Domestic violence can rise over holidays...
 
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

 

December 31, 2004

 

While the number of people killed in domestic violence has long been on the decline in San Diego, two killings last week – in City Heights and North Park – demonstrate that relationships can turn deadly this time of year.

 

It's always dangerous to be around an abusive partner, but the holidays can ratchet up the danger because people drink more, spend more time together and argue about money and relatives, domestic violence experts say.

 

"Clearly the violence increases during the holidays," says former San Diego City Attorney Casey Gwinn, who made domestic violence a priority before leaving office this month. "We have seen that over probably the last 15 years."

 

Deputies from the District Attorney's Office family protection unit are handling the prosecutions in the separate cases in which 70-year-old Mose McClain was killed Christmas Eve, and Roxanne Mark, 47, the day before.

 

An Indiana University study last year on the relationship between professional football and domestic violence found that violence increases on almost every holiday and Super Bowl Sunday. Only on Valentine's Day does it not.

 

But others say they haven't seen a link between the holidays and domestic violence.
 
"No one has mentioned that the holidays are a more stressful time," said Liz Talge, who runs the YWCA's Casa de Paz shelter in San Diego, which usually has room this time of year.

 

She suspects some people try to make it through the holidays before moving away from an abusive partner.

 

"It's something that has been coming on for a long time. . . . There's been probably years of abuse that have escalated," she said.

 

Both McClain and Mark had volatile relationships that led to their deaths, according to statements made in court by lawyers in those cases.

 

In a court hearing Wednesday, prosecutors say McClain was killed by his longtime companion, Brenda Bohannon, 54, on Dec. 24. Few details emerged from the hearing. Bohannon was ordered held in lieu of $1 million bail.

 

Bohannon's lawyer told a judge the woman had long suffered domestic violence at the hands of the man she is accused of killing.

 

A prosecutor in court said Mark was killed by her husband, Angelo, who was convicted in 1994 and 1997 of misdemeanor domestic violence against her.

 

On Dec. 23, he was upset because she "wouldn't shut up," grabbed a knife from the kitchen of their North Park home and drove its 6-inch blade into her back once, fatally wounding her, the prosecutor said in court.

 

"He plunged it completely in," prosecutor Wendy Patrick later said in an interview outside court.

 

"They were arguing," she said. "Sometimes, even after the fact, it's hard to determine what arguments are about, in the context of a marriage."

 

A judge set bail for Angelo Mark at $1 million.

 

There are reasons the holidays are difficult for people in volatile relationships, said San Diego police Sgt. Robert Keetch, operations manager at the Family Justice Center at Seventh Avenue and Broadway in downtown San Diego, a center for families dealing with domestic violence.

 

"Domestic violence, it happens all the time," he said. "But around the holidays, it's family time. . . . People are spending more time with the family."

 

Also, people tend to be more depressed, particularly if today's holidays don't live up to an idealized vision from their childhood, he said.

 

Add the stress of far-flung family members brought together, stretched finances, excessive drinking and an abusive relationship, and you've got an explosive mix, Gwinn said.

 

Or worse, Keetch said.

 

"When these issues of domestic violence go unresolved and people don't get help, it can lead to homicide," he said.

 

He urged people to get help.

 

"Harming yourself or another person is never an option, but there are options out there that are healthy," Keetch said.

 

Gwinn, who is joining the District Attorney's Office to oversee victim assistance programs, thinks such efforts are working in San Diego.

 

In 1985, 30 people were killed as a result of domestic violence, he said. In 1992, there were 18. In 2002, there were nine , and last year, seven.

 

With the two killings last week, the 2004 count of domestic violence homicides stands at eight, he said.