Love tragedy motivates domestic violence bill

Love tragedy motivates domestic violence bill

The General Assembly is debating legislation that will extend protections to victims of abusive relationships. Virginia Del. Joe Morrissey, D-Henrico County, is planning to introduce legislation early next year in response to last May’s Yeardley Love tragedy — a fatal example of domestic violence in a university setting.
Currently, protective orders are granted against two types of perpetrators: individuals charged with stalking, threatening or harming the victim, and members of the same household as the victim. Morrissey’s proposal, though, would change the law to cover any individuals suffering in abusive relationships, thus removing legal requirements such as cohabitation from the provision.
“In my legislation, there will be no specific requirement,” Morrissey said. “It will focus instead on the behavior of the aggressor.”
Morrissey said the catalyst for his proposal was the death of Virginia lacrosse player Yeardley Love, who allegedly was involved in an abusive relationship with George Huguely before he beat her to death in her 14th Street apartment May 3.
“Unfortunately, Yeardley’s death has brought this to a head,” he said, adding that the incident serves as an example of how the bill could provide a tool for victims of abusive relationships in the future.
A similar bill was proposed in the Assembly last year, said Virginia Del. Robert Bell, R-Albemarle County. It was sent to the Assembly’s Crime Commission and was debated by police officers, domestic violence advocates and attorney general representatives, but failed to win approval.
Delegates are currently trying to identify possible stumbling blocks with this year’s bill, Bell said.
“One of the thoughts would be … to enable others who are not family or household members to obtain protective orders under other [inapplicable] circumstances,” he said.
It also is possible that passing the bill would lead to a sudden spike in the number of requested protective orders and how they would be handled.
“Everyone in law enforcement is concerned with providing protection without swamping the system to the point where they can’t provide protection to those who need it,” Bell said. “If that happens, there would be thousands upon thousands of protective orders.”
Legislators such as Bell hope to balance the number of police officers and a backlog of orders that could potentially overwhelm them. “If you spread them too thin, you won’t be able to enforce the protective orders you’re really worried about,” he said.