Changing attitudes, encouraging understanding in domestic violence cases
Elva K. Österreich/News Editor
Alamogordo News
When New Mexico Domestic Violence Czar Sandra Gardner started looking into intimate partner homicide, she discovered an inequity in the way the killers were treated.
“What I found was when men were convicted, only one quarter received life sentences,” Gardner said. “The rest received an average 11-year sentence. These guys were getting out in five and a half years.”
Gardner looked at all the women murdered by their partners in New Mexico from 1993 to 2000 to compile her findings.
The purpose for the in-depth investigation regarding the release of Janet Vigil, a New Mexico woman who shot her husband and has spent 15 years in prison in Grants.
“What we looked at was evidence that she was most likely a domestic violence victim,” Gardner said.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has commuted Vigil’s life in prison to parole as a result of the findings of Gardner and the New Mexico Domestic Violence Coalition during its investigation.
“No one feels she’s a danger or threat,” Gardner said. “The governor felt she had paid her debt.”
In a statement released by Richardson over the Thanksgiving holiday he said, “...new evidence has been presented that was not available during the trial or to my predecessors.”
Two former New Mexico governors had looked at the Vigil case and decided against reversing the jury’s decision.
However Richardson’s staff were able to look at the case in a new light and found evidence consistent with known factors of domestic violence and he made the decision to set Vigil free.
Richardson said, in his statement, he wants to make it clear Vigil has been granted a commutation of her sentence to time served, not a pardon.
“She must serve the balance of her parole following strict constraints and requirements,” Richardson said. “She must also abide by the legal restrictions that face every convicted felon.”
Out of respect for Estevan Vigil’s family who oppose the release, Richardson has asked the 61-year-old Janet Vigil to serve her parole outside of New Mexico and she has agreed.
“In this case, I believe Ms. Vigil’s release from prison is the right thing to do and will serve to provide some measure of balance in our criminal justice system,” Richardson said. “The nature of this difficult and emotional case has reinforced my resolve to address the dilemmas facing many families in New Mexico by providing treatment and programs preventing the tragedy of violence in our families.”
Gardner says community attitudes toward domestic violence are changing.
“Things are very, very different than they were 20 years ago,” Gardner said. “I think there has been a dramatic change in law enforcement attitudes.”