Huckleberries Online

Posts tagged: Becky Brosnan

Protection Order Didn’t Save Woman

Posted by DFO

Feb. 14, 2009 12:29 a.m. • 17 comments

A no-contact order filed two months after Becky and Uriah Brosnan were married in 1997 showed early signs of domestic abuse. After that, there were no police reports or repeated emergency calls to the couple’s home indicating trouble – until Becky Uriah was beaten to death and her husband charged with murder. That pattern isn’t unusual, authorities say. “In most cases where there were domestic violence homicides, there had been almost no contact with police,” Spokane police Detective Jan Pogachar said. Instead, victims often go to shelters or seek help from family members. Becky Brosnan, 32, died Jan. 28 after she met with her estranged husband at his workplace parking lot to discuss child custody arrangements/Jody Lawrence-Turner. More here.

Question: Are restraining orders worth anything more than the paper that they’re written on? In other words, do they provide any real protection against an abusive former partner?

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.