Dad stabs mom to death during child visitation (New Orleans, Louisiana)

Notice that the reporter practically blames this mom for her own murder, because she allegedly made the "mistake" of "letting" her child do a weekend visitation with the child's abusive, crazy father, LEE ALLEN.

A better question might be this: Why was this mother put in the situation of having to placate or "work with" a whack job dad? Given his "violent past" (which is outlined below), why didn't the authorities keep him in jail? Why did they only give him probation, refuse to prosecute, or let him out on bail? Why was it up to a 19-year-old young woman to keep herself and her child safe? Frankly, the only thing this woman could have done to really protect herself was to have gunned this dude down first. But then she would be in prison, wouldn't she?

But notice that this article does take note of how many of these violent abusers kill because authorities refuse to prosecute them for earlier offences, acquit them, or let them out on bail or parole. Start throwing these guys in jail and keep them there. Then we'll see a reduction in the death toll.

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/09/murdered_woman_in_new_orleans.html

Murdered woman in New Orleans tried but could not escape abusive boyfriend
Published: Tuesday, September 28, 2010, 7:50 PM
Updated: Wednesday, September 29, 2010, 11:48 AM
Ramon Antonio Vargas, The Times-Picayune

Rodnika Hall did everything she could to escape her abusive, schizophrenic boyfriend.

She called police each time she was beaten. She took out restraining orders. She moved out of town with their young daughter.

But the 19-year-old made one mistake: She let her daughter spend the weekend with the child's father, Lee Allen, 18.

On Monday morning, when Hall went to pick up the baby, Allen allegedly stabbed Hall to death as his own mother watched.

Authorities "can't keep losing ... people like this," said Dianne Hall, Rodnika's aunt, as she mourned with her relatives Tuesday. "They knew something was wrong with that boy. Rodnika reported him too many times for them not to."

Police say Allen attacked Hall inside his mother's home in the 14000 block of Wales Street about 7 a.m., according to documents filed in Criminal District Court. Officers arrived to find Allen holding the bloodied victim in his arms. Still conscious, Hall told them that Allen had stabbed her several times.

Officers immediately arrested Allen and took him to police headquarters. Paramedics, meanwhile, rushed Hall to Interim LSU Public Hospital, where she died from her wounds, coroner's chief investigator John Gagliano said.

Detectives wrote in court filings that they interviewed a witness who heard Hall crying for help and watched Allen carry out the killing. The witness, they said, overheard Allen pleading for Hall "not to relay to the police what had just occurred."

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Irene Allen, the suspect's mother, identified herself as the person who witnessed the murder.

"There is nothing I can say (in defense of) my son," she said. "I was right there when I saw him do it."

The 5 foot, 10-inch, 221-pound Allen -- who suffers from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, according to paperwork from his previous arrests -- was booked into jail on a charge of first-degree murder. He faces life in prison or execution if convicted of that crime.

A violent past

Allen and Hall began dating about four years ago, according to their relatives. Allen's sister, Zina Amacker, said Hall was the only person her brother ever had a romantic relationship with.

Doctors prescribed several medications to treat Allen's conditions, but nothing worked, Amacker said.

The couple had a daughter about a year ago. Right around then, the first in a series of violent incidents erupted involving the young father.

On Nov. 16, 2009, Allen argued with Hall at the intersection of North Roman and Arts streets because he was upset that she would not sleep with him in the same bed, police said. He punched her in the face, cutting her lower lip, and struck her in the right hand with a stick. Hall called the police and had Allen arrested.

Allen pleaded guilty to simple battery and received one year of probation from Magistrate Commissioner Marie Bookman.

On April 21, police arrested Allen a second time, after they were called to investigate a fight between Allen and his brother, who was then 15.

Allen, during a shouting match, shoved his brother to the ground before jumping on top of him and choking him with his hands, according to a police report. Their sister burst into the room and shouted, "Stop! Stop!" Allen then balled up his fist and hit his younger brother in the mouth before police arrested him, the report said.

Prosecutors in July refused to try the case, however.

On June 2, Hall again called police after an argument with Allen. She and Allen were in the 3000 block of Baronne Street with their daughter when he grew angry and punched Hall in the face and body, leaving bruises on her right cheek and left arm, according to the police report. Hall also told police that Allen had grabbed her by the hair and dragged her along the sidewalk.

Police jailed Allen on a charge of domestic abuse battery. Records show he posted $5,000 bail and received court orders to stay away from Hall, wear an electronic-monitoring bracelet and live at his mother's house.

Judge Gerard Hansen said Tuesday that Allen had been complying with the court's instructions.

While waiting for a resolution to the case, Rodnika Hall and her daughter moved into a relative's home in Lafayette to get away from Allen, according to Hall's mother, Karen Hall. The toddler, however, spent last weekend visiting her father.

When Hall went to pick up the baby, she was murdered.

"She was scared to go down there," Karen Hall said. "She did not want to go. But she went to pick her baby up."

Suspect's relatives want him punished, helped

Hall's murder marks yet another case in which a domestic violence suspect who received little to no punishment in court has subsequently been accused of murder.

In the spring, 78-year-old Alfred Andrews allegedly gunned down his 31-year-old wife, her mother and her sister in Treme before shooting himself in the face. Bookman, who is leaving the bench Oct. 16, just two days earlier had acquitted Andrews of misdemeanor battery after he allegedly pushed his wife to the floor when she tried to leave their bedroom.

Meanwhile, Damian Jordan, 22, is accused of fatally shooting his uncle's wife, her two children and her sister in an Upper 9th Ward home. He was on probation at the time for striking his girlfriend in the face with the butt of a rifle.

Experts say there have been improvements in domestic violence prosecutions since the cases have been moved from Municipal Court to state court. For example, state judges can dole out harsher penalties. District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro recently reported an 85 percent conviction rate, while more than half the domestic violence cases in Municipal Court were dismissed.

The cases involving Allen, Andrews and Jordan reveal the system is not always adequate, however.

"(Allen) shouldn't have come out the first time," Dianne Hall said, her arm around Karen Hall's shoulder. "Now, she's gone."

Several of Allen's relatives also pleaded for authorities to strip him of his freedom.

"Our hearts go out to Rodnika's family," said Allen's sister Zina Amacker. "My brother has problems. He needs help. I don't know if jail is the place. But I'm not making excuses. He deserves to be locked up in an institution somewhere for the rest of his life."

Another of his sisters, Irene Amacker, added, "He deserves whatever he gets. He does not deserve to be let go."

Ramon Antonio Vargas can be reached at rvargas@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3371.