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Article Category: 2007 January
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Article originally prepared on : 15 January 2007
The slaying this week of Mary L. Babb and murder chargesagainst her estranged husband show mid-Michigan has a longway to go to protect battered women who attempt to leaveabusive relationships, a domestic violence expert says.
"(Babb) may have done everything she would have beenadvised to do," said Valerie A. Hoffman, chiefexecutive officer of the Underground Railroad domestic abuseshelter in Saginaw. "She'd been employed for sixmonths, she was doing well and succeeding.
"Victims can do all the right things, but without thecommunity stepping up -- in the workplace, clergy, thecommunity -- they aren't safe."
Babb, 30, was hanging upside-down from a seat belt in hercrashed SUV when she suffered two shots to the chest from a20-gauge shotgun. The slaying occurred near the Morning Sunnewspaper in Mount Pleasant, where she worked as anadvertising representative.
Isabella County authorities added murder and other assaultand weapons charges to five domestic violence-relatedcharges Thomas D. Babb, 37, faced in Otsego County.
Mary Babb had filed for divorce and acquired a personalprotection order against Thomas Babb last fall, when a judgescheduled his trial on assault, weapons and criminal sexualconduct charges.
Mary Babb accused him of binding her with duct tape andphysically and sexually assaulting her in August, courttranscripts indicate. She said he asked her if she washaving an affair with another man and wielded a chef'sknife while threatening to cut her nose off, burn theirhouse and stop her from seeing their 4-year-old son, Sam.
She later moved to Mount Pleasant.
About 60 percent of domestic violence murder victims tookactive, physical steps to leave their relationships withtheir attackers, Hoffman said. That figure does not accountfor murders that may have occurred after arguments duringwhich the victims threatened to leave the relationship,Hoffman said.
"It is at that point they become lethal. Theyhaven't been able to cajole, charm, threaten orconvince them to stay in the relationship," Hoffmansaid.
"If (the victim) has now reached out and obtainedindependence from (her abuser), he's not going to allowthat to happen.
That is what makes killing her a preferable alternative tolosing her -- at least until the abuser has to takeresponsibility, Hoffman said.
"Most end up to be a murder suicide," Hoffmansaid. "They're not going to be held accountablefor their crime."
Getting someone out of a violent relationship safely takesmore than the victim's own will, Hoffman said.
"There's a gentleman who we've worked withthree of his five victims over years. Every time, he justfinds anther one," Hoffman said. "We have torealize, like sexual assault predators, individuals are notgoing to stop. A 90-day sentence isn't going to doanything -- especially if it's the fourth or fifthoffense.
"These individuals don't believe they'redoing anything wrong. They believe they'reentitled."
Even before an actual conviction, there are measures totake, she said.
If police accounts of Babb's murder are correct, atleast one thing went wrong, Hoffman said: Her personalprotection order didn't protect her.
"How does he still have a gun?" Hoffman asked.
Mount Pleasant police on Thursday said they had not yetidentified the murder weapon. A crime lab is processingseveral possible weapons, but police would not say how manythey have found.
Investigators also said they found no reports that ThomasBabb violated the protection order before Tuesday.
Authorities in Otsego County released Babb on a $30,000 cashor surety bond after his fall arrest.
"That's higher than what we normally set, but Itook into consideration the seriousness of thecharges," said Magistrate Regina Theriault, who set hisbond. v
Erin Alberty is a staff writer for The Saginaw News. You mayreach her at 776-9673.
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