My Speech to DVSAC

Presentation to DVSAC

Marc Dubin, Esq.
Director of Advocacy, Center for Independent Living of South Florida
mdubin@pobox.com
305-896-3000


Thank you for the opportunity to talk with you today. In 1989, I was a prosecutor in Key West, and one day, as I was sitting at my desk, I heard another prosecutor across the hall loudly berating a woman seated across from him. I looked at her and I could see that she was terrified. He was very angry that she was insisting that he drop the charges and insisting that nothing had happened, and insisting that her husband should be released from jail. I could hear the fear in her voice from across the hall, and the frustration in his. He was a new prosecutor, and had no experience prosecuting domestic violence cases.

He simply could not understand why she would want to deprive him of his opportunity to help her. He simply could not understand why she might reasonably believe that she would be safer without his help, without his intervention.

I got up, interrupted the conversation, and asked to speak to him privately. I politely offered to take the case off his hands, took the case file, and brought her into my office and closed the door. After I reviewed the file, I explained to her that I understood that she was afraid, and that I understood that she would prefer that we drop the charges. I told her that I did not blame her for wanting us to do so. I asked her if she had any children, and she indicated that she had a young daughter at home. Her husband was alleged to have gotten into an argument with her in front of her daughter and was alleged to have punched her in the face, causing a bruise. A neighbor had called the police because of the loud yelling that had been heard.

I suggested to her that I was concerned not only about her safety but also about the safety of her daughter. I told her that our office did more than just put people in jail. I told her that we had social workers who would talk to her privately and provide her with help. I told her that we would introduce her to people from the domestic violence shelter who could help her and help her daughter.

I told her that according to the police who had responded, she had told them, while crying and upset, that her husband had punched her. I noted that she later told them that was not true, when she saw them put handcuffs on her husband. I told her that the bruise that I observed on her was evidence of violence, and that I was concerned that this was not the first time she had been hit, and I asked her to think about how many times her young daughter had seen her being hit by her husband, and what effect that must have on her daughter. I asked her to think about the possibility that next time her daughter could get in the way and could get injured. I told her that I had a way to help them.

I explained to her that I had the authority to get her husband released from jail, without dropping the charges. I explained to her that I could offer him a plea that could end this prosecution that would include a requirement that he attend classes for batterers -- and that if he agreed to this, and agreed to plead, I would advance the case on the calendar, take his plea, and let him out. I told her that I would send a letter on State Attorney stationery to her husband’s attorney informing them that she had come to my office and had asked to have the charges dropped, but that the State Attorney’s office had refused to do so and was proceeding with the prosecution over her objection, and that she would be subpoenaed to appear in court.

I noted as well that as I explained the options to her, she seemed to relax a bit. I went on to explain to her that I was going to ask a female detective to take photographs of her injuries so that I could use the photographs to convince her husband's attorney of the strength of my case. I also explained that since she had told the police officers that her husband had hit her, and that she had made those statements while upset by the incident, I was planning to seek to have the police officer testify as to what she said, and would seek to enter her statements into evidence through the police officer as excited utterances. I also told her that we had a 911 tape we were going to introduce as well. I was simply trying to make the case as if it were a homicide, which I feared it would eventually become if we did not intervene.

She agreed, relieved that I had not judged her. I interviewed her at length about what really happened, then brought in a female detective who photographed her injuries, and then we introduced her to the victim witness staff person and someone from the domestic violence shelter. I contacted her husband's attorney, explained that we were going to proceed over the objection of the victim, sent a letter to her husband's attorney indicating that the victim had come forward and had asked to have the charges dropped, and that the State Attorney's office had refused to do so because we had admissible evidence proving beyond a reasonable doubt that her client had committed domestic violence. I offered a misdemeanor plea to battery, a year of probation, and a batterer's treatment program as a condition of probation. I offered to advance the case on the calendar and release him immediately upon the entry of his plea. She agreed, and several days later he pled guilty and was released. He was later sentenced to probation.

I thought about how we handled domestic violence cases. I approached my boss and offered to take all of the domestic violence prosecutions in Key West -- misdemeanors and felonies. For the next two years, on top of my other cases, I was assigned all of the domestic violence cases in Key West. From that point onward, I began to learn how little I knew, and how much help I needed. I had been a prosecutor for six years prior to that, in Brooklyn, New York. I still had no idea.

Despite my experience, I found that I knew very little about domestic violence. I learned, very quickly, that I needed help. At that time Trula Motta was the Executive Director of the domestic violence shelters in the Keys, and asked Trula and others for guidance. I turned to the police for guidance as well, who, by and large, were very frustrated by victims' lack of cooperation and the dropping of charges by the State Attorneys’ office.

I approached judges as well, who were also frustrated by these cases, as they often took up valuable time on the docket, only to be dropped.I began to think about ways to improve the situation. I noticed that there had been a practice in my office of offering defendants charged with domestic violence pretrial intervention rather than requiring them to plead guilty and be placed on probation. I recognized that this offered us an opportunity to record a win, of sorts, and keep the defendant loosely tied to the criminal justice system. If during the time that he was on unsupervised probation through pretrial intervention he got in trouble again, we retained the right to try him on the original charges. Of course, that meant a weak case that we did not want to try in the first place would become a weaker case months later that we could not realistically try at all. And it meant no help for victims or their children.

I informed the Public Defender's office that since I was trying all of the cases of domestic violence, I would never be offering pretrial intervention again. I would be prosecuting cases over the objection of the victim if I felt I could make the case, and that I would prefer to put the defendant through trial and lose it than put the victim at risk because the State Attorneys’ office did not stand behind her. As a compromise, and an inducement to plead, I offered to withhold adjudication, if the defendant agreed to plead guilty, accept a year of probation, and as a condition of probation agreed to attend a batterer’s intervention program. I also offered to advance all cases where the defendant was in jail upon the entry of a plea.

As more cases came in, I also re-examined the allegations against each defendant, and discovered something very interesting. In case after case, the police had arrested the defendants for misdemeanors -- usually a violation of a restraining order and battery, but in case after case, they had under charged the defendant. For example, in a case in which the defendant had a restraining order issued against him and he went over to the victim's home, went inside, and hit her, I had him rearrested, and charged him with a felony burglary of an occupied dwelling, alleging that he had knowingly entered without permission (even when she let him in, and he entered in violation of the restraining order) with the intent to commit a crime (battery/domestic violence) therein. I also charged him with the battery and a violation of the restraining order. I walked the charging instrument over to a judge, got an arrest warrant, got very high bond, called a detective and had him rearrested, often at the local bar, often in front of his friends.

At the bond hearing, I made it a practice to ask the judge to order the defendant to have no contact with the victim as a condition of release. One time I had a player on the high school football team rearrested at football practice and charged with a burglary, domestic violence, and violation of a restraining order, in front of his teammates and in front of the cheerleaders, after he had violated a restraining order and beaten up his girlfriend at her home.

Once a defendant was sitting in jail facing a prison sentence, he became highly motivated to pay attention to whether charges would be dropped or not. Often, these defendants would call the victim from jail and order her to drop the charges. In these cases, in my interview with the victim, I would ask about whether the defendant had contacted her and whether he had asked her to drop the charges. Because this was a violation of the conditions of bond, if he was out of jail awaiting trial, I would have him rearrested for violating the terms of his release. On occasion, I also added a new charge of tampering with a witness.

I was learning from other people in the system of the problems they faced, and worked closely with them to find solutions. Together, we changed how domestic violence was treated, by the system. We supported one another, and learned from one another. After all, we were the system.

Which brings me to why DVSAC is so important. I cannot begin to tell you how crucial and valuable it is to be able to collaborate so easily with law enforcement, victim services programs, prosecutors, and others to develop and implement policy affecting victims of domestic violence and sexual violence. Without DVSAC, we would all be working in a vacuum -- we would not be able to change what needs to be changed. With the collaborative power available through DVSAC, we can turn to one another to share expertise and experience. We can ask questions of one another and enhance one another's work.

When I was prosecuting these cases, if I had not had the benefit of Trula Motta's experience and guidance, I would not have been able to help victims who so desperately needed help. If I had not had the benefit of learning from experienced police officers and detectives what they knew about domestic violence, I would not have been able to make the right decisions in these cases. If I had not had the benefit of learning from experienced judges what they knew about domestic violence, I would not have been able to effectively communicate with them what they needed to know about my case in order to appropriately set bond and appropriately sentence those charged with domestic violence.

Years later, in 1994, I was selected by the Director of the Office on Violence against Women at the Justice Department to serve as Special Counsel to her Office. In that capacity, I was responsible for offering guidance about implementation of the Violence against Women Act, which had just been passed. I met with other components of the Justice Department, the Social Security Administration, and other federal agencies to discuss enhancing services to victims of domestic violence and sexual violence. I met with victims’ rights groups, prosecutors, judges, clergy, and countless others across the country to discuss how the Justice Department could best serve these victims.

I answered countless calls from victims from all over the country seeking the help of the Justice Department when all local resources had failed them. I learned a great deal, but most of all, I learned that collaboration and communication are essential. I've learned that when one admits that there are others whose expertise and experience are valuable, one does a much better job of serving those we seek to serve.

DVSAC offers us all that opportunity to share expertise and experience, across disciplines, and I have seen how valuable participation in DVSAC can be. For example, through DVSAC we have been able to generate discussion about enhancing services to victims with disabilities, and we have learned of the challenges facing others seeking to serve victims of violence.

Some of you may be aware that in addition to serving as Director of Advocacy at the Center for Independent Living of South Florida, I also serve as founder and Executive Director of CAVNET (Communities against Violence Network – (www.cavnet.org), a nonprofit that serves to share information and resources about violence against women with over 750 participants internationally, through a listserv and an online database.

CAVNET utilizes the Internet to bring together experts, researchers, and advocates from domestic violence coalitions and shelters, rape treatment coalitions and programs, universities, members of law enforcement, judges, clergy, stalking experts, human rights experts, elder abuse experts, child abuse experts, and many others from all over the world.

In my view, collaboration works. In fact, collaboration is the only thing that works.

DVSAC is a shining example of a collaborative effort, doing very challenging work that enhances all of us. I cannot urge you strongly enough to participate -- to come to meetings -- to share your insights -- to challenge one another. Without DVSAC, and without your participation, the community would lose an incredible resource, a resource that has taken the combined efforts of a diverse community -- efforts that in my opinion that have paid great dividends -- and that has enhanced my work and the work of every other member of DVSAC. I commend you all for your commitment to this work and for your commitment to collaboratively sharing your experience and expertise with one another on behalf of the community.

Thank you.



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