Estranged Husband Is Freed, Kills Wife

Justice...California Style

POMONA, Calif. — "Monica Thomas-Harris got the chilling news just before Christmas: Her estranged husband, jailed for abducting and threatening her, had been released.

A frantic Thomas-Harris rushed to the district attorney's office, begging for an emergency protection order that would allow police to arrest him if he came near her. But it was the Friday evening before Christmas, and no judge was available. The next business day was Monday, but that was Christmas Eve, and her husband's lawyer was on a long vacation and couldn't be reached for a hearing.

Less than two weeks later, Thomas-Harris, 37, was dead, shot in a motel room by her husband in a murder-suicide.

The case has shaken California's legal system, led to an internal investigation by the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, and prompted demands from victims' advocates and family members for an explanation of how the husband managed to get out of jail while he awaited sentencing.

"It was around the holidays, people were on vacation. It just seems like we were so close, but not close enough," said Pamela Booth, director of the branch of the district attorney's office that oversees the Pomona courthouse. "That's one of the really tragic things about this."

Among them: The prosecutor and the judge who originally handled the case were both on vacation when the deal to release Curtis Harris was struck. The prosecutor filling in that day relied on the judgment of Harris' attorney, who had known Harris for only a month. And a vital piece of paperwork — a probation report warning Harris was a danger to his wife and unsuitable for release — was overlooked or ignored in the holiday shuffle.

"I think it's disgusting that a judge, a district attorney — even his own defense attorney — would have the background they have on a person like this and would permit him to leave court," said Thomas-Harris' father, James Thomas. "What was his business? To go right out and find my daughter and kill her."

On Dec. 21, Harris, a 34-year-old worker at a company that manufactures plastic food containers, pleaded no contest to false imprisonment and possession of a gun by a felon, under a deal that called for a 16-month prison sentence. He asked to be freed before his formal sentencing so he could arrange care for his elderly mother.

Deputy District Attorney Samer Hathout, who was filling in on the case, and her supervisor both signed off on the deal to let him out. Superior Court Judge Tia Fisher, who was filling in for a vacationing judge, agreed."

We can stop right there. A female prosecutor and female judge set this murderer free. So much for the sisterhood. Because when it comes to weepy liberals, there ain't no such a' thing. The same mindset that drives feminists to decry every nitpicking "affront" but to remain silent when some moslem wackjob offs his daughters for disgracing his "honor". This man repeatedly kidnapped and brutalized a woman, and two women decided he was a nice enough boy to be sent home to care for his mommy.

Neither should EVER be allowed to practice law again for as long as they live.