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Ruling will help disarm domestic violence abusers

The ruling means accused domestic abusers must prove they have turned over all their firearms when ordered by a judge.
Guns seized from domestic abusers.

An appeals court ruling will help get guns out of the hands of thousands of people accused of domestic violence each year in Washington, according to victim advocates.

The March 19 ruling could signal a dramatic shift in the way that judges view “weapons surrender” orders that are typically filed in civil domestic violence protection orders.

“We hold that the restrained person has the burden to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that they have surrendered their firearms and other dangerous weapons,” wrote judge Michael Spearman of the Washington State Court of Appeals.

The ruling means that the burden to prove that all weapons have been turned over to police rests with the person served with a protection order, not the victim, according to Chris Anderson from the Seattle City Attorney’s Office Domestic Violence Unit.

The decision comes in the case of a King County woman named Cassie, who received a domestic violence protection order against her ex-husband, who lives in Oregon.

Credit: KING
Cassie got a domestic violence protection order against her ex-husband, which included an order for him to turn over his more than two dozen firearms.

He surrendered some firearms when ordered by King County judge Jean Rietschel.

But Cassie provided photographic proof that husband owned more than 30 guns and that not all had been accounted for.

The appeals court reversed Rietschel’s finding that Cassie’s husband had substantially complied with her order, and said that it is up to the “respondent” in a protection order – the person who is restrained by the order – to prove that they have turned all their firearms over to police.

Cassie said she hopes that the ruling will make easier for other victims to disarm their accused abusers, so that they won’t have to engage in a long legal fight.

Last year, the KING 5 Investigators revealed that nearly half of the accused abusers in KING County ignore orders to surrender weapons with no consequences.

In January 2018, the new Regional Domestic Violence and Firearms Enforcement Unit started targeting those abusers who lie to the court or try to hide their guns.

Related: Task force seizes guns from accused domestic abusers

In a pilot program, the unit quadruped the number of guns seized from abusers in King County Superior Court.

Related: Justice Dept to prosecute 'Lie and Try to Buy' gun cases

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