To: The Arizona State House, The Arizona State Senate, and Governor Doug Ducey
Protection for victims of domestic violence automatically.
If charged with an assault or domestic violence crime, an order of protection will be issued by the courts against the defendant automatically and is immediately and served to the defendant immediately upon arrest by the arresting officer.
Why is this important?
On October 25th 2013 my best friend, 33-year-old Shawntah Eierdam was murdered in Youngtown AZ by 39-year-old Jose Sotelo (who later turned the gun on himself).
My friend was killed because Jose Sotelo, a former boyfriend of Shawntah's, because his obsession and rage when he found out Shawntah was hanging out with another man at her bosses house. There was a history of domestic violence and harassment by Jose.
If there was an order of protection, Shawntah would probably still be alive today. I am proposing, the "Shawntah's Law", were an order of protection to be automatically issued if anyone is charged with assault or domestic voice (or similar) offense. And served by the arresting officer. This way the victim has automatic protection from the alleged attacker.