Joined: Sun Feb 26, 2006 3:28 am Posts: 28541 Location: PORTLAND, ME
In a move that is certain to stir controversy far beyond its borders, Topeka’s City Council voted yesterday to repeal the Kansas state capital’s ban on domestic battery.
The move is a purely political one: Budget cuts have compelled Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor to transfer all misdemeanor domestic battery cases to the city, which has refused to handle them due to the added cost.
Interim city manager Dan Stanley believes the ban’s repeal is exactly the sort of kick in the junk the DA’s office needs to start prosecuting domestic battery cases again.
Some 30 abuse suspects have had their charges dismissed since the dispute began, with one offender being released twice.
The so-called “decriminalization” of domestic violence has stoked the ire of many local and national organizations that feel people’s lives are being risked for a game of political chicken.
“I absolutely do not understand it,” National Coalition Against Domestic Violence executive director Rita Smith told the Kansas City Star. “It’s really outrageous that they’re playing with family safety to see who blinks first. People could die while they’re waiting to straighten this out.”
Adding insult to injury, October happens to be Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
While domestic abuse remains a crime in the state of Kansas, and therefore in Topeka, with no one in the city willing to foot the bill for prosecution, it is likely cases will continue to be dismissed until city and county officials agree on a resolution.
Joined: Sun Feb 26, 2006 3:28 am Posts: 28541 Location: PORTLAND, ME
cutuphalfdead wrote:
It was a creative way to get the county to handle the cases and it worked.
it did? it sounds to me like this is just starting.
Quote:
Topeka City Council voted on Tuesday night to drop a ban on domestic violence within the city, in a bass-ackward attempt to force county law enforcement to deal with those cases. As I blogged last week, the city and the district attorney are in a spat about who should pay to prosecute those cases, and the result has left victims of domestic violence in the lurch.
The Topeka Capitol-Journal reports that the council voted 7 to 3 to repeal an ordinance banning domestic battery. Supporters argue that the move will force Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor to resume prosecuting those cases, which he stopped doing last month in protest of budget cuts:
The vote came after [Interim city manager Dan] Stanley recommended the governing body approve the repeal to make it clear that only the district attorney's office is legally empowered to prosecute domestic batteries committed in Topeka and can’t “dump” that responsibility on the city.
Stanley said the repeal would "remove all ambiguity from this question" while giving the city leverage as it negotiates with the county commission and district attorney's office to seek to ensure misdemeanor domestic batteries committed in Topeka are prosecuted in district court.
The city's assistant attorney says domestic violence is still a crime, since there's a state law banning it. But the move essentially ensures that no one is in charge of enforcing that law in the state capital.
Joined: Sun Feb 26, 2006 3:28 am Posts: 28541 Location: PORTLAND, ME
cutuphalfdead wrote:
An LA Times article I read on it said the county was prosecuting these cases now. I haven't read anything since then so I could be wrong.
i've yet to see anything that says that the county was actually stepping up... only that this move was carried out w/ the intention of getting the county to cover the prosecution costs.
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