By Michelle James
Register-Herald Reporter
July 01, 2009 10:30 pm
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Domestic violence is a serious and frightening problem many women face on a daily basis.
Today marks the anniversary of one of Raleigh County’s most high-profile and controversial domestic violence incidents.
Ten years ago today, 25-year-old Melanie Winfrey was abducted and killed by West Virginia State Police Sgt. Rodney Robinson, her estranged boyfriend and father of her young daughter. Shortly after killing Winfrey, Robinson took his own life.
In the early hours of July 2, 1999, according to police, Robinson forced his way into Winfrey’s Prosperity apartment and chased her to the parking lot of a nearby church. While holding Winfrey at gunpoint, Robinson threatened two Raleigh County sheriff’s deputies who backed off, allowing him to flee with Winfrey in a State Police cruiser he had taken earlier from the Oak Hill detachment.
They were discovered a few hours later inside the cruiser at an abandoned strip mine in Pax.
Robinson had shot Winfrey in the head with a State Police-issued handgun and had then turned the weapon on himself.
Because of the circumstances surrounding the events of the night Winfrey was killed, her family filed a civil suit against the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department, Raleigh County Commission and West Virginia State Police.
In 2002, just days before the start of the trial, the case was settled for $1 million.
Although Winfrey’s family found some sort of justice financially speaking, her mother, Ellen Thomas, and sister, Shannon Honaker, say that does nothing to bring back their loved one.
What the family instead hopes for is that Melanie Winfrey’s death not be in vain and that law enforcement officials have learned from the mistakes they believe helped lead to her death.
“After 10 years, what have we learned and what have we done?” Thomas asked.
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Raleigh County Sheriff Steve Tanner says he believes things have changed since Winfrey’s death and that such incidents have led to a complete overhaul in the way law enforcement, both locally and nationally, handles domestic violence cases.
Over the past decade, Tanner said, the way domestic violence is viewed by law enforcement has changed dramatically.
“Our outlook towards domestic violence has changed and it’s changed because of cases like this,” he said. “This is the worst-case scenario imaginable and I think that any time anything like this happens, you’re forced to look at what you do and how you do it and you’re obligated to say, ‘What could we have done differently?’”
Tanner, who wasn’t working the night of the incident, says he understands the problems Winfrey’s family has based on the information they received regarding that night. Based on the second-hand information he received, however, he said he can’t fault the actions of the deputies at the scene.
“I wouldn’t insult the family with arm-chairing it and I wouldn’t insult the deputies with saying they did right or wrong when I wasn’t there and didn’t have first-hand knowledge (of what happened),” he said.
In the month leading up to Winfrey’s death, her family says, she and they were threatened and stalked by Robinson on a daily basis.
“He stalked us every day until the day he killed her,” Thomas said.
Police were contacted regarding the threats and stalking, but that wasn’t enough to prevent Winfrey’s death.
Tanner said the way police handle such reports today might have helped 10 years ago.
“This case has direct influence on law enforcement taking these calls seriously and realizing they could be lethal,” he said. “She’s (Winfrey) a prime example of a domestic situation that somehow became a murder, and when that happens, everyone has to stop and say, ‘At what point should we have interceded? At what point should we have seen this coming?’
“I mean, everyone who knew her and loved her and had contact with her, be it the State Police or the sheriff’s department or whomever,” had an obligation to watch for trouble.
“Should we have recognized the signs and were there signs to recognize?”
Tanner says he doesn’t know if Winfrey’s death could have been prevented by early detection of signs of trouble, but says his department today and most law enforcement agencies work closely with agencies such as the Women’s Resource Center in hopes of recognizing potentially serious problems.
“Generally speaking, if you’re watching, you can see an increase and an escalation in domestics before it goes lethal,” he said. “So something we’ve learned we need to watch for if we get dispatched to the same address for a domestic call is to (determine) what’s going on and are these problems new?
“What level of violence are we having and is this new call an escalation, because you certainly don’t treat an escalation in violence like you treat another call.
“You have to be more aggressive in interceding and in getting help,” he continued. “Law enforcement is obligated to watch and intercede before they escalate.”
This treatment of domestic abuse, which Tanner says is policy in his department, is a drastic change from his earlier days as a police officer.
“Twenty years ago, when got a domestic call, we separated the parties and told them to quit arguing,” he said. “If the woman wasn’t battered, we went on, and if she was, we’d get a battery warrant.
“That has changed because of the number of deaths due to domestic violence and the laws that have stemmed from those deaths,” he continued, adding there are now mandated procedures to be followed.
In the Winfrey case, one of the chief complaints by her family was the lack of disciplinary action taken against Robinson.
Tanner, however, says, in his department, any deputy accused of domestic violence faces far greater consequences than the average civilian.
“We are not held to the standard of the citizens of Raleigh County,” he said. “We are held to a higher standard and I think that’s a very good and necessary thing.
“If you are going to uphold the law, you have to uphold the law at home.”
Tanner says if there is a report of domestic violence involving a deputy, the responding officer automatically notifies the shift supervisor, who in turn notifies either him or Chief Deputy Dave Stafford.
In addition to a criminal investigation, Tanner says, an internal investigation always follows to determine any wrongdoing on the part of the deputy.
“This case is a prime example of a reason maybe this should be done,” Tanner said, adding State Police are also contacted if the incident involves a trooper.
“We have to be as close as we can to being beyond reproach … We have to be held to a higher standard and we have to accept that we are.”
— E-mail: mjames@register-herald.com
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