Sept. 27, 2009
Annette Ayala should not be dead.
She should not have been stabbed more than 30 times, her horribly mutilated body left for her grown daughters and baby granddaughter to find on July 13.
I'm not just speaking philosophically and wishing evil men like Louis Ramirez Ayala, who pleaded no contest to second degree murder in the case, didn't exist.
I mean there were so many places where the "justice system" could have -- should have -- stepped in to alter the trajectory of this nightmare, the system itself should be charged with criminal negligence.
Barely a month later, another Annette -- Annette Sowders -- and her mother were gunned down, allegedly by Sowders' estranged husband, Robert Fuller.
Like Annette Ayala, Sowders had tried all legal remedies to keep Fuller away -- to no avail.
The Annettes were just two of this year's 16 domestic violence-related deaths. That number represents about 20 children who lived in these violent homes and often witnessed these brutal deaths.
I'd ask, "What will it take" before this community stands up and says "enough"? But frankly, I'm afraid of the answer.
We absolutely need a domestic violence task force.
I know, you hear terms like "task force" and roll your eyes. But I'm not proposing a group that would do nothing but that sounds good just to make us feel better.
Law enforcement has created similar task forces for crimes the community feels are so serious, rampant and overwhelming that they need extra attention. Gangs, drugs, even rural crimes have task forces where officers, detectives, district attorneys, probation officers and others are specifically dedicated to focus on those issues.
Well? If someone out there doesn't think domestic violence is serious, rampant and overwhelming in this community, they need to pull their head out and look around.
Between January and September of this year the Bakersfield Police Department and Kern County Sheriff's Department responded to a combined 5,374 domestic-related calls for service.
Those calls resulted in 2,277 arrests.
In about that same time frame, Child Protective Services had 1,141 domestic-violence-related referrals, with 2,470 children involved.
Continuing to shrug and tut-tut at this crisis ensures those 2,470 children will likely carry on the violence.
I'm not saying a task force would keep people from beating each other.
But it could help cut down on repeat offenders, flag the more dangerous cases, help victims get away from abusers and provide children with counseling so they don't self-destruct and repeat the violence.
Despite what you see on TV, the justice system is really several different systems -- cops, jail, courts, probation, etc. -- loosely tied together.
It's a net, but not woven as tightly as we need.
Looking at Annette Ayala's case, Nada Yorke, former president of the Domestic Violence Advisory Council, which makes recommendations about how law enforcement can tighten that net, was shocked at the gaps she fell through again and again.
Annette married Louis Ayala on Sept. 23, 2007 about a year after he got out of prison for second-degree robbery.
Right there, Yorke wondered: What was his parole status?
If he was still on parole, perhaps he could have been yanked back to prison the first time the cops arrested him for trying to suffocate Annette in February 2008.
"All of the issues in this case could have been addressed by a task force because there would be better coordination between the agencies," Yorke said.
A task force does require money, in short supply right now, and the Sheriff's Department is actively seeking grants. So there is some hope.
The District Attorney's office has two prosecutors for felony domestic violence, which is great. But if we had one for misdemeanors, we'd likely reduce felonies. Annette's case is a perfect example.
Louis Ayala worked the system.
He pleaded no contest, was sentenced to a few weeks in jail and given 30 days to come back to court to start his sentence. He wouldn't show, a bench warrant would be issued, then he'd go to court and ask for a new date, wouldn't show, a bench warrant would be issued and so on.
A task force with someone monitoring misdemeanor cases would have been more likely to figure out his game and have him picked up.
In October 2008, Ayala finally appeared for one of his court dates, along with Annette.
After one failed attempt to get a restraining order (another area in which a task force could help) Annette finally did have an order in place. But at the October hearing, she requested it be be lifted. They were in counseling, she told the judge.
Yorke said this isn't uncommon. A task force would have had victim advocates on hand to help Annette understand the potential danger of letting Ayala back into her life.
As it was, the judge lifted the order and gave Ayala a new court date because, he said, he had a bad back and couldn't do his jail time just then.
After several more failures to appear, Ayala was arrested in Dec. 2008 for spousal abuse and resisting arrest (guess his back wasn't so bad he couldn't wrestle with a cop).
The spousal abuse was dropped. He pleaded to the resisting charges and was given 20 days in jail, but was allowed 30 days to show up.
A task force DA could have argued to have him sent him straight to jail.
Ayala continued to skip out on his court hearings.
When he was arrested July 14 after Annette died, he had bench warrants from both of the previous cases, which were never combined.
"The system's failure to hold him accountable basically gave him permission to continue his violence against her," Yorke said.
The system has its flaws -- big gaping ones. But so do we.
Where is the community outrage over this and other murders?
It's up to us to demand change. Otherwise, we can expect to bury more and more Annettes.
Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Comment at people.bakersfield.com/home /Blog/noholdsbarred, call her at 395-7373 or e-mail lhenry@bakersfield.com
BAIL ISSUES SHOW NEED FOR&nbs p;DV TASK FORCE
The need and practicality of a domestic violence task force was made crystal clear as I was researching today's column.
I asked Nada Yorke, former president of the Domestic Violence Advisory Council (DVAC), to help me review restraining order violation arrests.
I wanted to know how many arrests resulted in actual prosecutions.
But she noticed something else.
Many of the arrests showed bail at only $5,000 to $7,500. One was only $2,500.
That can't be right, she told me.
The bail schedule for that charge was set at a minimum $10,000 and had been since DVAC asked Kern County judges to increase it from $1,500 back in 2002.
I had wondered earlier how Robert Fuller, accused of shooting to death his estranged wife Annette Sowders, had bailed out on two restraining order violations once for $5,000 and the second time for $7,000.
Nada got on the phone and found out a software glitch combined with a data entry error were the culprits. The error was in place since at least January of this year.
It took her a week to get the answer and get the error fixed.
That it took only a week is a testament to the relationships DVAC has built.
The two of us just stumbled on this problem. A task force would never have let it get this far in the first place.
I have no idea if the proper bail could have prevented Sowders death by keeping Fuller in jail longer, if he in fact pulled the trigger.
But had it been $10,000, I would at least feel we'd done the bare minimum to protect her. Can't even say that now.
DVAC will again be asking for a bail increase on this charge, to $20,000, when judges meet this winter to review the bail schedule.
As for whether we're prosecuting restraining order violation cases to the full extent, I never could figure that out because of the byzantine nature of of our system. Which is another good argument for a task force. Because how can we combat the problem if we can't even figure out its scope?
GO TO THIS MEETING!
The Domestic Violence Advisory Council is not just for law enforcement.
Anyone can be involved.
The next meeting is from noon to 1 p.m. Oct. 8 in room US1 on the first floor of the University Square building, 2000 K Street.
No need for reservations.
Show up and find out how you can help stop domestic violence in our community.
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