Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 3, 1994 TAG: 9409060029
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
About 6:30 p.m., a Roanoke police officer knocked on the door of her Southeast Roanoke home. He had a preliminary protective order, secured by her daughter's father, David H. Dickson.
Wofford was being ordered to leave her house - the house that she and her mother had leased for the past year and were planning to buy.
According to Chief Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Betty Jo Anthony, Dickson had gone to the family court intake officer and said he feared for his life. He said he wanted Wofford out of "his" house.
Dickson previously had sworn out a warrant accusing Wofford of assault and battery against him.
Dickson had lived in the house off and on and received mail there, but had no contractual or legal obligations to the property.
Anthony said these kind of temporary protective orders are common, especially during divorce proceedings, usually when the wife is afraid of her husband. The orders are temporary, and the court does not attempt to verify ownership. Because Dickson swore under oath that he was the owner of the house, Anthony said, the intake officer granted his request.
Wofford emptied the house of her belongings and those of her 3-year-old daughter. Any items left behind would be considered deserted and she would lose all claim to them, the police officer told her.
She spent the night with a friend. Her daughter stayed with Wofford's mother.
Wofford was to appear in court Sept.15 for a hearing on the protective order. But she smelled injustice. She wanted her house back.
Friday morning, she went to see Anthony, who arranged for a judge to hear the matter that afternoon.
And after an hour-long hearing, Juvenile and Domestic Relations Judge Joseph Bounds gave Wofford back her house, refusing to grant possession of it to Dickson.
"You have no right [to possession] by your relationship with Jennifer Wofford or by living in that house," Bounds said. "I cannot grant you exclusive possession of property you have no interest in."
Bounds also entered two protective orders - one against Dickson and one against Wofford - ordering them to stay away from each other.
Their relationship had, for the past four years, been volatile. Wofford had sworn out several assault and battery warrants against Dickson. She secured a protective order against him in February. Wofford also had requested a warrant accusing Dickson of talking violently to her.
Wofford testified in court that she wanted Dickson out of her life. He, in turn, testified the same.
After the hearing, Bounds said it was "horrible" that Wofford had been thrown out of her house.
"But within 24 hours we corrected it," he said. "The law's not perfect. But it is better to bring these matters before the court and resolve them here and not on the streets."
Wofford was back in the house Friday afternoon. The man from whom she leases the house has agreed to sell it to her, she said.
"I am so glad to have my house back again," she said. "It's a terrible feeling not to know where you're going to sleep at night, especially when you have a child."
Staff writer Lisa Applegate contributed information to this story.
by CNB