Two attacks, only one called "Domestic Assault"

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 2007-07-19 10:45

The first story is a woman assaulting her boyfriend with a baseball bat, and dousing him with lighter fluid and threatening to light him on fire. The second is a boyfriend that choked his girlfriend and automatically the "Domestic Assault" card comes out. In both articles, killing is mentioned, but they word the first article with "threatened to burn him to death" and the second they say “Threatened to kill her".

It's no wonder we can't get accurate stats on female-initiated violence. The news is just too biased. Excerpts:

Story 1:
'A Foley woman was arrested after sheriff's deputies said she doused her live-in boyfriend with lighter fluid and tried to set him on fire.
Jessica Bressie, 30, of the 200 block of Burr Oak, Foley, was charged with first-degree assault and was being held today on $50,000 cash-only bail in the Lincoln County Jail.'

Story 2:
"A 22-year-old Troy man has been arrested for choking his pregnant girlfriend, police said.

Bryant M. Riffle of the 100 block of Carol Drive, was charged with domestic assault. Bail was set at $25,000."

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Comments

Story 1:
A man would of been charged with:
Destruction of private property (his minivan - the are not married)
Assault with a deadly weapon (bat)
Attempted murder (dousing and chasing with lighter)
Assault on a police officer and/or Resisting arrest
Domestic Violence

Story 2:
A woman would of been charged with:
Other than the threat to kill, Katic Couric anyone? Um... simple assault, or the man would be told to leave the home for the night to let things cool off.

The interesting this about this is the writing style. Overall very factual without any 'bleeding heart' for either gender (other than the slight nod to the second woman's condition: declining medical treatment). I'd consider that a step forward.

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Submitted by Demonspawn on Thu, 2007-07-19 17:19

... that the second article mentioned that the woman declined medical treatment which implies that her injuries were very minor or non-existent.

The woman in the first story definitely faces the greater felony charge and her bail amount and conditions are much more severe.

Over all I would have to agree with you Demonspawn, there is still a long way to go before we reach the goal but there seems to be some progress here. I also agree that the first story does sound a heck of allot more like attempted murder then first degree assault - as she took the additional step of chasing him with a source of combustion after the brutal assault and dosing him in combustible fluid.

Since I have seen many cases where men were put in the hospital by women and the women did not get charged by police at all, I definitely have to say that I am thankful that at least this woman will have to face a serious charge for her horrifically awful attack.

The guy is up shit's creek because he laid a hand on a pregnant woman. He might not have been charged - at least not with a felony - had she not been 4 months pregnant. Not to say he's not a complete ass for choking her in the first place but he clearly restrained himself and did not inflict serious injury upon her. But I'm not gonna be to hard on him cause the State and society will make him pay until the day he dies for his momentary outburst of anger.

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Submitted by Paragon on Thu, 2007-07-19 20:45