SOUTH BURLINGTON — Two years ago, Anako Lumumba reported to police that she was receiving death threats from her fiance, Leroy Headley. A few months later, she was found shot dead in her home.
She had been scheduled to appear at an earlier relief-from-abuse hearing, but when the time came — as with many other victims — she did not show up.
After Lumumba’s death, her case quickly became the center of a statewide discussion about Vermont’s domestic violence laws, and how they could better serve victims of violence at home.
Last week, members of her family sat alongside dozens of other community members at Tuttle Middle School to talk about reform ideas that still haven’t been addressed since her death.
“No victim should be going to that courthouse by themselves to sit in front of a judge for a restraining order hearing on their own,” argued Gretchen Gundrum, who said she has been a victim of domestic violence. “Even if you can’t afford it, you should have legal representation.”
That assertion has been the subject of much debate over the past year. Attorney General TJ Donovan spoke out last year in support of getting more representation for victims in family court last year in the wake of Lumumba’s death.
Because domestic violence cases tend to be dealt with in civil court, victims do not have the constitutional right to a lawyer during the proceedings. Advocates believe that’s one reason many simply do not show up — often afraid of the consequences if they do. Though the state has four designated victim advocates, they are spread out over thousands of cases, with the need for their services often exceeding their manpower.
But getting that representation for cases of domestic violence has turned out to be a much more complicated conversation than he anticipated, said Donovan, who was not at the meeting but interviewed later by phone.
“That is kind of an ongoing conversation about whether that’s something that should happen or not,” he said.
Donovan said his office is finding that cases of domestic violence are incredibly complex, with a range of power dynamics and factors — like children and housing — that can’t be separated from the issue at hand. He said there’s also a separate issue of getting the resources necessary to find and train people to represent victims in court.
“We’re hearing from experts that it may not be the best thing right off the bat,” Donovan said. “We need to listen to them and make sure we’re going about it at a deliberate pace.”
However, Donovan said, when it comes to the issue of seizing guns in cases when relief from abuse orders are issued, that’s a reform he plans to push again this session.
“That is a critical time for safety for these women, and time is of the essence,” Donovan said. “Public safety here comes first.”
Gundrum said another reform she’d like to see is changing the language of the state’s domestic abuse laws to be more inclusive of abuse that goes beyond just physical harm to include emotional and psychological harm.
“Vermont uses the words ‘eminent fear,’” Gundrum said. “I have a question: What does that mean? Because we do show up asking for help out of fear. And when we’re denied help by our system at the court level, this is not acceptable.”
Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George told the gathering that while she agrees that there are statutes that need to be changed, the reality is that there’s a lot that can be done on the ground to help provide support for victims of domestic violence.
“The offender’s constitutional rights are always going to take precedence over the survivor’s. I just don’t know how that’s ever going to change, given the way that our Constitution is,” George said. “I really believe that what can make a big difference isn’t focusing on whether we can get convictions.”
Instead, George said, focusing on getting people out of their relationships, and getting them the resources they need to get to a healthy place where they don’t have to go back to their abuser, can make all the difference.
“And also obviously helping the offender deal with whatever trauma or whatever has led them to be abusive and hope that they don’t do it again,” George said.
Because when it comes down to it, she said, if a case gets to the point where her office is seeing it, it’s much too late.
“I have four or five women in my mind every single night that I wonder if they’re going to be killed,” George said. “And I just cannot do anything about it and it drives me crazy. So I think helping them at a basic, basic level is where we should be focusing our resources.”
Advocates at the South Burlington forum pointed to Steps to End Domestic Violence and HOPE Works as two organizations that are instrumental to helping Vermont’s victims of domestic violence.
Many in the room, however, were still focused on the need for more systemic change.
“What I want to emphasize is the change that our system needs to make,” Gundrum said. “And we have to start by reaching out to our Statehouse representatives.”
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, chair of the Joint Legislative Justice Oversight Committee, later said in an interview he thinks there are a lot of different groups that could use more legal representation in Vermont.
“Certainly trying to provide representation for these victims is important,” Sears said. “But we do have a problem in Vermont with the number of lawyers that are available. But I’m happy to discuss it with the attorney general and anyone else about what the appropriate process is.”
