Domestic violence law has loopholes

Assembly Bill 170, signed into law by Gov. Bob Miller last July, expanded the legal definition of domestic violence to include people accused of violence against a person they are dating, had formerly dated, or are related to through marriage, such as in-laws.

But when legislators made that change, they apparently failed to incorporated the changes in another statute that deals with bail amounts and a mandatory 12-hour holding period in domestic violence cases, the Daily Sparks Tribune reported on Tuesday.

That statute, which is very specific, was left unchanged.

The apparent error was first discovered by Washoe County Sheriff's Deputy Colleen Early, who is in charge of the office's domestic violence division. She said she teaches classes to other law enforcement officials about domestic violence, and she discovered the mistake while reviewing the laws.

"I got the copies of the Nevada Revised Statutes and was verifying the training," she said. "I realized the new additions were not included in the 12-hour hold."

She informed her commanding officers at the sheriff's office, who notified the Washoe County District Attorney's Office. Dave Clifton, chief deputy district attorney, said he reviewed the law and realized there was an oversight.

"In my opinion, the Legislature left out a part," he said. "They should have also changed the part dealing with bail amounts."

As a result, Early sent a memo out to all Washoe County Jail officials in late April notifying them that deputies had to review the circumstances of each arrest before holding suspects for the 12 hours and imposing the $3,000 bail amount - which is greater than bail for a regular battery charge.

Bob Harmon, a spokesman for the state Attorney General's Office, said he was unaware of the problem before he was contacted by the Tribune.

"It is indeed something that needs to be corrected," Harmon said, but added that nothing that could be done before the 1999 Legislature.

"We're taking steps to make sure it is amended in the next session," he said. "That's all we can do at this point."

Early and Clifton said they did not know how many people arrested for domestic violence were affected by the loophole, but both believed it was a small number.

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