Editorial roundup

May 7 NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune

Domestic violence

At least nine Louisiana statutes include dating partners under their provisions, including the Domestic Abuse Assistance Act and laws governing bail, probation and temporary restraining orders.

Domestic abuse battery is not one of them. Under current law, a victim has to be a family member or an opposite sex household member living together as spouses, whether married or not. So, a victim who is beaten by a boyfriend isn’t covered.

That omission allows some abusers to escape the stronger penalties of domestic abuse battery, including a 26-week Domestic Abuse Intervention Program and loss of their firearms.

Rep. Helena Moreno, a New Orleans Democrat, is trying to close that loophole. Her House Bill 223 includes dating partners under domestic abuse battery, domestic abuse aggravated assault and other laws covering abuse.

The bill easily passed the House criminal justice committee. But as it moves to the House floor, the National Rifle Association is trying to convince lawmakers that the term dating partners is overly broad.

It isn’t. The definition of dating partners has been well established in Louisiana law for more than a decade. The state Supreme Court recognized it in a 2008 ruling on which court had jurisdiction over family and dating violence.

The court repeated the definition from state law: A “dating partner” was defined as any person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim and where the existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on a consideration of the following factors:

(1) The length of the relationship.

(2) The type of relationship.

(3) The frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship.

“The plain language of the statute makes clear the intent of the legislature to provide ‘dating partners’ with the same relief it had previously made available to ‘household members’ and ‘family members,’ ” the court said.

That is the same language Rep. Moreno’s bill uses to define dating partner.

The NRA surely is worried about how many people might lose access to their guns under HB 223. But lawmakers’ concern should be keeping victims as safe as possible.

Louisiana ranks second nationally for domestic violence homicides. In Louisiana, more than 70 percent of domestic homicides involve a dating partner and more than 60 percent of victims served by the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence are dating partners, according to advocates for abuse victims.

Robyn Hale, the mother of three young children, was shot to death in January when she answered her door in Baton Rouge. Her ex-boyfriend was booked with principal to second degree murder. A court had ordered a temporary restraining order against him after Ms. Hale told a judge in December that he kicked and choked her, but it had lapsed.

In November, a pregnant woman and her parents were shot and stabbed to death at their Old Jefferson home by the woman’s former boyfriend, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office investigators said. He then set the home on fire, they said.

A Houma woman’s ex-boyfriend followed her to her mother’s house in October and shot to death her 17-year-old brother and wounded her and her mother, police said.

Rep. Moreno tried in 2015 to get her colleagues to add dating partners to the domestic abuse battery statute. Opponents then, including the NRA, also argued that the phrase was too broad. The provision was stripped out.

Lawmakers shouldn’t let that happen again. This time, they have one of their own former members as an example.

Then-Sen. Troy Brown punched his longtime “side friend” after the Bayou Classic in November 2015 and months later bit his wife during an argument. But he ended up charged with two misdemeanors because the first incident did not fall under the domestic abuse battery statute. If it had, he would have faced a felony when he bit his wife.

Mr. Brown’s lawyer tried to use that to keep him in the Legislature, arguing that he shouldn’t be expelled for misdemeanors. He ultimately resigned to avoid a vote to remove him.

His former colleagues should be able to see that both his girlfriend and his wife were victims of his abuse.