Juror Blasts ‘PC Prosecutors’ for ‘Wasting Out Time’ with Ludicrous Domestic Violence Case
Background: Since the mid-90s, many states have adopted aggressive arrest procedures on domestic violence calls. Police officers are often encouraged to make arrests in petty incidents, often where the abuse is mutual or it is unclear who the aggressor was. They also are under political pressure to arrest men, not women.
Moreover, many prosecutors follow “No Drop” policies in domestic violence cases, pursuing marginal cases which ordinarily would be dropped for lack of evidence. To learn more, see my co-authored column Texas bill to create domestic violence offender registry will harm innocent men (Austin American-Statesman, 4/11/07) or click here.
In the Letter to the Editor below–Exploiting Marin jurors (Marin Independent Journal, 6/28/07)–a Marin, California woman blasts “politically correct” prosecutors for wasting jurors’ time with a ludicrous, politically motivated, evidence-free domestic violence prosecution.After reading the letter, I suggest you contact Marin County District Attorney Edward S. Berberian, Jr. (pictured) at the address below and express your opposition to these prosecutorial abuses.
Marin County District Attorney Edward S. Berberian, Jr.
3501 Civic Center Drive, Room 130
San Rafael, CA 94903
Telephone: (415) 499-6450
FAX: (415) 499-6734
It is an injustice to our justice system to bring frivolous criminal prosecutions to the courtroom.
Last week, I spent three days as a juror in a case in which it seemed obvious early on that no conviction could possibly result.
A woman had called 911 complaining her fiance had been drinking and pushed her onto their bed. The defendant claimed he held her arms to keep her from hitting him with a phone. The next day, the woman phoned police and the district attorney’s office asking that her fiance not be prosecuted. She stated that she had overreacted, and that she would do anything she could to stop the prosecution. True to her word, she came to court with an attorney and refused to answer any questions, claiming that to do so would be self-incriminating. Nonetheless, the case proceeded.
The only other witness the prosecution had was a policeman who had heard the woman’s original complaint. Part of his testimony was contradicted by facts that could be ascertained from the 911 recording. To convict required the jury to find that there was no reasonable doubt that the man had pushed the woman onto their bed. Ten of the jurors heard the woman’s call as a manipulative expression of anger. Two jurors agreed with the prosecutor that they heard fear in her voice. The outcome of the case rested on this subjective factor.
In the jury room, some of us speculated about why this case had ever been brought to court. Sixty-five citizens had spent a day being quizzed for 12 jurors and one alternate to be selected.
All of us had to abandon our family, employment and earning responsibilities for three days. Undoubtedly, tens of thousands of dollars were spent to pay for the combination of the prosecuting attorney, the judge and the public defender’s services to bring this case to court. This waste of taxpayer money left me feeling cynical about the district attorney’s political motivations and reluctant to serve as a juror again. It is time for the DA’s office to use some discretion and to consider issues of proportionality before it requires 65 citizens to be such a captive audience.
Preventing domestic violence is a worthwhile goal, but this extreme form of political correctness does not advance the cause. Providing and promoting treatment for alcohol and drug dependence is also a most worthwhile goal, but this kind of judicial spectacle fails to advance that cause, too.
The people need to hold the district attorney’s office to some standard of accountability other than rhetorical law and order.
Suzanne Gassner Weatherford,
Sausalito, CA.
[For another example of this type of anti-male this law enforcement nonsense, see my blog post Father Locked in Jail for Tossing Granola Bars at Fiance, Fiance Can't Get Him Out. Thanks to John Hamel, LCSW, of the National Family Violence Legislative Resource Center and Michael Robinson of the California Alliance for Families and Children for the tip on this article. Both are working to reform California's domestic violence policies.]
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July 2nd, 2007 at 7:47 am
“Ten of the jurors heard the woman’s call as a manipulative expression of anger. ”
Okay, here is what happened more than likely. The man had second thoughts about getting married and she was upset about his cold feet. In a fit of anger she dials 911 during the argument. Then regrets it, but its too late.
Stories like these are legion.
July 2nd, 2007 at 8:46 am
Amen!
July 2nd, 2007 at 8:57 am
I live in a liberal community. I’ve been search for a conservative church to attend. Yesterday, I stopped by a local church. I observed anti-male domestic violence and pro-homo sex pamphlets at the entrance and rear doors.
I suspected that I found myself again in a feminized organization. Without wasting time I returned home.
The consequence of promoting a feminist agenda is lost of membership and or participation.
I want a church that honors men based on character and chemistry.
2nd story. Yesterday, with my son, I saw a female cartoon character slap a male cartoon character in the face in Disney’s “Ratatouille” movie. Again, yesterday while watching more Hollywood entertainment a woman slapped a man in the face.
Within hours I viewed this cartoon of a wife about to strike her husband with a bat on a conservative web site.
http://www.townhall.com/funnies/2007/06/28/11
I suspect that I live in a culture that hates men. While the government creates and enforces anti-male laws, policies, and procedures, and Hollywood produces images that support the same, I feel that my son, and others like him, has little chance to achieve his best without feminized trouble coming his way.
July 2nd, 2007 at 9:02 am
now that this guy has a DV arrest on his record….think the marriage will go forward??
July 2nd, 2007 at 9:15 am
To Roger:
>now that this guy has a DV arrest on his record….think the marriage will go forward??
Not if the guy has half a brain.
July 2nd, 2007 at 9:38 am
Back in 1998, I served as a juror in a Marin County courtroom in which Berberian was the lead prosecutor. In my observation he’s a standard-issue prosecutor who’s first priority is conviction, not justice.
July 2nd, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Two points:
The female juror, while deserving credit for blasting the prosecutor for putting PC above everything, is only bothered because she had to waste her own time on it, and seems unconcerned with innocent men being prosecuted and women who file false police reports not being prosecuted.
Usually what happens in these cases is that a plea bargain is offered to the innocent man which he usually accepts because at the time it makes it seem like all of his problems will go away. Apparently the man in this case refused a plea bargain, most likely because the woman did not want to lose the man and so decided not to continue with the lies she began with the false police report.
July 2nd, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Feminists like to say There is no excuse for domestic abuse.
Unlike prosecutors, reasonable people assume there is an exception to that if the man is clearly innocent. Wrong! The only excpetion to that is if the perpetrator is female.
July 2nd, 2007 at 2:28 pm
feminists and women who run the domestic violence industry petition our police force to give them as many prosecutions for mens domestic violence as posseable while doing their best to not prosecute women…
they get more funding from the VAWA if they can keep the numbers of men arrested and charged as high as posseable……… and yes it does now include arresting innocent men protecting themselves from an attack from their irrational, bi-polar girlfriend..
July 2nd, 2007 at 2:34 pm
glen..as a part time resident of marin county…I called to express my concern over this case…
A case number would have been extremelly helpfull!!!
July 2nd, 2007 at 3:00 pm
“mruffolo said,I live in a liberal community. I’ve been search for a conservative church to attend. Yesterday, I stopped by a local church. I observed anti-male domestic violence and pro-homo sex pamphlets at the entrance and rear doors.”
So many Christian churches have fallen into a state of fake Christianity that it has given all Christians a bad name, not to mention the great work by assholes like Robert Tilton and Jim and Tammy Fay Backer.
Apostasy, Summary: Apostasy, “falling away,” is the act of professed Christians who deliberately reject revealed truth
(1) as to the deity of Jesus Christ, and
(2) redemption through His atoning and redeeming sacrifice 1Jo 4:1-3; Php 3:18; 2Pe 2:1. Apostasy differs from error concerning truth, which may be the result of ignorance Ac 19:1-6 or heresy, which may be due to the sphere of Satan 2Ti 2:25-26 both of which may consist with true faith. The apostate is perfectly described in 2Ti 4:3-4. Apostates depart from the faith, but not from the outward profession of Christianity 2Ti 3:5. Apostate teachers are described in 2Ti 4:3; 2Pe 2:1-19; Jude 1:4,8,11-13,16.
Apostasy in the church, as in Israel Isa 1:5; 5:5-7 is irremediable, and awaits judgment 2Th 2:10-12; 2Pe 2:17,21; Jude 1:11-15; Re 3:14-16.
July 2nd, 2007 at 3:10 pm
A lot of these churches don’t even realize the new bible translations have been corrupted to be more “politically correct, etc.”
http://www.chick.com/catalog/books/0170.asp
Stick with the 1611 King James Version
July 2nd, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Berberian sounds like a Nifong; only substitute rape and kidnap charge with battery and assault.
Most men who end up in court against a woman get Nifonged.
Nifong and their kind are a part of the feminist state’s soldiers. The government and legal industry benefits by growth from new tax dollars and jobs to combat their enemy – men. Men like you and me.
The American government justifies the increased spending by the petitions and alarms of their new ally feminist groups lobbyists, media, and academics.
http://www.wufpac.org
http://www.tdwpac.org
http://www.nowpacs.org
http://www.townhall.com/funnies/2007/07/01/
http://www.yale.edu/yalecollege/publications/ycps/chapter_iv/women.html
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/womenstudy/resources.htm
http://www.princeton.edu/~prowom
July 2nd, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Oh, another way to put it is that the other newer bible versions “sound the same” but they don’t “mean the same.” Get it….
July 2nd, 2007 at 3:41 pm
The bible is a how-to-live-life manual for men, written by men, for example, Proverbs is told by a father for his son.
God sent his only son, not a daughter, Jesus to do a job. Jesus calls God “Abba” that is Aramaic for Papa or Dad.
The Son of God chooses twelve men, not a woman among them, to help him, however, women did “provide” for Jesus, as he did not have a traditional job.
Before Christ, God called men to lead others away from trouble – Abraham, Moses, Joseph, David, Solomon to name a few men.
For the last 2,000 years, God has called men to help others. I expect more of the same.
It is difficult to believe that after about 5,000 years God changed his mind about homo sex; abortion (murder); injustice (America criminal & family courts); divorce (Malachi 2:16 – God hates it); bear false witness against your neighbor (false DV and rape and most divorce cases against men); adultery (a feminist’s right); dishonor fathers (#5 in God’s Top 10 Commandments); and, coveting (a feminist attribute).
Feminism hijacked many bible translations, yet they can never change the gender of the leaders of the bible. And the bible will be around long after feminism has come and gone.
July 2nd, 2007 at 3:54 pm
“Feminism hijacked many bible translations…” That is so true mruffolo.
The feminist leave NO stone unturned in which to spread their venomous rage.
July 2nd, 2007 at 5:14 pm
All the guy did was push her onto a soft bed. What kind of “abuse” is that? Did he smash her teeth out? No. Did he give her a black eye? No. If you were in a bar “fight” and your sole offense was to push someone onto a padded bar stool, would the cops even bother to show up or lay charges?
July 2nd, 2007 at 8:06 pm
The feminist would like to have the man arrested for even raising his voice too loud as domestic abuse.
July 2nd, 2007 at 9:47 pm
Today at work a single guy shared that his buddy got put in jail for 30 days because he emailed his wife. He had the routine order of protection against him during the divorce.
I suppose that the divorced dad also lost his job fr missing work.
I suspect that the divorced dad had a hard time finding another job with a background check that showed prison time for violence.
There are risks to being a husband.
Lesson learned: be first to dial 911 againt your girlfriend or wife and or do not communicate with a divorcing wife.
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:20 pm
Yeah, I knew a guy who called his wife on the cell phone to ask if he could pick up his computer. He did this everyone agreed in a friendly manner. The prosecutor with a straight face said he would have to spend a minimum of 90 days in jail.
In my guess, my wife was having an affair, she was involving the children in the affair, she was insulting and ridiculing me continuously, she was furious every time I came home (her boyfriend had to leave), she had cussed out my parents when they drive 200 miles to give her a birthday cake and flowers, etc. She called the police on me. She smiled and joked with the cops as I was put in the back of the car. My offense? I pushed her not on the bed but out of the bed.
A few months later she signed a legal document amounting to a release of everything as a part of a settlement of the divorce. The ink wasn’t even dry on the paper and I was arrested again. This time I did literally nothing. I was there at her invitation and insistence to pick up the children. I didn’t get out of the car. I didn’t say a word to her. I cops pulled up behind me and arrested me. I have not received a coherent explanation to this day.
At least, these cases were not prosecuted.
July 3rd, 2007 at 10:10 am
Joi said,
“Okay, here is what happened more than likely. The man had second thoughts about getting married and she was upset about his cold feet. In a fit of anger she dials 911 during the argument. Then regrets it, but its too late.”
I think he probably threatened her and made her drop the charges. It could be that mandatory arrest laws exist because victims are so afraid of harm that they often drop the charges. They just want the violence to stop, so they call for help. If no one holds perpetrators accountable, the violence will just continue. In those rare cases that the person who was arrested was falsely accused, isn’t that what trials are for?
The juror said:
“Sixty-five citizens had spent a day being quizzed for 12 jurors and one alternate to be selected. All of us had to abandon our family, employment and earning responsibilities for three days.”
Isn’t it the responsibility of citizens to participate in jury duty? If the jurors’ jobs or schedules were important enough, they could have gotten out of it. To the juror, I say quit complaining about your responsibilities as a citizen and just participate in the system so justice can be served. The purpose of a trial is to decide whether or not someone is guilty… so if the jury thinks they’re not guilty, then find the verdict as such… isn’t that justice? If every trial was an automatic guilty, why would we need them at all?
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:27 pm
All of this just demonstrates the wisdom of neither marrying nor living with a female. This is political persecution on a scale not seen since the Soviet Gulags. There is NO presumption of innocence, even in the absence of a victim. No wonder our government is struggling to legalize millions of illegal aliens – they have effectively ended reproduction by citizens! Can you imagine the result when these illegals are suddenly subject to our family law “justice” system? They will be running home!
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:59 pm
RS said, “effectively ended reproduction by citizens”
Grow to government is important as in business. Less customers (read: citizens), less taxes, fewer jobs, less gross national product, less production output, less innovation,…
Today feminism’s social practices produce about two kids per two adults. Within a generation, there is no growth.
Another example, if two parents produced an average of one kid, then, after a generation when the parents die (and without immigration), America’s population would be cut in half.
Another example, if two parents produced no child, then, after a generation when the parents die (and without immigration), America’s population is zero.
Birth rate and or immigration is important to a nation for survival and for economic growth.
When has a feminist said, “I want six kids”? It’s mostly one or two kids, maybe three.
Feminism’s low birth rate may be related to our liberal immigration policies.
Note: Abortion does not help – about 42,000,000 since 1973.