ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, June 20, 1996 TAG: 9606200051
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW HAVEN, CONN.
SOURCE: Associated Press
In the first ruling on the Violence Against Women Act, a federal judge upheld the constitutionality of the 1994 law in a case involving a woman suing her husband.
The woman, named in the lawsuit as Jane Doe, accused her multimillionaire husband of spousal abuse and gender-motivated violence before they separated. U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton allowed the woman to proceed with the lawsuit.
A federal judge in Roanoke is considering the same constitutionality question in a lawsuit filed by former Virginia Tech student Christy Brzonkala. She is suing two Tech football players under the Violence Against Women Act after she says they raped her on campus in September 1994.
In the Connecticut case, the woman alleged that her husband treated her as a slave, even forcing her to take care of his mistress' poodle and pick out clothes for his extramarital affairs.
She claimed her husband had violent outbursts four to five times a week, and that she was thrown down stairs, hurled against a wall, kicked, shoved and pushed. She also said that at one time, her husband kept a loaded shotgun in the house and repeatedly threatened her with it.
The lawsuit claimed she suffered permanent physical and mental injuries.
LENGTH: Short : 34 linesby CNB