Judge Sentences Abuse Suspect to Marry His Alleged Victim

by Brandann Hill-Mann · 2010-03-18 14:07:00 UTC
Topics:

a wooden gavel sits on a marble slabJust before a woman was scheduled to give testimony against her accused abuse victim, her fiancee, his lawyer came up with an incredible proposal that should have been thrown out on the spot.

He suggested that the Baltimore County, Maryland, court postpone the proceedings to allow the couple to get married, so that woman could then invoke her marital privilege, which would prevent her from being required to testify against her spouse in a court of law. Her case claims that her fiancee, 29-year-old Fredrick Wood, smacked her across the face, hit her head into a wall, kicked her in the side, and dragged her towards a door.

Judge Darrell Russell had a better idea. He suggested they go to another court to get the license, and come back to his chambers to be married by him. The couple was married that afternoon, and the case was thrown out. Don't worry that normally couples are required to wait 48 hours before using a marriage license. Thank goodness there was a judge handy to waive that for the occasion. How lucky!

What isn't available is any kind of hint whatsoever -- no record or document -- showing that this woman wanted to get married in order to be party to this plan to derail her case. Nothing to show that she was a willing participant in having her own case tossed aside, and that she wasn't bullied into this and re-victimized. There seems to be no one who was around to protect her and her rights in that courtroom.

For any number of reasons, a woman could be coerced into doing something that she doesn't want to do by someone who is abusing her, and a judge in a court of law should have been sensitive to that fact. Who was there to make sure that a domestic abuse victim is being protected by the law?

After the blessed union, Judge Russell told the groom the following, which I read on Shakesville, and which made my jaw drop open, "Mr. Wood, I found you not guilty, so I can't sentence you as a defendant in any crimes, but earlier today, I sentenced you to life married to her."

How sweet of him. He can't protect a victim, but he apparently is sorry that he is condemning a man to live with this harpy, huh?

Judge Russell has been reassigned. I guess at least some just has been served, not that it will help the woman in this case.

Photo credit: mrbill

Brandann Hill-Mann is a proggy-liberal, Native American, feminist, invisibly disabled, U.S. Navy Veteran currently living in South Korea on Uncle Sam's dime. She blogs at random babble... and FWD/Forward.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Nuns Urge Passage of Health Reform as "REAL Pro-Life Stance"
NEXT STORY:
Fox News' Trotta Still Doesn't Get It: I Want Her Rape Apologism Off the Air

COMMENTS (6)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.