By Lori Ehde
According to the Minnesota Department of Health, more than 800 Minnesotans were treated in hospitals last year for injuries caused by domestic assaults.
In Rock County District Court, three assault cases recently concluded. Two of them involved assault of women by their boyfriends and one involved siblings.
The most recent case involved a Luverne man who was stabbed in the back in July by his sister, whom he lived with.
According to the complaint, Deputy Ken Baker was dispatched to 410 S. Freeman Ave. at 6 a.m. July 9. He was met at the door by 34-year-old Amy Christine Lee.
She had blood on her white tee shirt and blood was splattered on the wall and carpet, according to the report.
She began crying and said she and her brother, Anthony Holybear, had been in an argument. She said they’d been drinking and she had trouble remembering details, but she said she picked up a knife, "approximately as long as a pen."
Baker noticed Holybear, who said he didn’t want to press charges, had trouble walking and that blood was oozing from a puncture wound in his upper back.
Lee was charged July 10 with three counts of assault, and pled guilty to third-degree assault.
In a sentence hearing Oct. 28, she was ordered to serve 30 days in jail starting Nov. 1. She was further sentenced to five years of probation, an $838 fine, out-patient chemical dependency treatment, domestic abuse counseling, restitution, and to submit a DNA sample.
In another case, Billy McLaughlin, 18, Luverne, was sentenced to 30 days in jail for beating up his girlfriend earlier this year.
According to the complaint filed Feb. 25, Deputy Jason Aanenson came to 501 W. Hatting at 9 a.m. Feb. 23 in reference to a possible assault.
McLaughlin’s girlfriend met him at the door with a cut below her right eye and a mark on her forehead.
She told Aanenson that McLaughlin, her "live-in boyfriend" had come home at 6 a.m. and appeared to be "under the influence of something."
She said he had been using marijuana and meth and had been stealing money from her to buy drugs. When she confronted him that day about his drug use, she told Aanenson he slapped her three times.
According to reports, he grabbed her by the arm, pushed her to the floor, and proceeded to punch her three times in the face with his fist and again in the stomach. She said he also kicked her in the stomach.
When McLaughlin was found hiding behind a door in the apartment, he was arrested and transported to the Nobles County Jail, Worthington.
In addition to 30 days in jail, McLaughlin was sentenced in August to one year of probation, a $538 fine, a domestic abuse assessment and restitution.
A third domestic assault charge filed March 6, Beaver Creek’s Christopher Mark Ault, 25, was sentenced to two days in jail and fined $538.
According to the complaint, Deputy Greg Lingen responded to a call at 5:43 p.m. March 5 at 201 S. 4th St. in Beaver Creek.
Ault came to the door and told Lingen he and his girlfriend had been arguing, but that everything was okay.
Reports stated that Lingen found her at a nearby residence, upset and crying. She told him Ault had grabbed her by the arm and pushed her to the ground in front of her 3-year-old child and her friend.
At that point, she told her friend to take the child away and call law enforcement.
In an Aug. 26 hearing, Ault was ordered, in addition to the jail and fine, to a year of probation and a domestic abuse assessment.
According to the Southwest Crisis Center, Luverne, domestic violence continues to plague Rock County homes.
In October, which was Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the Crisis Center sponsored a display on the courthouse lawn that showed names of 51 people who died in domestic disputes in Minnesota in 2001.
The phone number for the Southwest Crisis Center is 283-9917. Victims can call the center for help in escaping violent situations and to connect with other local resources for families.