Oxnard Woman’s Case Shows Barriers Faced by Abused Latinas, Experts Say

The case of an Oxnard mother charged with murder in the shooting of her abusive husband illustrates the severe need for better ways of informing battered Latinas in Ventura County about available services, experts say.

More outreach and education programs for Spanish-speaking women countywide are among the greatest needs, several advocates said.

Language barriers, cultural differences and religious beliefs sometimes get in the way of Latinas seeking help, they said.

Providers of services for battered women said that while they offer many services, including counseling, rap sessions and hotlines for Spanish-speaking women, tight budgets and a chronic need for more volunteers are among the problems preventing them from reaching the vast number of women affected by domestic violence.

“It makes me sick that we could have done something or had someone talk to her,” said Martha Bolton, director of family advocacy services for Interface Children Family Services.

“There is a great push [in the agency] to provide services. Domestic violence is an incredible problem. The more we do, the more we see all the work we have to do.”

The case of Edna Reyes, 31, charged with murder Tuesday in the shooting of her estranged husband, Martin Reyes, also caught the attention last week of women’s advocates statewide.

They said it raises the issue of how long-term abuse can cause a woman to believe she is in immediate danger--and act accordingly--even when the law might view her situation differently.

“We have finally gotten to the point where we take abuse seriously,” Assemblywoman Sheila J. Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) said. “But the actions cannot be said to fall cleanly into a legal notion of self-defense.

“There is a deep ambivalence about what to do in these cases,” Kuehl added, noting that 42 women are incarcerated in California for killing their batterers. “In real life, such a woman would constantly feel at risk. But in the eyes of the law, it may not be as clear as it is to her, that she is in danger.”

Tammy Bruce of the Los Angeles-based nonprofit advocacy group Women’s Progress Alliance also said she intends to keep close tabs on the case.

“It is a tragedy that in 1996 this woman felt that killing someone is the only way out,” Bruce said. “The Women’s Progress Alliance is very interested on how it is they intend to proceed in this case.”

Edna Reyes had a restraining order against Martin Reyes and had reported being abused by him in the past, according to police. But the restraining order had expired shortly before he showed up at her Oxnard residence July 6, the night he was shot to death.

Reyes will be the first woman in Ventura County charged with the murder of an alleged batterer since the 1983 case of Barbara Louise Lollis, an Oxnard woman who shot her husband as he slept.

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Lollis was convicted of second-degree murder, according to Richard Holmes, supervisor of the major crimes unit in the Ventura County district attorney’s office. After nine years in state prison, Lollis was paroled in 1992.

Since 1992, the only murder cases involving domestic disputes between spouses have involved men killing women, Holmes said.

Experts say it is usually the woman who is killed by her batterer, and not as common for women to kill their spouses. Bolton added that in many instances, these women are “frantic” and feel like they are “hostages and can’t get out.”

But there are options available to them, she said.

In Ventura County there are three battered women’s shelters, two of them run by Interface, Bolton said. One of those was opened by Interface last year and targets Spanish-speaking women, who represent 25% of the agency’s clientele of battered women. Although the center offers bilingual services, Bolton said, volunteers always need Spanish speakers.

In addition to Interface, the Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence also operates a shelter for women and offers counseling and support services in Spanish and English. According to spokeswoman Angela Lawson, nearly 45% of its clients are Latinas.

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The coalition offers several discussion sessions for battered women throughout the county and provides free child care.

Although both battered women’s service providers are reaching out to Spanish-speaking women, there is still a long way to go, said Mily Trevino, head of the Farm Worker Women’s Leadership Program.

“Latina women have not had the [same] access to services and information about domestic violence as English-speaking women,” Trevino said. “We will be working closely with the agencies in this area to make sure they reach out to our community. They know there is a great need.”

It is particularly important, Trevino said, that services be provided by counselors who understand the particular cultural and religious issues that sometimes prevent Latinas from seeking help.

Through the Farm Worker outreach programs, Trevino said she has found instances of battered women who are not supported by their families and are instead blamed for the situation. Also, Trevino said, some women who seek counseling within the Catholic church have been told by some priests to endure.

“Certain priests were very receptive and progressive but other priests were not,” she said. “They would tell these women, ‘Well, this is the man you married. You are the one who has to make this work.’ ”

One of the most important aspects about reaching out to Latinas is understanding the importance of family, Interface’s Bolton said.

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“It is not as easy to report or speak about it because it is like you are betraying your family--your family and his family,” Bolton said.

For Edna Reyes, keeping her family safe was paramount, according to police records and her attorney, Deputy Public Defender Jean Farley.

“From everything I have been able to uncover so far, she was and is a very good mother whose main life work is the nurturing and support of her children,” Farley said.

In a 1989 police report filed in Oakland, Edna Reyes stated that she feared her husband would eventually “kill us or hurt us badly, since his beatings have been getting worse.”

Five years later, she filed additional complaints against Martin Reyes for abusing one of the children, according to Oakland police. She also said he threatened to take her children away, according to Oakland Police Officer Arturo Bautista.

Said Assemblywoman Kuehl: “Can you imagine a lifetime of being escorted out of your house and knowing that this would just happen over and over and over and someday you might end up dead? People erroneously think that once you have a restraining order the woman is safe.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Maeve Fox, who is prosecuting the Reyes case, has had extensive experience prosecuting domestic abuse cases. But she was strongly criticized by Public Defender Farley for declaring at Tuesday’s arraignment that Edna Reyes had “cold bloodedly” killed her husband.

“How this prosecutor could make such a statement given her experience is mind-boggling,” Farley said. “I am totally befuddled.”

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Fox would not comment on the case Friday, referring calls to Deputy Dist. Atty. Holmes.

Holmes said the decision to charge Reyes with murder was based on the circumstances surrounding the incident.

The shooting occurred after police arrived at the apartment complex where the couple had been arguing, police said. When officers prepared to take Edna Reyes and her children away from her husband, Edna Reyes pulled a gun from her purse and shot Martin Reyes in the chest twice, according to police.

“You file charges based on the actions of the defendant, not the likability of the victim,” Holmes said. “When we get further information about the incident it is possible that we will change our minds. But that she is a battered woman doesn’t tell you everything about the situation. It is the details that matter, not labels.”

How to

Find Help

Women in Ventura County seeking help or counseling in domestic abuse cases can call these groups that operate local shelters:

*Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, 2064 Eastman Ave. Suite 104, Ventura.

Hotline: 1-800-300-2181

Office: (805) 654-8141

*Interface Children and Family Services, 1305 Del Norte Road, Camarillo.

24-Hour Hotlines: 1-800-339-9597, 1-800-556-6607

Office: (805) 485-6114