Rep. Kelly files dating-violence legislation

Bill is meant to protect, inform potential victims

BY CHRISTOPHER CURRY
STAR-BANNER

TO LEARN MORE
THE ISSUE:
After Tiffany Barwick and a friend were slain, allegedly by her ex-boyfriend, some people were upset that police could not make an arrest based on reported threats before the shootings.

WHAT'S NEW?:
A law proposed by Kurt Kelly, R-Ocala, would give rights, protections to people dating that married couples, for example, have under domestic violence statutes.

WHAT'S NEXT?:
The bill needs help from others in the Legislature, including a Senate sponsor.


OCALA - State Rep. Kurt Kelly, R-Ocala, has filed a dating violence bill intended to strengthen the rights of victims and give law enforcement officers more clear direction when to make arrests.

The Barwick-Ruschak Act is named for Tiffany Barwick, a West Port High School graduate, and Michael Ruschak of Oviedo. On Sept. 24, the two University of Central Florida students were shot and killed at a home in Oviedo. Barwick was 19. Ruschak was 22.

The afternoon before they were killed, Barwick and Ruschak went to Seminole County Sheriff's officials to report an escalating pattern of threats from Barwick's ex-boyfriend, Andrew Allred. They were told no arrest could be made under state law because a law enforcement officer did not witness the threats.

That night, Allred, 21, allegedly broke into an Oviedo home armed with a gun and opened fire. Barwick and Ruschak were killed and another man, Eric Roberts, was wounded. Allred has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and three other charges. The state is seeking the death penalty.

Kelly said he began looking into potential changes to state law after reading a Star-Banner article with details of the day Barwick and Ruschak were killed, including their attempts to get aid from law enforcement. He said it showed "a major gap" in the rights of dating violence victims under state law.

"It stuck in everybody's craw that law enforcement said they did what they could legally," Kelly said. "Law enforcement was frustrated, too, because the law had too much subjectivity."

Friday, Kelly and Tiffany Barwick's parents, Tony and Kim Barwick, sat down to talk about the legislation. On her necklace, Kim Barwick wore a heart-shaped pendant featuring a picture of her daughter, Tiffany. Tony and Kim Barwick said they supported Kelly's proposal and planned to become advocates for it because they feel dating violence is a growing problem.

"The more people we talk to, so many of them know of someone it has happened to or say it has happened directly to someone in their family," Kim Barwick said. "This happened a month after Tiffany had left this relationship. Some of these people are six months out of a relationship and the ex-boyfriend comes back."

Kim Barwick said that, while he was dating Tiffany, Andrew Allred had been in their home and attended church with the family.

"We knew Andrew," she said. "There were no signs."

But after Tiffany broke up with him "it escalated from there."

Kim Barwick said after the threats started, Tiffany talked to Allred's parents to try and get him to stop and then went to Seminole County Sheriff's investigators.

"She thought she was going to the right place and didn't seem to get the lead she needed to go to the next right place," she said.

Kelly said the proposed legislation intends to give that lead by providing rights and resources modeled on the state's domestic violence law.

"It gives law enforcement more obligations and also authorizes and encourages them to make arrests," Chief Assistant State Attorney Ric Ridgway said after reading the proposed legislation

"The big difference it would have made in the case that brought this to the forefront is that they have been authorized to make an arrest."

The bill would require a law enforcement officer investigating a dating violence allegation to assist a victim in getting any medical treatment necessary and to immediately provide a list of resources, including contact information for the local domestic violence shelter. The officer will also have to inform the victim that they may ask the state attorney to file a criminal complaint and may seek a protective injunction.

The bill would also allow law enforcement officers to make arrests when they believe there is probable cause of a battery or assault involving domestic violence, whether or not the victim consents. Ridgway said unlike other misdemeanors, law enforcement officers would not need a warrant to make an arrest connected to dating violence. Also, if a person out of jail and awaiting trial on a crime related to dating violence violates an injunction or another condition of their release, they will be arrested and held in custody at least until their first court appearance.

Whether or not an arrest is made, officers will also have to write up a report and pass it on to their superiors. Law enforcement agencies will have to provide the reports, except for information exempt from public records laws because of an ongoing criminal investigation, to a local domestic violence shelter within 24 hours of the victim's initial compliant.

Kelly said the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Florida Sheriff's Association were contacted for their input on the bill. He said the Sheriff's Association recommended Kelly contact Volusia County Sheriff's Maj. Craig Broughton, who helped craft the legislation. Broughton could not be reached for comment Friday. Dia Kuykendall, a spokesperson for the Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said the state's existing dating violence law has not been strengthened since it was first adopted a few years back.

"You have people who think there is no protection for them because they were not married to this individual," she said. "I think this bill will make them more aware."

The Barwick-Ruschak Act does not yet have a sponsor in the Florida Senate.

Christopher Curry may be reached at chris.curry@starbanner.com or 352-867-4115.