A better way of used in prosecuting domestic violence cases

As attorneys can attest, prosecutions for domestic violence commonly fall apart because victims are reluctant to proceed. Her bruises heal before the court date, she has a change of heart and perhaps a change of story, and in the absence of other evidence the case gets dismissed.

That's not the way things are done in San Diego.

In a prosecutorial model earning growing acceptance in the United States, it no longer matters much to San Diego prosecutors what the victim says in court. With photos and videotapes, taped 911 calls, medical reports and witness statements, police have already assembled their own evidence.

''It used to be that if the victim didn't want to prosecute, that was the end of it,'' said assistant district attorney Eugenia Eyherabide, who heads the county's Family Protection Division.

''We don't have that policy here. We've removed everything from the hands of the victim, so to speak, and we take a very hard stance. We have an obligation to protect that person whether the person wants it or not. We proceed regardless and we get pretty excellent results.''

Among about 3,500 domestic-abuse cases prosecuted last year, drawn from a county-wide population of 3 million, nearly 90 percent resulted in guilty pleas.

Women were charged in about 10 percent of that caseload.

Most of all those convicted are ordered to attend a year-long counseling program of weekly group meetings. The recidivism rate is less than 10 percent, local authorities estimate.

The Family Protection Division dates back 10 years, and grew out of a high-profile case in which a 41-year-old San Diego judge was accused of beating up his pregnant girlfriend, who was 24. The case was dismissed because the girlfriend refused to testify.

It's a common scenario, Eyherabide says.

''When we (prosecute) we assume our victim is either going to recant or not show up. In probably a good 90 percent of our cases, by the time we get to trial in a domestic-violence situation, we assume we are not going to have that victim testify.''

The same often holds true for children caught up in incidents of domestic abuse. Here too, Eyherabide says, evidence gathered independently by police is invaluable.

The 28 lawyers who work full-time for the division are required to stay on a case once it has been assigned, and have been aided by several changes to the California penal code.

Spousal abuse has long been classified as a distinct crime, but now hearsay evidence is allowed in domestic-violence trials, a change that flowed from widespread revulsion over O.J. Simpson's acquittal.

The rules of evidence pertaining to domestic-violence misdemeanors have also been widened, bringing them in line with those that apply to felonies.

Also, disabling a telephone - yanking it from the grasp of someone calling for help - is now a crime in California.

The San Diego prototype has been adopted in other California jurisdictions and elsewhere in the United States.

The first point of contact with police is critical, Eyherabide says.

''That's when you're going to get the truth. And you plan your case around that, same as with a homicide.''

It does not affect the outcome much if a victim suddenly decides she has not been abused, she says. ''In fact, we often have a better success rate in convictions when the victims recant because it just becomes so obvious. We come in and we argue that this is about power and control and dominance, while they (victims) are coming up with these incredible stories: I fell in the bathtub; I fell down stairs. It often really brings home to the jury just what domestic violence is all about.''

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com.)