Tuesday, June 02, 2009

OK, This Just Sucks


Abused N.C. woman dreads release of ex-husband


Can you believe this? From the article:
Since her ex-husband used pliers and a broom handle and a belt to abuse her 15 years ago, leaving her with permanent disabilities, she's shuffled to high schools to counsel students and taught law enforcement officers about domestic violence.

But always, in the back of her head, was the vow Thomas Howard Price Jr. made in a letter from prison. On Friday he was released, and she began waiting for him to make good on his promise to kill her and her daughters.

"Is he coming today, is it going to be tomorrow?" she said before he was released last week. "Just the always wondering, always having to watch your every move and never knowing when he's going to show up."
She has injuries consistent with a car wreck; he tortured her. He got a female inmate to send her a death threat, threatened her by phone, and they let the bastard go! They could have kept him for a further fourteen years, but they let him go. He even objected to wearing an ankle bracelet for six months, but later agreed to it as a condition of parole.

Just why do they think he objected? Duh!

This is what is wrong with our system. They guy has obviously convinced a parole board that he is "rehabilitated," and won't go after her.

Right. Do parole boards do any sort of research? These guys don't quit! You can bet he has been stewing over how it's all her fault he went to jail in the first place. He will be after her.

Here's a PDF of his appeal, in which he pleads that evidence from the assault and kidnapping trial was improperly admitted into the trial for sending the death threat. Judge overruled.

He needs to be put down. It's difficult to avoid blaming his lawyer right along with him, too. This man is going to threaten this woman and her daughters for as long as he is free to do so. She will see him when she shops, he will be watching her home and work, calling her at all hours, emailing her...until he shows up at her house with a gun.

If I know this, why doesn't the parole board?

12 comments:

  1. I feel sorry for her too. But on some level I also feel she needs to get herself into protection.

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  2. I wonder if protection doesn't rightly mean buying a firearm and learning how to use it. And using it!

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  3. There is no "protection." There are women's shelters, but they are only for the short term.

    This guy has shown he can out-wait a long jail term; he could certainly out-wait the 6-8 weeks, which is the max at most shelters.

    I have seen people move long distances to avoid men like that, and they have still been tracked from state to state.

    If she were going to hide, she would need all the accouterments of
    the "Witness Protection Program"--new SS#, birth certificate, DL, and the same for her children. If she belongs to any professional organizations, she could be tracked that way, and her daughters would have to have the same.

    Friends, family, National Honor Society, SAT scores--all gone.

    The man just needs to come close enough to be seen and shot, IMO.

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  4. Melissa, are you saying that she needs to take responsibility for her own safety? If so, that's what the gun is for, as Driver pointed out.

    It makes me so angry that our judicial system fails women in her situation.

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  5. I agree, but he didnt kill her. He just plans to. Until he kills her they cannot give him corporal punishment, which would mean life in prison.

    Its actually better now with the kidnapping laws covering this. If he had done this today, he may very well have been locked up for life.

    And yes, I dont think that doing this article is really helping her safety. You know he knows about it since reporters have been after his family. That has got to be eating at him.

    But then again, it may help. He knows for sure if anything happens to her or her girls they are going to be looking right at him.

    It was a risky move in any case.

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  6. Similar story here in my small town in Georgia. The lady lived this for years. The stalking, the threats, the abuse. He, too, went to jail for battery. When he got out, he came after her and her children at their home. She shot and killed him. She was taken in by law enforcement that night, but released. No charges filed. She told me that the whole time she was shooting him, she was saying, "Jimmy, I'm really sorry I have to do this." I think she never got over the fact that she killed him, even though she KNEW it was her only choice.

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  7. She needs to get a protection order from a judge, and then get a gun.

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  8. You're right, Cap'n. All rightie-tightie legal that way...

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  9. Although my first instinct is to think that she should move/hide/something, I know that really doesn't work. I also have to admit that I agree with her that she shouldn't have to move to be safe, and it sounds like law enforcement in her area seems to be pretty aware also.

    One of the tips for dealing with stalkers, or batterers turned stalkers, is to not answer phone calls or talk to the stalker. While that is a good point, I've also heard many women say that if they have contact with the stalker/abuser, then they can get a handle on how he is doing. They can tell if he is escalating and how high the risk is.

    I also agree that she should get a protective order, if only to further the legal trail that could protect her from legal repercussions.

    I can't believe this guy is out. Scary, and shame on the parole board.

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  10. I don't understand why a woman would think she needs to be in contact to see if a guy has "escalated." If he hasn't "escalated," what does that mean? You have another day to live? If he has "escalated," do you have time, after making that assessment, to save yourself?

    WHY GET WITHIN TWENTY FEET?

    The only contact I'd have with anyone who threatened me is with a weapon.

    I have to opine that I think, again, women think they have the Special Power Of Love that can change men. "If I can just talk to him, I'll fix things." They cannot decide that there is no more time for talking. There always seems to be a "let me handle this, I can bring peace" attitude that I think goes back to our need to see ourselves as fixers. "This man is lethal and murderous, but I have a special personal way of talking to him that no one else has, and I use this unique ability to defuse the situation one more time."

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  11. Carol, your friend was smart, and I'm sure she had to decide that, even if she would have to live with having to kill him, the operative word is "live."

    Driver, why do we let such an instinct override good sense?

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  12. Having never lived it, I probably shouldn't say this. I don't think it would be a hard decision. I always hated that she couldn't let it go. Again, I think the woman placed blame on herself that didn't belong.

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