THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 12, 1997 TAG: 9701120059
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 54 lines
When Norfolk sheriff's officials told Jerry Elizondo to turn in his badge and gun on Nov. 20, all the career plans the deputy ever had evaporated.
He had run afoul of the new federal law that says anyone convicted of misdemeanor domestic abuse cannot carry a gun. The law took away his livelihood, he said.
``It was a shock,'' Elizondo said in an interview last week. ``That was going to be my life. Now I'm going to have to go back to the drawing board and start from zero.''
Elizondo, 32, says he has a master's degree in justice administration and hoped one day to work for the FBI.
``My record was spotless,'' he said. ``And now this one incident has just shattered all the dreams I've had all along for the past 20 years.''
But Gloria Elizondo, his wife of 10 years, looks at the situation very differently. She says her estranged husband should not carry a gun because of his violence toward her.
In November, he was convicted of misdemeanor assault and battery in Virginia Beach Circuit Court after he appealed the case from lower court, she said.
``I feel that if he cannot take care of his own family, what makes you think he can be out there taking care of other human beings?'' she said.
Both husband and wife agree they had marital problems last May and June, but that is where their stories diverge. She says he threw her against the wall, causing her to hit her head, and slapped her; he says she came at him, and he tried to defend himself by restraining her.
``Luckily he didn't have his uniform on that day,'' she said. ``He terrified me so much. . . . He was in such a rage.''
Gloria Elizondo says the problems had gone on for years, although for a long period of time, they were less severe. She described her husband as 6 feet 4 inches tall and 190 pounds. She said she is 5 feet 1 and 110 pounds. He now lives in Delaware, and she still resides in Hampton Roads.
The law - which includes offenses dating back indefinitely - is a good one, she says.
``My husband had stopped for a long time, and look at him, he started up again,'' she said. ``I think the possibility is there they could do it again.''
She thinks the law may prevent some cases of domestic violence and will make newcomers to law enforcement think about the consequences of their actions.
``If they want their careers badly enough, they're going to think twice before they strike a woman or abuse someone else,'' she said.
Her husband still hopes that one day he will regain his right to carry gun. ``They're treating us like convicted killers,'' he said. ``They don't care about what your goals are or what you've accomplished in the past . . . It's definitely shattered a lot of dreams.''
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT