Fordham Law alumna, adjunct professor and former domestic-violence prosecutor, Deanna Paul wrote an op-ed in The Marshall Project where she discusses how she handled the case of domestic abuse of her own sister.
Plastic tubes dangled from her nostrils, and the gown revealed bandaging taped to her stomach and electrode stickers glued to her chest. The heart monitor beeped. Julia looked up and tried to smile, and I tried not to stare at the gap where her bottom tooth belonged. When I sat down on the edge of the bed and asked what really happened, she began to cry.“It’s all my fault,” she finally whispered.
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When I began my career as a domestic-violence prosecutor, I had a difficult time understanding why my victims would return to their abusers — we had given them distance and safety through the law, and through restraining orders, batterer programs, and jail time. Part of me actually couldn’t stand the women who sat across from me in my office and justified their partners’ behaviors, or, worse, looked me in the eye and lied.
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As a prosecutor, I looked critically at the facts of every case that touched my desk and, in preparation for trial, envisioned how the proceeding might go. Corroborating evidence — medical records and photos, statements made by the accused, other witnesses’ observations — tended to support the victim’s testimony, but what evidence would the judge throw out? Would the jury hear only a portion of the facts? And which testimony would they discount?