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58 U.S. Att'ys Bull. 2 (2010)
Domestic Violence Crimes in Indian Country

handle is hein.journals/usab58 and id is 142 raw text is: Domestic Violence Crimes in Indian Country Margaret S. Groban Violence Against Women Act Specialist Executive Office for United States Attorneys Leslie A. Hagen Native American Issues Coordinator Executive Office for United States Attorneys I. Introduction It was after 1:00 a.m. on a cold December day in Michigan's Upper Peninsula when the victim, Jane Doe, saw a truck pull into her driveway and then leave. The next thing she heard was a knock on her front door. Because the door did not have a peephole, Jane cracked open the front door to see who was knocking. At that point, the defendant, R.C., pushed his way inside the house. Jane and R.C. had an on again, off again relationship and had a daughter together. Jane saw that R.C. was drunk. He was babbling about the couple's daughter and Jane's apparent failure to return his telephone calls. Jane told R.C. to leave the house. When he refused, she grabbed a cell phone, ran into the bathroom, and locked the door. The defendant kicked the bathroom door in, grabbed the cell phone, and smashed it on the floor. Jane yelled at her 8-year old son to run to a neighbor for help. After kicking in the bathroom door, R.C. threw Jane to the floor, punched her in the mouth, and strangled her. Jane told the police that during the assault, R.C. made several threatening statements to her. Responding officers observed that Jane had scratches to the right, front, and left sides of her neck, scratches to the left side of her face above the eyebrow, swelling to the left side of her lower lip, and scrapes on the front of her right knee. None of her injuries required medical treatment. During the course of the investigation, a neighbor was interviewed and told police that when Jane's son pounded on her door he was screaming and crying. The boy was wearing only his underwear and he told the neighbor that R.C. was choking his mother. The boy said he was afraid R.C. would find him and kill him. The neighbor reported that R.C. called her house frequently trying to contact Jane. Earlier on the day of the assault, R.C. phoned the neighbor's house and said that he was headed to the reservation and that something was going to happen. At the time of the crime, Jane, a Native American, was living on land held in trust for the use of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Jane and R.C. had not lived together for at least 6 months preceding the assault. In fact, R.C., a non-Indian, was living in Michigan's lower peninsula. Prior to the December incident, R.C. had been convicted three times for misdemeanor domestic violence offenses. Jane was the victim in each case. All of these prior cases were prosecuted in state court and R.C. received the maximum possible penalty of 90 days in jail. Clearly, R.C. presented a significant safety risk to Jane and her children. Prior intervention efforts and criminal prosecution seemingly provided no deterrent to his committing additional domestic violence offenses. The Assistant United States Attorney assigned to the case was interested in charging R.C. with something other than a misdemeanor domestic violence crime, but was unsure of which path to take. UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS' BULLETIN 2 JULY 20 10

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