For a glaring example of gender bias in the courts (and the media), you need look no further than The Washington Post story today by Tamara Jones, in which she commiserates with convicted felon Teressa Turner-Schaefer, who spent a mere 11 months in jail for killing her husband after an argument.
Now Turner-Schaefer gets to collect $400,000 in life insurance for killing her husband. In a plea bargain, she pleaded guilty to the crime of involuntary manslaughter, which, amazingly enough, doesn’t bar you from collecting life insurance taken out on the person you killed.
It’s not surprising that the prosecutors let her plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter, even if they thought she deliberately murdered her husband. Prosecutions of wives for killing their husbands are among the most difficult for prosecutors to bring, since judges and juries invariably assume that the victim must have done something to deserve it, even if the victim was blameless.
Even when a prosecutor succeeds in obtaining a conviction, penalties are often slight. (I wrote earlier in the Post about Mary Winkler, the Tennessee woman who served only two months in jail after her conviction for killing her preacher husband).
The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics’ study of large urban counties found that wives who kill their husbands without provocation receive an average sentence of just six to seven years, while husbands who kill their wives receive a much more reasonable average sentence of 17 years.
And getting a conviction is quite difficult, since even the killing of a small, physically harmless man is often defended on the ground that his wife was suffering from “battered woman syndrome.”
“Battered woman syndrome” is a concept popularized by Lenore Walker, who was later exposed by the Post’s Ken Ringle for falsely claiming that watching the Super Bowl results in men beating their wives more. Walker defines “battered woman syndrome” so broadly that mere verbal abuse or quarreling qualifies. Despite being exposed for the Super Bowl hoax, Walker has been cited hundreds of times in judicial opinions.
Last year, in In re Nourn, 52 Cal.Rptr.3d 31 (2006), the California Court of Appeal cited the “battered woman syndrome” concept to overturn a woman’s conviction for getting her abusive lover to kill an innocent third party, whom the woman accused of sexual impropriety in order to curry favor with her abuser. The “abuse excuse” thus claimed a victim who no one even alleged was abusive. (The California Supreme Court ordered that this controversial decision be stripped of any precedential value, but refused to review it or uphold the conviction).
It is easy for a female defendant to find a “rent-a-shrink” willing to testify that the husband she killed was a batterer — even if she in fact dominated and abused him, not vice versa. (The Bureau of Justice Statistics says that 1.5 million women and 800,000 men are physically battered every year). Such testimony for hire is admissible, while the testimony of the slain man’s family that he was the victim is not.
The Maryland Court of Special Appeals, in an opinion by Judge Diana Motz (who was later appointed to the federal appeals court), held in Banks v. State, 608 A.2d 1249 (1992), that a man’s family were not allowed to testify that he was in fear for his life of the wife who later killed him, and expressed such fear to them repeatedly. The court said his out-of-court statements were inadmissible hearsay. Yet an “expert” who never met the man was permitted to testify about battered women’s syndrome in that very same case, depicting him a negative light.
By contrast, similarly relevant out-of-court statements about female victims are not so rigidly excluded. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, for example, permitted diary entries about abuse of a female victim to be admitted at her husband’s murder trial in Parle v. Runnels, 387 F.3d 1030 (2004).
The courts can be quite indulgent even when it is clear that a woman has deliberately attempted to kill her husband. In another case, U.S. v. Working, 224 F.3d 1093 (2001), the Ninth Circuit held that federal trial judge Jack Tanner (whom the Ninth Circuit later admitted was gender-biased against male victims) had the power to reduce a woman’s sentence for deliberately maiming, and attempting to kill, her ex-husband (Tanner sentenced her to just one day in jail) because he had supposedly disturbed her emotionally by seeking custody of their kids. It is hard to imagine a court reducing a man’s sentence for maiming his ex-wife on the grounds that she had the temerity to seek custody of their children. Such a man would rightly receive a long prison sentence, and no sympathy from the press.
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I hope that the victim’s (Erin Turner-Schaefer’s) parents will keep in mind that under the law of most states (and Virginia, too, I think), a history of domestic violence (like the felony committed by Teressa Turner-Schaefer) is a factor that weighs against child custody.
I worry about the safety of the children. An impulsive, violent person can just as easily kill a child as a spouse.
That is relevant to any court proceedings involving custody or visitation of the children.
Given the blind spot that some gender-biased judges have about domestic violence against male victims, you may need to remind judges that, in both law and fact, Teressa Turner-Schaefer perpetrated domestic violence of the most extreme kind by killing her husband.
Women who commit violence against their husbands often go on to commit violence against other relatives. Lorena Bobbitt attacked her own mother, for example, after she escaped punishment for cutting off her husband’s appendage.
On the Erin turner Schaefer story..I hear no mention of the abuse HE endured as a child being locked in closets till he peed his pants and then beat for it, being left kneeling on bean bags for hours. peeing and being flicked in his private parts for doing so.Never knowing his real father till his wife found him and being beaten and abused his whole life by his step father.Being forced to leave the safety of his grandparents home where he was on the football team and honor roll, to come back to an abusive mother and forced to work and take care of 6 children at the age of 16. Theres no mention of his incarceration in a mental facility due to a suicide attempt 6 months into being taken from Pennsylvania and the safety of his grandparents home. Definately No mention of his obsession with wanting to die. Or statements he made about wanting to be dead due to the fact that he couldnt rise above the years of abuse and control the monster within due to the years of abuse. The same woman who did this to them was given custody of his children and spent a year abusing them. The five year old was shot repeatedly with a paintball gun running around like a hamster in a cage to get away.They were all forced to watch the other children play their video games and werent allowed to touch them. all three of them were forced to walk up and down stairs 100 times for simply running in the house when two other children were running after them, if they stopped or got out of breath they had to start all over agian. What of a 7 year old forced to do 100 push ups and 100 situps for an infraction that he doesnt even recall.Or the 7 year punished severly for telling the counselor he couldnt take it any more. Or being screamed at for loving their mother and told she took a knife and went ugh and stabbed Daddy over and over killing him. i think the wrong people were even at trial for this. Erin was abused severly both mentally and physically his whole life. What are the chances of him growing into a violent alcoholic due to it all. He was a wonderful man and father sober and his wife always wanted to believe he would over come it all. So when will the REAL abusers ever be served their justice they are still out there ruining more children, and now playing the role of the poor victims that lost a child at the hands of a crazy woman. sorry to rant but i find it repulsive they they walk away leaving all the carnage and it was always Erin’s fault or the wifes fault or whatever child that acts out from the abuse..
James Olvera (616)581-7579
Dear friends,
Pleas forgive me for sending you “Re: FW:” e-mails. I am seeking to pool resources and rally moral, logistic, and financial support. Pleas send this to any one you now who cares about the subject matter, and most importantly, keep us in your prayers. Thank you for your time and effort! God bless you all!
In His Spirit,
James
James Olvera wrote:
My ex-wife has made a motion to increase her visitations to include 3 weekends a month and 1 weekday every week. Hearing before Judge Christopher P. Yates Kent County, Michigan, 30 May 2008. This she is asking for while she is on probation for her child abuse conviction, and she is asking based on the affidavit of 3 of her deceptive family members who have a clear conflict of interest. She is doing this while she is on probation for her child abuse conviction, she has caused foreclosure of my home, she is over 10 months behind on child support, and she is pregnant for an illegitimate child. I have had third rate attorneys who have all failed to protect my children, the CPS and Foster care agents improperly performed their duties and attempted to wash themselves of my case by resolving early to avoid further investigation of discreditable parties whom they endorsed. Once an abuser always an abuser. My ex-wife has also abused me and our pet cats. For the protection of my children I need a very good trial lawyer! I am pooling financial support. Who Can AND WILL do the legal work of protecting my children from abuse and neglect??? I need help fighting against a court which will not protect my children from neglect and abuse! Anyone pleas help protect my children!
James Olvera
ynot120@hotmail.com
director@columnists.com; helpnow@thebestdefense.com; info@cnylawoffice.com; info@acfc.org; news@woodtv.com
Ken Pangborn wrote,
The sad truth is that you can have all the justice you can afford. It is not that you cannot protect your children, it is that it comes at a price. Years ago I worked on a 2 year project to establish a foundation grant to assist men like you. The reality is that other’s in the fathers’ movement all felt that their projects were much more important than helping dads of limited means. One very strident man felt that the ONLY legitimate use for such donated funds would be to promote his idea of universal joint custody. Another decided that the only legitimate use for the funds would be to provide materials to men to represent themselves. (Pro-Se) Yet another felt the only legitimate use would be to publish a newsletter for men. All of these forces were so certain that their ideas were more important came together to make certain that no funds were made available to financially strapped dads. They managed to raise such hell with the foundation that a permanent grant of $500,000 a year was killed. Threats of lawsuits if they didn’t get their way made the foundations unwilling to fund anything. The net result is that men like you are on your own… Very few men in today’s economy can afford to spend a mid 5 figure amount to protect their kids. So bad moms keep getting away with harming kids. It isn’t that nothing can be done. It CAN be. It’s just expensive. There are lawyers to have great track records for winning they are just expensive as is that it takes to win.
James Olvera (616)581-7579
Dear friends,
I am seeking to pool resources and rally moral, logistic, and financial support. Pleas send this to any one you now who cares about the subject matter, and most importantly, keep us in your prayers. Thank you for your time and effort! God bless you all!
In His Spirit,
James
James Olvera wrote:
My ex-wife has made a motion to increase her visitations to include 3 weekends a month and 1 weekday every week. Hearing before Judge Christopher P. Yates Kent County, Michigan, 30 May 2008. This she is asking for while she is on probation for her child abuse conviction, and she is asking based on the affidavit of 3 of her deceptive family members who have a clear conflict of interest. She is doing this while she is on probation for her child abuse conviction, she has caused foreclosure of my home, she is over 10 months behind on child support, and she is pregnant for an illegitimate child. I have had third rate attorneys who have all failed to protect my children, the CPS and Foster care agents improperly performed their duties and attempted to wash themselves of my case by resolving early to avoid further investigation of discreditable parties whom they endorsed. Once an abuser always an abuser. My ex-wife has also abused me and our pet cats. For the protection of my children I need a very good trial lawyer! I am pooling financial support. Who Can AND WILL do the legal work of protecting my children from abuse and neglect??? I need help fighting against a court which will not protect my children from neglect and abuse! Anyone pleas help protect my children!
James Olvera
ynot120@hotmail.com
director@columnists.com; helpnow@thebestdefense.com; info@cnylawoffice.com; info@acfc.org; news@woodtv.com
Ken Pangborn wrote,
The sad truth is that you can have all the justice you can afford. It is not that you cannot protect your children, it is that it comes at a price. Years ago I worked on a 2 year project to establish a foundation grant to assist men like you. The reality is that other’s in the fathers’ movement all felt that their projects were much more important than helping dads of limited means. One very strident man felt that the ONLY legitimate use for such donated funds would be to promote his idea of universal joint custody. Another decided that the only legitimate use for the funds would be to provide materials to men to represent themselves. (Pro-Se) Yet another felt the only legitimate use would be to publish a newsletter for men. All of these forces were so certain that their ideas were more important came together to make certain that no funds were made available to financially strapped dads. They managed to raise such hell with the foundation that a permanent grant of $500,000 a year was killed. Threats of lawsuits if they didn’t get their way made the foundations unwilling to fund anything. The net result is that men like you are on your own… Very few men in today’s economy can afford to spend a mid 5 figure amount to protect their kids. So bad moms keep getting away with harming kids. It isn’t that nothing can be done. It CAN be. It’s just expensive. There are lawyers to have great track records for winning they are just expensive as is that it takes to win.
Erin Turner-Schaefer was my brother…we share the father he never knew and I barely know….
I went my whole life never knowing Erin even existed…
We never got the chance to meet, but I believe we were the same person all along….
I was abused as a child by my mother's ex bf…im trying to forget that feind's name….
I went through alot of depression and anger issues but im still here…
I'm still batteling a few demons here and there, but I will never regret anything.
It's what makes me the kind and sensitive person everyone I know knows I am…
They wouldn't trade me for the world.
I'm still standing.
Love, Family, and Friendship keep me steady.
Forgive
&
Love
Forget Regret or life is yours to miss.
RIP my brother….I love you.
Teressa and her children are the closest I am to him….LOVE NOMATTER WHAT!!!
I hope everyone understands where Im coming from…
I wish there were more optimistic people out there.
<3