News

Nashville works to reduce domestic violence numbers

Proposed budget adds 2 more prosecutors for domestic cases

2:06 AM, May. 16, 2012

Written by
Brian Haas – The Tennessean –
Domestic violence prosecutors should be familiar with Jontay Johns. The 29-year-old Nashvillian has been arrested at least 17 times on domestic violence-related charges since 2001 and has had at least two orders of protection sought against him, court records show. By the time he met 23-year-old Jennifer Fitts, he had been sentenced to spend 40 days in jail, according to court records.

Metro police detectives say Johns killed Fitts, his girlfriend, in mid-January in her Lynmeade Court home. They tracked him down in jail, where he was awaiting trial on charges of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault and aggravated rape involving a new girlfriend. > More…

Ellen’s Hand – Tribute to Ellen Pence

August 16, 2010

By Mark Wynn

She didn’t know it, nor did I, but Ellen’s hand touched me in many ways: as a cop, a “system’s advocate” (as she described it), and as a survivor of domestic violence. All those years ago in a rundown rental in south Dallas, I never imagined that many years later I would speak (with a Southern accent) her words to my peers and to thousands of police officers around the world—the words of a very wise and patient shepherd, a shepherd who is still working in the women’s movement after more than 30 years, changing the culture of a fraternity of men who did not want to be changed, saw no need to change, or even understood why they should change from years of accepted policing practice. I looked up at his face and badge, a giant of a man, from behind my mother’s trembling leg. “If I come back one more time you are going to jail and the State will take your kids.” > More…