GUILTY WA - Patricia Smith, 31, shot to death, Spanaway, 26 Aug 2005

Two days after a woman obtained a protection order against her ex-boyfriend, pleading, "he will shoot me," she was killed and he was arrested for investigation of aggravated first-degree murder.

Patricia Smith, 31, called 911 Friday morning to report that the 29-year-old man was violating the no-contact order, but by the time Pierce County sheriff's deputies arrived at her home in this town south of Tacoma she had been shot and was dying, Detective Ed Troyer said.

The man , also the subject of no-contact orders obtained by two other women who said he threatened their lives, was arrested soon afterward in a car a few blocks away, Troyer said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA Girlfriend Shooting

Restraining orders don't work. It has been proven over and over.It is only a stop gap to ultimately charge the individual but not save a life.What to do?

concernedperson said:

Restraining orders don't work. It has been proven over and over.It is only a stop gap to ultimately charge the individual but not save a life.What to do?

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Between domestic violence, drugs, child abuse, and sex offenders- I am being to wonder if we are doing anything right. Nothing seems to be working. I am starting to think that they need to have a murder symposium and get all of the psychiatrist's, law enforcement, legislator's, judge's, and prosecuting attorney's, parole and corrections authorities, and any other concerned persons together and rewite the whole book. Try to find what will work, since nothing we are doing now is working.

mysteriew said:

Between domestic violence, drugs, child abuse, and sex offenders- I am being to wonder if we are doing anything right. Nothing seems to be working. I am starting to think that they need to have a murder symposium and get all of the psychiatrist's, law enforcement, legislator's, judge's, and prosecuting attorney's, parole and corrections authorities, and any other concerned persons together and rewite the whole book. Try to find what will work, since nothing we are doing now is working.

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Some things are working, especially in Georgia. Sexual predators and Online pervs are being shut down daily.The rest is questionable. I am pretty vocal and I don't mince words but this is like Katrina...the force is sometimes more than we can handle.

concernedperson said:

Restraining orders don't work. It has been proven over and over.It is only a stop gap to ultimately charge the individual but not save a life.What to do?

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I think "what to do" is figure out this "divorced man syndrome" (my own title) thing. It seems like most men who are divorcing or breaking up with a girlfriend go through some pretty wild changes, and often do some stupid ugly things.

Some men are just in pain and won't hurt anyone, and some men will kill their women who try to leave. I swear, all the normal men I know who've gone through a divorce have done some pretty weird stuff. But they're harmless. They're just hurting.

There needs to be a big study on which men are actually dangerous and which men are not.

I think the women in these cases know. Women who've always kind of feared the men and believe them totally capable of murder are one case, and women who are completely surprised by this turn of events and can't believe the man is acting like this are another case. I truly believe the women who are really in danger know, and the women who aren't know also.

We need to separate the two groups of men and deal differently with them.

From October 2006:

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Man-gets-31-years-for-killing-ex-girlfriend-1218525.php

A man who said it was an accident when he shot and killed his former girlfriend after she obtained a no-contact order and complained when he violated it has been sentenced to 31 years and eight months in prison.

"I did not intentionally kill Patty Smith, the love of my life," Shawn Michael James insisted before being sentenced... He pleaded guilty in September to a reduced charge of first-degree murder.

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