State Representative Doug McLeod is no longer an accused wife-beater. George County Justice Court Judge Mike Bullock ruled McLeod was not guilty of domestic violence. A damning police report wilted before the testimony of his wife, the alleged victim. The Sun-Herald reported:
Merrill testified earlier Tuesday that Michele McLeod ran into the bedroom, hand over face, saying she had been hit by her husband. Merrill, in turn, locked the door and called 911...
Michele McLeod said that Megan often “gets excited” and could have overreacted.
“It did look like someone could have punched me in the nose,” Michele McLeod said, adding that Merrill’s “imagination ran wild.”...
Michele McLeod said her husband had been in the heat all day and takes 800-milligram prescription-strength ibuprofen for a mouth issue. He mixed his medicine with tumblers of wine that “were filled to the brim with ice” and began acting delirious, she said. (KF note: ibuprofen can make one delirious when mixed with wine? Serious question.)
At 7:45 p.m., she said Douglas McLeod was repeating himself and had trouble standing, so she decided to put him to bed.
He was “in a state of delirium” and asked his wife why she wasn’t wearing her wedding rings, Michele McLeod said. Michele McLeod was taking off her yoga pants when Douglas McLeod called her name. When she turned around, she began to fall. That’s when a limb collided with her nose. At the same time, Douglas McLeod was falling and knocked a side lamp over as he tried to regain his balance, she said.
“I was never assaulted,” she said. “My husband has not hit anyone in the 40 years that I have known him.”...
Body-camera footage from a responding George County sheriff’s deputy also was shown in court Tuesday. The footage showed Michele McLeod crying and heaving as Merrill escorted her down the stairs toward Karg minutes after 911 was called.
There was blood down her nose, around her mouth and covering her hands. “Where is he? Where is he?” she asked Deputy Robert Karg as he walked her outside. He assured her that her husband was not in the yard or near the deputy’s vehicle.
“He’s drunk,” Michele told Karg as the camera rolled.
Merrill was at the home that night as a guest of Michele McLeod and had planned to attend the granddaughter’s first communion on Sunday.
Merrill testified that Michele McLeod ran into her room with a bloody face, saying her husband, who had been drinking wine for hours, hit her in the face for not undressing quickly enough for sex.
Body-camera footage later captured Michele McLeod telling Karg that her husband gets angry at her when he’s under the influence of alcohol. An example she gave was her working too much.
“Anything can trigger him to get like that,” she told Karg. “He lost it. He gets like that when he drinks too much.”
Michelle McLeod repeated that it was not fear of her husband that upset her, but that people (authorities) were in her house, that her nose was injured, and that she did not have on under-garments...Speaker of the House Philip Gunn issued the following statement afterwards:
Dobbins focused on the three police reports produced in the case. While on the stand, Karg testified that Michele McLeod told him she was hit because she was not undressing fast enough for sex, mirroring what Merrill testified to earlier in the morning.
Dobbins, however, questioned if Karg was mixing up details because the explanation about undressing for sex was not in the deputy’s report that the defense attorney referenced in court. Karg testified his body camera was turned off when he did additional interviews with Michele McLeod about the incident.
In another police report obtained by the Sun Herald after the incident, Karg’s report does say that Michele McLeod confirmed she was hit because she was undressing too slowly.
Michele McLeod said she never told anyone she was hit because of undressing for sex. She said she is a private person and had never discussed her sex life with Merrill.
Bullock said before handing down a verdict that Michele McLeod’s “reaction to people afterward makes me understand a little more ... that Mrs. McLeod was in fear of Mr. McLeod. She was in fear of him.”
He said the decision was tough before handing down the not-guilty verdict. Rest of article.
“This whole situation is still very concerning, not only to me, but to many other members of the House of Representatives. The court may have found Representative McLeod not guilty, but as a member of the Mississippi Legislature to find yourself in this situation – it is still an issue. As we have done with other matters, we will refer this to the House Ethics Committee for further consideration.”Kingfish note: Not guilty? He's not going anywhere.
38 comments:
Welcome to the third-world country that is Mississippi, I'll be so glad when my rotation here is finished.
Domestic Violence, not only in MS but most likley nationwide, is a joke. Unfortunately it seems that women either, 1. like getting their butts kicked, or 2. have the feeling they can't do better so put up with it. Sad as hell. Do this to my daughter, you will be like Hoffa.
Something is rotten in the state of Mississippi.
Nothing good ever comes from alcohol.
and the circle is now complete . . . the battered wife has made her decision. She is now down in the bunker with her abuser and it's the two of them against the world. In choosing his side, she left her friend out on a limb in public, and has probably further isolated herself. I think this situation is going to have to get a lot worse before it can get any better.
Yes, 10:49, you are such a bad-ass that you daughter could never be abused. I'm sure there are a lot of fathers out there who felt the same way - probably why they never saw it coming.
Eventually he will kill her in a drunken rage.
Hey KF, post a poll where folks can vote how they would have voted if they were on a jury hearing the evidence reported in this case. Let's see what they say. We can call it a pre-election poll.
Not true 11:02, I’ve got two kids...
"Just some good 'ol boys, wouldn't change if they could".....
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-Haaaawwwwwwwwwww!!
None of you were there. Women get mouthy all the time. She disobeyed her husband. The Bible very clearly states that wives are to obey their husband. He is the master of the house. She knows she was wrong and she learned her lesson. Case closed. The Judge agreed. The matter is settled.
I wonder if he threw a drunk (and a few punches) to celebrate...it takes a real man to beat on a woman, wondering how this would have turned out if there was another man in the house.
It would be interesting to see how well the judge and the rep. know each other (although I'll bet they become close friends now). At the very least this trial should have been moved.
I agree with 11:03, it's them against the world now and the next time she turns up with a black eye, busted teeth or a flattened nose, I will have ZERO compassion for her. Just goes to show, education does not equate to common sense.
The tragic thing is, is that the hillbillies in his district will continue to vote for him.
11:33, the only one that can request the trial be moved is the defendant. And evidently he would want it to stay in George County.
10:41, don't know what your 'rotation' is, or where you will go, but if its anywhere in the 48 I'll bet you will find similar "justice" on these type cases - especially when the wife testifies that there was no abuse, despite the physical evidence and the information available at the time.
Many wives are notorious for changing their story when the husband gets put on trial - in MS and across the country. I don't know why, and I find it amazing.
So as you look forward to your rotation ending and your leaving the state (which will be fine with me) I hope you research long and hard about where you are going to go. Good luck finding a place without similar results. (Check the NFL rosters across the country for a start, and see how many women beaters are dressed out on the field in these states where you will be moving to.
i smell perjury-
11:19, if you are being facetious, not remotely funny. If you are being serious, you need to be punched in the mouth and into this century yourself!
God help this woman. He will do worse to "punish" her next time for putting him through this.
And Kingfish, ibuprofen and wine should calm and relax.
11:08 I’m thinking 10:49 just means that if it did happen. I can tell you now, I may not be a bad ass or very tough, but I would gladly be somebody’s bitch in exchange for accidentally killing a motherfucker that thinks he could get away with beating my daughter. I’m sorry dude, I would find a way to handle the situation. WEAK SCRAWNY FATHER KILLS PERPETRATOR FOR BEATING HIS DAUGHTER. Any and all common decency would leave my soul behind.
Why does elected officials seem to always get a pass?
I'm surprised he didn't go with the NyQuil defense that is so effective among MS legislators.
next time she gets slapped around, or beaten...the police shouldn't go. her own fault if it happens again. why we waste taxpayer dollars on 'aiding' women who are repetitively beaten is beyond me. they are making the conscious decision to stay. they need live (or die) in the world they choose to live.
This is utter BS. Certainly, seems this poor woman, like so many abuse victims, clearly has a case of Stockholm Syndrome. Like countless others suffering from debilitating condition has probably endured many years of abuse on emotional, physical and financial levels. Most domestic abusers are narcissistic, sociopaths and the victims are typically demure, former ‘daddy’s girls’ who are often hardworking, insecure pleasers... It’s too bad her family, or church and friends don’t intervene. Perhaps they will... and hopefully it won’t be too late.
Just because he was found not guilty, does not mean he didn't do it. Only that sufficient proof was not presented.
3:04
How wrong you are. We live in a society were innocence is presumed until guilt is proven. You don't want to live in a Gulag Archipelago where the opposite is the norm. That is what the left wants to turn this country into. And after #MeToo and so much else, we are so close to having no rule of law. Just an accusation and you lose everything.
Two folks bumbling around a house that were too drunk to walk/stand...sound like nice people
This is why people do NOT assist nor get involved in domestic violence situations, and this is also why women who legitimately suffer domestic violence, find it hard to report it. For those who're cherry picking scripture, I'll bet you dollars to donuts, you are so far from following each and every scripture in the Word, to the letter! Get off it! You're a liar, just like Jesus called Satan! How's that scripture for you!? A a woman, bonafide and proud, I respect my husband, he respects me, we have disagreements, but the MOMENT he decides he wants to put his hands on me, it will NOT be a trial for domestic violence, but one for self-defense! Believe That! Get your minds right! To the wife, I pity her. She's a victim, that's for sure, but can't bring herself to not fear, and get HER life back. It's no telling how long she's suffered at his hands. Sad.
3:04 is right. 3:42 is wrong. And I'd like to know exactly which law school 3:42 attended.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/acquittal
Maybe he was just telling her a story. While telling a simple story, that son of a bitch will slap you until your arm turns blue.
I’m a female and I think 3:04 and 3:42 both have valid points.
This guy might be guilty but he wasn’t convicted. Sometimes that sucks. (See also: OJ Simpson)
But I have also seen lives ruined because an attention seeking young woman made up a story and no one dared to consider her a liar in the #MeToo era.
The main point that really upsets me about this story is the wife. I don’t understand how women willingly tolerate this, and her own parents should be ashamed for not teaching her, as a child, that she deserves better than this.
Nobody should be so co-dependent that they settle for this, just to avoid being alone.
As the great Mary J Blige said, I can do bad all by myself.
Back in the late 80's when I was in college one of my roommates was accused of rape. I remember the night like it was yesterday -- the accuser followed my roommate around all afternoon during a music festival, and as the night unfolded she became more and more clingy. At a house party, she nearly performed oral sex on him in front of the entire party and they disappeared into a private room and presumably had sex. On the following Monday, campus public safety came to our house, described that the female had accused him of rape and took him to their office to write/sign a statement (he asked me to come as a witness). He indicated that the sex was consensual, contrary to a verbal statement made by the female. When the local police department showed up and asked her to sign an affidavit, she admitted that she did have sex with him, and that it was consensual and she further admitted that she regretted it because she wasn't "that kind of girl."
Even though the police department cleared him, the university continued a bullshit investigation and nearly expelled him. Only after he paid a lawyer to assert his rights and explain that -- GASP -- college students have sex, did the university restore his status.
I'm far from an abuse apologist, but the point is that you never know the full story and women have all of the power in this situation, and men are often forced to "prove a negative," which we all know in next to impossible. His life was nearly ruined because of the girl's ego, and only after she realized that she herself could be charged by filing a false affidavit did she come clean.
I'm a retired Cop, during my employment I saw this and many other crooked things. If you have money or political connection, you can commit any crime in the State of MS and get away with it.
Trial was held, he was found not guilty. If the witness lied, she will have to live with it and if something similar or worse happens to her, that is on her.
I think the officers had enough evidence, based on their own observation plus the independent witness, that McLeod's only chance of beating this charge was for his wife to testify contrary to all of that evidence. It wasn't enough for her to just refuse to cooperate with the prosecution; she had to go all-in on his behalf, which she did. He now owns her completely.
How glad I am that so many of you who are so ready to write off the wife for changing her story have never been a victim of domestic violence or been close to someone who has. Before judging her, walk a mile in her shoes. Unfortunately, I agree with 11:03.
I have a friend in law enforcement who told me that early in his career, he learned that occasionally, "normal" good and decent people (both men and women) do honestly lose their cool and hit their spouse/partner (or someone else) in a "once in a lifetime"-type of incident. He said it was generally easy enough to determine those situations because the hitter would be quiet and make no real attempt to deny or excuse the behavior and the person hit would be angry but generally forgiving, with both in a type of shock. On the other hand, if the hitter was belligerent, combative or loudly denying everything, it was only a matter of time before it happened again. Basically, his opinion was that it was like any other type of physical altercation - most folks don't like or want to engage in physical fights, but nearly everyone can be provoked to do so by something. Add alcohol, stress, etc. into the mix and it only makes that provocation easier. The bottom line is that not every physical situation is a pattern of behavior, either by the aggressor or the recipient.
That said, my LEO friend added that nowadays, with mandatory arrest laws, etc., even if the officer(s) are firmly convinced it is a "once in a lifetime" incident, he/they are required to make, specifically, a domestic violence arrest, which has a whole host of very damaging consequences for the person arrested. In the case of the once-in-a-lifetime incident, there is also unfair collateral damage to the spouse/partner and family.
So how does any of the above relate to this situation? He denied any physical aggression from the get-go and he was plainly drunk and angry. That would seem to indicate - but not prove - not only his guilt but also that it was a pattern. On the other hand, she actually knows whether this was an isolated incident or just another part of a pattern. If this was an isolated incident, a conviction would have had some very negative consequences for him but also her and their family. If she believes it was an isolated incident (i.e., it has never happened before and she has no reason to expect it to repeat), I can understand her desire to prevent his conviction. If she knows it was part of a pattern, she almost certainly merely delayed a number of inevitable and tragic things.
As to blaming the judge or the system, I'd be careful there. What could any fact-finder (judge or jury) do when faced with an alleged victim who testifies under oath that she was not a victim and there are no eyewitnesses to the alleged crime? The judge's on-the-record remarks would indicate that he wasn't particularly happy with the ruling that duty required him to make and the prosecutor's statements during and after the trial don't support an accusation of "going easy" on the incident. If this was part of a pattern, McLeod better get some help in breaking it before something even worse happens.
I have sympathy for the wife, 1:00.
She is a victim. But she is also an adult.
An adult who had a precious opportunity to stand up to her tormenter and have the law and the public standing behind her.
She’s an adult and she had every right to decide to change her story and protect her husband.
And I have every right to feel less sympathetic when this happens again.
It’s sad that she is choosing to remain in an (alleged) abusive marriage.
Some women don’t live to have the chance to testify, as she did.
Your honor, motion to fix.
all you people wanting a perfect world when it comes down to a couple getting pissy with one another. pass all the laws you want and bring out al the activists you can find. marital fight aint never gonna end
The next thing you will read about this woman is her obituary. Thanks Judge!
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