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Sometimes you say more by saying nothing at all. His client was the victim in this situation (the murder, not necessarily the divorce proceedings). It is in the client's attorney's best interest to keep quiet until all the dust settles. People will begin to do more thinking about what he didn't say during all this, and the defendant's attorney may be saying things that will come back to haunt him.
Actually, if Mr. Garner made verbal threats of killing his wife or harming anyone surrounding this case, the attorney was required by law to notify that individual of those threats...regardless of attorney client confidentiality -- it's called a Tarasoff warning...

In this situation, there is no dust to settle with the defendant and the plaintiff anymore...unless one of the victim's remaining family members sues for wrongful death or something -- this is pretty much a closed case.
I wonder why Tammy Garner's attorney did not advise her to get a PFA (protection from abuse) order immediately? If Kevin Garner had abused her or their daughter, then a PFA would have been the logical step to take to document that abuse and to create legal barriers - not physical ones, unfortunately - to Mr Garner coming near them.

The Decatur Daily reported that many people saw Kevin Garner abuse Chelsie at the softball fields and that both Tammy and Chelsie had bruises and asked the people who knew of the abuse not to say anything.

If anything good can come out of something so horrific, maybe it will be that someone will realize that pushing, shoving, controlling, yelling, screaming, hitting, intimidating, and other forms of abuse can lead up to someone getting killed. If you *think* someone is being abused, report it. Better to be embarrassed than to live with the guilt of knowing that you could have done something to save them.
How many times have we seen people here defending the act of beating the **** out of your child as "discipline"? It was probably the same sort of scenario as the one I witnessed where a crowd cheered as a man pushed his teenaged daughter around because "she deserved it". For some reason a lot of people think it's ok for a man to put his hands on a woman if she's his offspring.
This discussion has at least woken me up enough that if I ever do witness an adult abusing their child I will at least step in and have a conversation with that person as a minimum.

Any adult should be able to tell when they have a problem like what has been described.
How do you stop someone raging mad at their child?
Gus, I don't think you can stop someone who is crazy, and Kevin Garner was crazy. I think in a typical situation where a parent loses it and goes off screaming at their kid, just a gentle "hey buddy, calm down, she's just a kid" would be enough to make them realize they had crossed the line and to step back and apologize to their child and the people around. Anyone who didn't... well... then it might be time to call the authorities and make them aware of an abusive situation. Mental abuse (screaming, yelling, degrading) is abuse, too.
PFA's are just paper. They are a useful tool for documenting abuse. Perhaps if someone had called the cops when Mr Garner was dragging his child by the hair of her head, then he would have been arrested and spent some time in jail. Perhaps then he would have been ordered to surrender his guns (Anyone who has been convicted of a crime of violence, and has or buys a gun in violation of Alabama state law, can be punished by jail time for up to five years. *Alabama Code § 13A-11-84(a). Perhaps he would have been ordered into counselling. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps we'll never know because no one spoke up.
Gus, you have a good point. He may have came out ready to take out the whole town of Greenhill, and not just his family. We don't know.

I pray for all of those affected by this horrible tragedy and I hope that some good can come out of it. Even if it is a teenager who breaks up with the controlling jealous boyfriend, or the wife who tells her husband that she is not going to allow him to push her around anymore... I hope that out of this horror some light can shine.
Protection From Abuse orders are not only useless, they have the added inducement of fueling the anger of the abuser. It's time to stop playing victim ladies. I highly recommend the book "The Gift of Fear" by Gavin de Becker for all women to read. In it, he makes the point that every creature knows when they are in the presence of danger. We humans, however, are the only species that ignore our instinct because we don't want to be mean. When the elevator door opens and in comes someone that makes that internal bell go off, we don't step out because we don't want to hurt feelings. I think he was on "Oprah" when he said "no means no with a man; it's a starting point of negotiations with women."

Women see the warning signs in an abuser. We just want to "let them down easy". But in doing so, we are showing our fear. Abuse doesn't just suddenly happen one day. The early signs may be controlling, jealous behavior...escalates to verbal abuse and on and on. But still we stay. Women need to stop buying into the "he completes me; he's my soul mate" crap and realize we are complete and whole people without others. Husbands compliment wives; they don't complete us. If it's not working, break it off firmly and be alone. I think parents of daughters are doing a great disservice if they don't instill in them early on that being alone is okay and certainly better than being with someone that hurts you.

De Becker reminds us that we are responsible for our own safety, not the police, government, neighbors, security guards. By the way, he points out that some of our best citizens in history have been security guards - Son of Sam, Lennon's killer, the Hillside Strangler. Not to knock security guards, just and example of how bad takes all forms.

Mrs. Garner was not responsible for her death and I'm sure did the best she knew to be safe, but sadly she should have left much sooner. And where she did eventually choose to live seems to be isolated and possibly made her vulnerable. I would have rented an apartment in the busiest and best lit complex I could have found. I would have fortified the doors, windows and purchased and learned how to use a handgun. It's useless to look back, but hopefully these discussions and lessons learned can get through to some young ladies out there in similar situations.
More advice inspired by Gavin de Becker that I've told my son: An adult never needs a child's help (to find a puppy, etc.); if you're lost, find a "mommy" (because throughout history 99% of the rapists and murderers have been men); if you are taken kick, scream, bite, punch, hit yell "this is not my parent" because, inevitably there will be idiots around that think the parent is just pulling the kid out of the store. And never follow a directive to "stay quiet and I won't hurt you" (we know this is a lie). In other words DON'T LET HIM TAKE YOU TO A SECOND LOCATION! Good advice for women too. I have also told my son that he does not have to be polite and speak to adults - especially without his parents present.

The only time moms consistently follow instinct is with respect to their young. Moms, ever wonder why you're so vigilant when you're alone with your kids? We all know what happens when we come across a mother bear who senses someone may harm her cubs.

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