The Sacramento shooting investigation is still underway, but the two brothers arrested on firearms charges in connection with it share backgrounds with gunmen in other bloodbaths: a history of domestic violence, Los Angeles Times columnist Anita Chabria writes.
. This is Gale Holland, homelessness and poverty reporter for the Los Angeles Times, filling in for the esteemed Justin Ray, from my bedroom office overlooking Echo Park canyon.
The problem, Geller says, is that the courts don’t take domestic violence cases seriously. Case in point: Dandrae Martin was given probation in a plea deal after being charged with nine counts for an assault in a Phoenix hotel. The allegations included hitting a woman “all over her body,” attempting to choke her twice and urinating on her in front of the couple’s 1-month-old and 2-year-old children.
Chabria acknowledges that domestic violence cases are tough; Smiley was recorded in his jail cell dictating testimony to the woman, who denied injuries on the witness stand.