John Kroger, Oregon’s Attorney General, must not have done a basic Google search before he hired Erin S. Greenawald to be his domestic violence czar.  Or, he has his head up his ass about domestic violence.  I’m guessing it was both.   

A few days before making the appointment, Susan R. Gerber, one of Kroger’s deputies, pleaded guilty to domestic violence.  Despite being charged with harassment, strangulation, and attempted fourth-degree assault, she was sentenced to anger management.  And, she’s keeping her job.

Ms. Gerber isn’t the only member of Oregon’s law enforcement community found guilty of domestic violence recently.

On March 16, former Clackamas County deputy Brandon Scott Claggett was sentenced to seven years in prison for twice attempting to murder his ex-wife.  He “resigned” after getting caught e-mailing sexually explicit photos to a teenage girl.

On February 12, Clackamas County Sgt. Jeffrey A. Grahn fatally shot his estranged wife, two of her friends, and himself at a restraurant in Gresham.  Retired deputy sheriff Lancer L. Meharry told the Oregonian that Grahn was ruthless with subordinates until they quit or retired.  He described his own 35 years of service:

I bore the brunt of his ruthless behavior.

Will Greenawald Clean Up the Mess?

Ms. Greenawald is being paid $97,008 under a federally-funded Stop Violence Against Women Act Grant:

Greenawald will be responsible for developing training materials, best-practice policies and other publications to improve the identification, investigation and prosecution of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking.

Given the fact that a high percentage of recent dometic violence in Oregon were committed by her peers, I would have hoped her first priority would be to rid the ranks of Oregon’s criminal “justice” system of domestic violence perpetrators.

Kroger must not have done a basic Google search of Ms. Greenawald before he hired her.  The first thing I found was a very disturbing YouTube video.  I had read about the case featured in the video earlier today in a comment by PearlWhitcomb to a story in the Oregonian about Ms. Greenawald’s appointment:

Jill who is married to Jack contracted a treatable STD from Jack.  Jill treats the STD, and divorces Jack.  Jack moves out. . .gets kicked out of the new place.  Jack has no place to live.

Jill reluctantly allows Jack to move back in and sleep in a separate bedroom.  Jack’s motivation is reconciling with Jill.  [After getting kicked out of Jill’s bed, Jack] calls the police two days later on Christmas eve.  Jack says to the 911 operator, “my wife is having a mental breakdown. . .”  The police explain to Jack that Jill does not want to have sex with him and that if he persists, he will be arrested. . .A few days later Jack jokes about the encounter and the made-up threat on many different websites. . .

A few weeks later, Jack breaks into Jill’s locked bedroom, climbs on top of Jill in her sleep and tries to rape her. . .[she defends herself]  Jack. . .runs downstairs and calls the cops. . .

When the cops show up. . .they arrest Jill. . .Greenawald says that Jill should have left and blames Jill. . .

Jack writes a bad check against Jill’s checking account. . .

Ms. Greenawald prosecuted Jill instead of Jack!

John Grisham’s The Appeal

In another bit of irony, I spent the weekend reading John Grisham’s The Appeal.  I recommend it highly.  It is about how easily “guns, God, and gays” voters are easily manipulated into electing judges who have no business being on the bench.  Then, these folks are shocked to discover there’s no equal access to justice for them.  The only folks who get “justice” are the ones with the deep pockets and power.

© 2010, Anne Caroline Drake

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