Do You Expect the System to Protect You? Don't

Like all systems, the Criminal Justice System only protects itself. Judge Denied Nurse's Protective Order Before Ex Fatally Shot Her | HuffPost Latest News

She asked a judge for an order of protection. It was denied. Two days later she was dead.

A Florida judge is being asked to resign after denying a woman’s protective order against her ex-boyfriend, two days before he killed her last week.

Audrey Peterson, 61, was fatally shot by her ex-boyfriend, 71-year-old Francis Scoza, on Feb. 9 while she was running towards a neighbor’s home looking help, FOX affiliate WTVT reported, citing Clearwater police.

Now I don't believe for a minute that if the judge HAD issued the order of protection, this woman would be alive. Someone bent on committing murder is not going to be stopped by a piece of paper.

The only thing that might have saved this woman is her being armed in her own defense. Might. There are no guarantees in this life.

In a statement to WTVT, a spokesperson for Loar said in a statement that Peterson’s petition “did not contain enough detail for the judge to determine there had been multiple episodes of willful and malicious acts which had no purpose other than to harass the petitioner, and which would cause the petitioner substantial emotional distress.”

If you think you need a court order of protection, then you also need a plan for your personal safety. I like plans that include 9mm firearms, ammunition, and training. You may have different ideas.

Not a Word about Self-defense

This article is a litany of all the ways the system doesn't help victims of stalkers. Yet somehow they never mention anything you can do to protect yourself. After 9-year fight to prosecute her stalker, woman shares story to help other survivors - ABC News

• He was known to police as a stalker.
• He was arrested and sentenced to a year in jail.
• She moved.
• A restraining order did not alter his stalking behavior.

Here is the statement that I am sure shocks people.

The move did little to discourage her stalker, Nasset said, saying he continued sending her messages that “were becoming more and more violent.” She feared that the offender would physically pursue her to Vermont, and she filed a report with the state police.

But Nasset said the police dismissed her concerns and told her, “There’s nothing we can do to help you.”

If you have a violent stalker, you need a plan for your personal protection. I would recommend a 9mm pistol, a case of ammo (if you can find it), and some instruction. Oh, and a Concealed Carry Permit is probably in order as well. I read too many stories about women who thought that "The System" would protect them. The stories usually are about their deaths at the hands of their stalkers.

This guy is in prison for 10 years. That is the sentence, anyway. (Good behavior?) So what happens when he is released in 5 or 10 years?

(The image above is by Oleg Volk. See this link.)