Posted November 9, 201410:51 am
From The Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com:
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- In the six months before 12-year-old Davia Garth was killed, Cleveland police responded twice to domestic violence calls involving her mother and stepfather, Rufus Gray.
On Oct. 6, they arrested Gray, who was already on probation for kicking and slapping his wife during a 2012 argument.
City prosecutors decided there wasn't enough evidence to charge Gray with a new crime, so he was released from jail.
Within days, Sonya Garth says started Gray started lurking around her house again.
"He told me ain't no paper, no judge, no locks that would keep him from getting to me," she said Friday. "And I believed him. I just never thought he'd hurt my baby."
Davia's death is the latest in a string of domestic violence-related killings this fall that have put a spotlight on whether criminal justice system can do a better job protecting victims – and their families.
Garth said she left messages for her husband's Cuyahoga County probation officer twice in the weeks before shooting, asking for her to intervene.
But nothing stopped Gray from showing up.
According to a court spokesman, the probation officer spoke with Garth, who told her the couple was "splitting up for good" and that she "wanted to be left alone."
However, the probation officer said Garth didn't tell her about the Oct. 6 arrest.
The probation officer advised Garth to seek a protection order if she felt fearful or threatened by Gray, the spokesman said.
Weeks later, Gray's probation expired and days after that, authorities say the 59-year-old gunned down Davia and shot her mother as they settled in to watch the Cavaliers home opener. Gray is being held on a $5 million bond in that case.
Family members, teachers and classmates remembered Davia at a funeral service yesterday.
Justice system needs to get better at predicting violence
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty thinks the fact that Gray posed a serious threat shouldn't have been a shock to anyone.
Gray has a criminal history involving violent acts going back to the 1970s, including a prior felony domestic violence case against his first wife and a 1989 voluntary manslaughter conviction for shooting a security guard on a playground at Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority's Longwood Estates.
When Gray was arrested on Oct. 6, it was the fourth time Sonya Garth told police he had made threats to kill her since 2008.
"If I can't have you, no one can have you," Garth told police her husband shouted as they drove down a city street that day. "I'm going to crash this car into a pole and f------ kill you."
And her daughter, Davia, had witnessed that pattern of violence.
In April, when police responded to a call to the Clement Avenue home where Davia was eventually killed, the 12-year-old shared a video of the most recent confrontation she had witnessed.
"They do this all the time," she told the officers according to a police report.
The whole system, including his office, needs to improve efforts to "do the work it takes to recognize habitual, violent and dangerous offenders when they land in our lap," McGinty said.
"There were signs that Gray was dangerous that we should have foreseen," McGinty said. "As a criminal justice system, we are doing a poor job analyzing the arrestees' prior record and risk at intake.
In this case, he said, the failure to do so cost a 12-year-old her life.
McGinty said his office is planning further changes to how they handle domestic violence cases, in addition to ones they put into action in September after Alberto Medina, a man out on bond in a domestic violence case, shot and killed his ex-girlfriend Malorie Ferrell.
Court didn't know about Gray's new arrest
Had she known Gray had violated his probation by getting arrested, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Pamela Barker said she probably would have had him arrested and likely would have sent him to prison to serve all or part of the 18 month sentence hanging over his head.
However, Barker said she doesn't know whether any court action would have ultimately prevented Davia's death.
Barker said she sentenced Gray to two years of probation based on a court assessment provided to her. "Of course what happened is heartbreaking, just heartbreaking," Barker said.
In June, a probation officer recommended to Barker that Gray's probation be terminated, reporting that he had completed domestic violence classes, hadn't tested positive for drugs and had no new arrests or charges.
The judge ordered that his probation could expire at the end of October.
A court spokesman said Gray's probation officer, Erin Becker, was unaware of both an April police report made by Gray, where he complained his wife was threatening and provoking him or the Oct. 6 arrest report, in which Garth said her husband had threatened to kill her.
Under probation rules, Gray should have self- reported the October arrest but did not, Darren Toms said.
He would not have been required to report the April incident since he was the one who called police.
Toms said the probation officer did check for new arrests or charges against Gray in May, five months before his probation terminated.
It was done earlier than the stated policy, which is 60 to 90 days before probation termination. That's something the department will address, Toms said.
But even if the probation officer had checked 30 days before Gray's probation terminated, the Oct. 6 arrest wouldn't have shown up.
No contact orders unenforceable
Though Barker had issued a no contact order after Gray was indicted, it is unclear whether that order was still in force.
A court spokesman said it was not a condition of his probation, at least according to the court docket.
Barker said she tried to request the 2012 case file to see whether she had lifted or continued the no contact order but the paper file on the case had already been destroyed. The judge said she has requested the transcripts of the plea and sentencing hearings to see if anything was said relative to contact with Garth at sentencing.
Even if Barker did have a standing no contact order, that type of court order is basically unenforceable by police.
It isn't entered into the computer records systems police use, according to Cleveland Sgt. Ali Pillow.
And even if officers did know about it, they need a warrant from the judge to arrest a person for violating it.
System doesn't help victims stay safe
The confusion over no contact and protection orders in domestic violence cases is a problem that needs to be addressed, said Alexandria Ruden, an attorney with The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland and an expert in domestic violence law.
Ruden says the system often leaves it upon victims to make sure there is an order that protects them in some way – and to make sure it's enforced.
They are told they need to call probation officers, prosecutors or judges if they need protection.
But many victims, she said, won't do that because they are in fear of triggering further violence. Or they feel that the order can't give them the immediate protection they need to feel safe.
Sonya Garth said she just got tired of the cycle she was in but felt she – and the courts and police – were powerless to stop it.
"I was just tired," she said. "Tired of fighting it." Garth filed for divorce from her husband numerous times since 2010, citing his drinking and violence. In 2011, she was granted a domestic violence protection order but later asked for it to be dropped. She filed again for divorce in April and that case is still pending.
What needs to change?
In Ruden's opinion, the criminal justice system can sharpen its focus on assessing and checking in on batterers at key points in a criminal case. She said strict compliance with court rules does help prevent violence.
Courts could do a more thorough criminal history before bond is set and they could frequently check arrest reports while the offender is on probation.
"I don't see why they couldn't just call the victims and ask if the offender has tried to contact them," Ruden said.
To get judicial no contact orders entered into the police computer system or to make violating one an arrestable offense is unlikely and would take "a miraculous and major change in policy," Ruden said.
Ruden suggested the creation of a countywide registry where police could see all protection orders and judicial no contact orders currently in effect.
Victims also should also be given a piece of paper stating whether there is a protection or no contact order in effect that they can hand to police, she said.
Garth said after she does some healing from her physical and emotional wounds, she wants to push for Davia's Law, or something that would honor her daughter's loving spirit and help domestic violence victims better protect themselves and their families.