NEWS
September 14, 2009
Sheena Blandford might still be alive if the judge who issued a final protective order against her abusive husband had also confiscated the gun he used to murder her. Ms. Blandford clearly feared for her life when she applied for a protective order in August after her estranged husband, Theodore Blandford, threatened to kill her. But on her petition for court protection she failed to check a box requesting a judge to confiscate her husband's firearms -...
NEWS
By Julie Bykowicz | April 8, 2009
The General Assembly appears set to approve legislation to confiscate firearms from suspected domestic abusers. Backed by Gov. Martin O'Malley, the two measures - expected to gain final passage Wednesday - would allow judges to take guns from the subjects of temporary protective orders and would require that they do so in the case of final protective orders. O'Malley sought to strengthen the civil protective order process after several high-profile domestic violence killings, and Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, whose cousin was shot to death last summer by an estranged boyfriend, testified before two legislative committees about the importance of the bills.
NEWS
By Julie Bykowicz | March 27, 2009
State lawmakers rejected on Thursday an attempt to make it easier for domestic violence victims to arm themselves. Victims advocates had opposed the idea, noting the danger of mixing guns and abuse. The attempt came in the form of a controversial amendment to a bill that would require judges to confiscate guns from the subjects of final protective orders. Supported by Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, that domestic violence initiative was approved earlier by the House without the victims amendment.
NEWS
By Julie Bykowicz | March 22, 2009
A group of senators has added a twist to Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposal to take guns from the subjects of protective orders, voting to make it easier for domestic violence victims to get guns of their own. By a 6-5 decision, the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee amended a bill last week that would require a judge to confiscate firearms when granting a final protective order. They changed the legislation to include a provision that the judge help speed a petitioner's application for a permit to carry a weapon.
NEWS
March 19, 2009
False charges of abuse rare It was with some surprise that I read The Baltimore Sun's account of the hearing on expunging records of domestic violence orders before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on March 12 ("Under a cloud," March 13). The emphasis on false charges in its initial paragraphs was particularly misleading. In the vast majority of protective order petitions, victims are not found to have made false allegations. In fact, it is more common for victims to be unfairly accused as part of the power and control dynamic exercised by abusers.
NEWS
March 18, 2009
House OKs taking gun with protective orders The House of Delegates passed two measures yesterday that would take guns from the subjects of protective orders. Supporters, including Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, say the bills help protect victims of domestic violence, but some lawmakers said the measures were nothing more than a "gun grab." One bill would enable judges to order subjects of temporary protective orders, which last seven days and are granted without hearing from the accused, to turn over their guns.
NEWS
By Julie Bykowicz | March 13, 2009
Even victims advocates acknowledged, by the end of a Senate hearing yesterday, that people falsely accused of domestic violence should be able to erase their public court records. "Everyone's agreeing this is a problem," said Lisae C. Jordan of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault. The question is what to do about it, they said. Senators took up the contentious issue of how to expunge the records of protective orders that are denied for lack of evidence or because the accuser fails to come to court.
NEWS
By Julie Bykowicz | March 12, 2009
Maryland lawmakers reversed course yesterday on a controversial domestic violence records proposal that they had rejected a day earlier. Del. Luiz R.S. Simmons, a Montgomery County Democrat, spearheaded the effort to revive his plan to allow subjects of protective orders to have their records expunged. Under the proposal, records would be cleared if a judge denies an order after hearing from both the petitioner and respondent or if the accuser does not come to court. On Tuesday, the bill died on the House of Delegates floor by five votes.
NEWS
By Julie Bykowicz | March 11, 2009
From her seat on the floor of the House of Delegates, a freshman lawmaker from Baltimore rose yesterday to address her colleagues, not as one of them but as a domestic violence victim opposing a measure that would have erased public records of some protective orders. Del. Cheryl D. Glenn, a 57-year-old Democrat, told lawmakers that her husband had horrifically beaten her years ago. She said abuse victims have plenty of reasons not to go to court. In her case, she said, her husband threatened to kill her children.
NEWS
March 7, 2009
Eldersburg infant's death investigated The state police and the Carroll County state's attorney are investigating the death of an infant that has been ruled a homicide. Ky'leigh M. Rogers, 8 months, of the 900 block of Caren Drive in Eldersburg, died Tuesday after being taken to a hospital with apparent respiratory problems, Maryland State Police said yesterday. The child was pronounced dead at Carroll Hospital Center at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. State police at the Westminster barracks were contacted by the Carroll Hospital Center shortly before the baby died.