Domestic relations staff discusses domestic violence procedures with police

By Joe Gorman

jgorman@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

When someone asks for a civil-protection order in Mahoning County Domestic Relations Court to help escape an abusive relationship, Valerie Flanigan said she does not have time to find out why the order is needed – so she boils the request down to a simple question.

Flanigan, who began working for the court in January thanks to a grant to help victims of domestic violence, said victims need to think of what they expect to happen once they receive their order.

“I ask them: ‘What does your life look like when you leave the courthouse today?’” Flanigan said.

Flanigan was part of a panel of court staff arranged by Judge Beth Smith that met Friday with local police at the Boardman Township Government Center to go over procedures in issuing civil-protection orders through her court and to get feedback from police on what problems they see in their communities that stem from domestic violence.

Representatives from the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office, county prosecutor’s office, and police from Youngstown, Boardman, Beaver, Canfield, Sebring, Jackson, Craig Beach, Springfield and New Middletown were among departments in attendance.

Boardman Police Chief Jack Nichols estimated probably 25 percent of the calls his department deals with are related to domestic violence.

Judge Smith and two of her magistrates, Mark Huberman and Don Hepfner, explained the process for getting a civil-protection order in her court, for which Flanigan also helps victims fill out paperwork. Huberman said hearings for a temporary CPO take place the same day the request is made and a full hearing takes place within 7 to 10 days.

A CPO is for people who are married, related or living in the same household and are handled by domestic relations staff. Others who seek an order for someone not in those categories can ask for one in common pleas court.

The legal standard to receive a CPO is a “preponderance of the evidence,” rather than the reasonable-doubt standard that guides criminal cases, because the order is a civil one. A CPO also is very broad and addresses topics such as custody of children, visitation and no-contact orders.

Flanigan has victims seeking an order to fill out a danger or lethality assessment, which asks questions to see what type of abuse they are facing.

Of 154 people surveyed, 56 percent of them said they were choked at least one time, Flanigan said. She said that is a disturbing trend because studies show that if a victim in a domestic-violence case is choked just one time, her chances of being killed increase 800 percent and the chances for the abuser to try to kill her increase 700 percent.

Flanigan also assists victims with devising a plan to keep safe and to connect them with counseling and other social-service agencies that can help them get out and stay out of an abusive relationship.