Briefs & Court Opinions
Below are links to PDF documents related to a number of our cases.
RIGHTS LITIGATION PROJECT
Giles v. California
U.S. Supreme Court - 2008
This Supreme Court case involves the issue of whether a defendant can "forfeit" his right to cross-examination by causing the unavailablity of his victim.
Hammon v. Indiana; Davis v. Washington
U.S. Supreme Court - 2006
This Supreme Court case involves the constitutionality of the admission of 911 calls and statements to police in domestic violence prosecutions.
City of Castle Rock, CO v. Jessica Gonzales
U.S. Supreme Court - 2005
This Supreme Court case involves the constitutionality of police failure to enforce a protection order.
DC LEAP
Wilkins v. Ferguson
D.C. Court of Appeals - 2007
This custody case involved the sexual abuse of a child by the father and established a powerful precedent requiring courts to place safety first and to give due weight to a history of battering when considering child abuse allegations in the context of custody and visitation.
In re Robertson
D.C. Court of Appeals - decision pending
This case involves the right of victims of domestic violence to privately enforce their civil protection orders.
Fairchild v. Carson
D.C. Court of Appeals - pending
This custody appeal challenges the court’s penalizing a battered mother’s decision to flee to another state by denying her custody and granting custody to the batterer.
M v. O
D.C. Court of Appeals - decision pending
This case involves the re-victimization of the victim by the trial court, which issued a protection order against the victim to “protect her from herself” and repeatedly chastised the victim for “provoking” her abuser’s assault.
Ba v. United States
D.C. Court of Appeals - 2002
This case involved whether a victim can “consent” to her civil protection order being violated.
CUSTODY & ABUSE PROJECT
Debek v Bhatia
Connecticut Court of Appeals - pending
This case concerns the misuse of the tort of “malicious prosecution” against a mother who sought to protect her daughter from the father’s sexual abuse.
- Case Brief (coming soon)
- Decision Pending
Licata v. Licata
New Jersey Supreme Court - 2002
This case involved the court’s reliance on the pseudo-scientific theory “parental alienation syndrome” and exclusion of an expert on domestic violence.
See also
Wilkins v. Ferguson
and
Fairchild v. Carson
under DC LEAP above.
ALL STATES LITIGATION PROJECT
In re Muhammed v. Gilbert
D.C. Court of Appeals - 2005
This case involved a decision by the trial court to deny a victim any share of her husband’s pension, which was marital property, on the ground that her protection order caused him to lose his job as a police officer.
Triggs v Triggs
Maryland Supreme Court - 2003
This case concerned the appropriateness of a sentence of 18 years in jail for 18 separate violations of a protection order against an abuser who had held the children hostage for days while tormenting the mother by phone; the brief discusses major risk factors of lethality
See also
Debek v Batia
under CUSTODY & ABUSE above.