away from him.”

Hughes said Corbett took a set of keys to a family member’s Kia, then forced Lane to the car at gunpoint and made her drive.

Arriving officers broadcast a description of the car, and just before 10:40 p.m., the Kia was spotted by a Clayton police officer.

At one point, Hughes said, three shots were fired from the Kia toward pursuing officers, but none of the vehicles or officers was struck.

“Once the car got stuck, the suspect shot the victim,” Hughes said. Corbett was then arrested.

This was once again a situation where the victim had done everything "right". She ended the relationship and moved in with family who could protect her. However, readers of the blog know that pregnancy and the time immediately after she leaves are the two of the most dangerous times for women whose partners are violent. That is why it is vitally important to have a plan for leaving and, for many women, to have a place to stay that their partner doesn't know about. If you are experiencing abuse in your relationship and are thinking about leaving, call us at 404-688-9436 (or outside Atlanta, GA call 1-800-799 SAFE to be connected to an organization close to you).

This also reinforces the story we always try to tell. No matter what she does to stay safe, no matter how amazing our programs are, we cannot end domestic violence. It takes a society willing to hold batterers accountable for the abusive behaviors to end domestic violence, and it takes men vowing not to be abusive and not to tolerate abusive speech or actions from their family, friends, or colleagues.