Erring on the Side of Hidden Harm: The Granting of Domestic Violence Restraining Orders

Written by David Heleniak

    Just like FDA officials worrying about the headlines, judges ….
     …. deciding whether to enter domestic violence restraining orders have their careers to think about in addition to the merits of the particular cases before them. When in doubt, they err on the side of hidden harm.

On September 19, 2005, Yvette Cade went before Judge Richard A. Palumbo seeking an extension of a domestic violence restraining order against her husband, Roger Hargrave. Palumbo, whether from confusion, clerical error, or a genuine belief that the extension was unwarranted, dismissed the restraining order. One month later, Hargrave walked into the cell phone store where Cade worked, doused her with gasoline, and set her on fire. Two weeks after the attack, Palumbo was removed from all domestic violence cases and placed on administrative duty.  (more…)

Note: I’ve always wondered if the reason they couldn’t get an impartial jury empaneled in Reno was because they couldn’t find 12 people who would vote to convict!

KOLO – HomePage

A Nevada judge took the witness stand Tuesday to recall being wounded by a sniper-style gunshot through his courthouse window, and pointed across a courtroom to identify Darren Mack as the man he immediately thought shot him.

“That man, right there,” Washoe County Family Court Judge Chuck Weller said, as he told a jury that Mack’s name was the only one he gave police detectives before he was wheeled into surgery June 12, 2006, at a Reno hospital. (more…)

 Source

The husband charged with killing his teacher wife’s lover can visit his two young sons, if they can be found, a judge said Thursday.

Circuit Court Judge Bill Swann signed a temporary parenting plan allowing Eric McLean to see his sons, ages 8 and 11, in a supervised setting with his parents on weekends for three weeks, then have custody of the boys every other week, with the goal of winning permanent custody.

The only problem is that McLean’s estranged wife, Erin McLean, has legal custody and is living with the boys somewhere outside Tennessee, said Steve Sharp, Eric McLean’s divorce attorney.

Swann’s order has no legal effect until Erin McLean and the boys are found. She is charged with no crimes.

Eric McLean is out on bond awaiting trial on a second-degree murder charge in the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Sean Powell outside the McLean home on March 10. McLean suspected Powell was having an affair with his wife, who taught at Powell’s high school.

Eric McLean said in an interview with NBC’s “Today Show” the shooting was an accident.

His wife left for Nashville with the boys to live with her parents. Since then she attempted suicide and was fired from a private Christian school in Nashville.