At least not in this article about the crime (The Arizona Republic, 2/22/09).  From what we can gather, Marissa Devault repeatedly attacked her husband with a hammer as he was lying down, shattering his skull.  She would have continued the attack, but a "third party" stopped her.  The couple's children were present in the home at the time of the attack.  Dale Harrell survived nearly four weeks after surgery before dying February 9th.

Harrell and Devault had been having marital difficulties.  In a call to 911, Devault claimed that Harrell had choked her and was attempting to assault her sexually.  The police report states "evidence at the scene did not support that information."

Whatever happened exactly and why, the article doesn't mention the concept of DV.  Maybe the writer figured it was obvious.  But incidents like this one present a clear opportunity for journalists to state something like "the overwhelming weight of evidence shows women to be at least as likely as men to engage in domestic violence."  They could even cite Martin Fiebert's database.  But they don't.  That fact, together with the barrage of false statements in the media about DV, makes for widespread misunderstanding of the issue.

Maybe one day the media will begin to take its job as disseminator of information (as opposed to mythology) seriously.

Thanks to Jeremy for the heads-up.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 9:55 am and is filed under Domestic Violence/DV System, Crime/Criminal Justice System/Police, Men and the Media. You can trackback from your own site.