A: The Order of Protection I had obtained the morning after the assault became as worthless as the paper it was written on as FLC DuBuque diluted any protection I was afforded under that Order by ruling that Don’s right to visitation was paramount to my needing or being afforded any protection from his abuse.
A: No.
A: The law says they can’t but the appellate courts say they can. On appeal, in 1991, Division I, Washington State Court of Appeals would affirm FLC DuBuque’s conclusion that, as the children’s father, Don’s right to visitation was paramount to any right to protection from his abusive behavior I was afforded under the Order of Protection. Not only do the decisions of FLC DuBuque and Division I afford a victim no protection, it renders all Orders of Protection worthless and lends credence to the belief that the judicial system’s primary goal for advising victims of abuse to seek Orders of Protection is for their own job security and financial gain, as it appears that the judiciary is “selling” worthless Orders of Protection to victims and the public—orders which require the judiciary to monitor with additional hearings.
A: With no consequences to his abusive behavior, the judicial ruling prohibiting any testimony relative to the assault at the custody trial, and the rendering my Order of Protection worthless, Don’s threats, harassment, and abuse toward me continued to accelerate. I feared for my life and the safety of my daughter. My daughter and I fled Washington State. I mailed a letter to my son informing him of the reasons for the move.
A sense of helplessness, fear, and frustration is a common emotion felt by victims of abuse. I fled because my only other choice was to stay and die. I didn’t want to become an obituary statistic.
In an Associated Press article dated April 3, 2007, a Mr. Jim DeLisle is quoted as saying that his employee, Rebecca Griego, did “everything that a person in her (abusive) situation could have done, other than leaving town.” The AP article also revealed that, in the last weeks of her life, Ms. Griego had taken drastic steps to avoid an ex-boyfriend whose violence and threats had left her visibly shaken. She’d changed her cell phone number. She’d moved. And, she’d sought a restraining order.
Ms. Griego was murdered by her ex-boyfriend while at work at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.
A: Absolutely. Though the custody matter had been ordered to be set for trial, I still possessed sole legal and physical custody of Doni under the terms of my 1983 Decree of Dissolution and there was no prohibition under that Decree or any existing order obtained by Hepburn prohibiting any move. There were no scheduled court hearings pending at the time we fled
