An abuse victim takes the cops to court


This is just incredible. This woman is lucky to be alive after all she’s been through. This woman did everything by the book, but restraining orders are only any good if they’re out of Kevlar. Armed self defense is the best option for coming out of a situation alive. The cops have no duty to protect you either.

I wish her luck in her suit, but I don’t think she will prevail.

“JONESVILLE - Vernetta Cockerham-Ellerbee peeled back the curtain of her bedroom window and saw the man she once loved enough to marry.

Hunched over in a field across the street, Richard Ellerbee toiled, shoveling clumps of dirt over his shoulder. She glanced past him to the nearby police station in this rural Piedmont town of 2,000. She spotted one of the department’s nine officers just beyond the station’s front door.

Cockerham-Ellerbee rang the station: He’s back, she whispered. He was once again violating the judge’s order to stay away. Police didn’t catch Ellerbee that day. Cockerham-Ellerbee repeatedly reported her husband’s threats during the summer and fall of 2002. He never spent a night in jail.

She didn’t know what he was up to with the shovel until he called days later to explain: He was digging graves to bury her and the children.

Ellerbee delivered on his threat in November 2002. He broke into their home and fatally stabbed his teenage stepdaughter, Candice Cockerham. He left Cockerham-Ellerbee for dead, too, slicing open her neck with a shard of glass.”

Read the whole thing here.

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  1. It is a sad fact that restraining orders are as good as the paper they are printed on. Learning to use, purchasing and carrying a firearm is probably the best way for someone (particularly a woman) to protect themself from mortal danger. If you like dogs getting a huge one is not a bad way to go either.

    Comment by theotherryan — January 27, 2008 #

  2. I don’t thing a big dawg would have helped in this case. And yes she did have a gun but he jumped her from behind a closed door. If you read the story and listen to the depositions in the video Ellerbee was on probation for a July assault and his actions in the days leading up to the murder violated this. In fact she received an arrest warrant the day before but those slack-jawed officers chose not to put a bolo on his ass.

    Comment by Anonymous — January 28, 2008 #

  3. The problem here is that the police did NOT even try to protect her. Richard Ellerbee had 5 arrest warrants against him and also Vernetta had a continuous Domestic Violence Protective order in place for 6 months! One week before the murder she reported that he broke into her home, stole her family heirlooms and left a note in place of it stating “I will Kill You, You Will Die! The day before she screamed up and down and the police said they would arrest tonight, so rest easy we will get him…..and they deny telling her that in their depositions. We are reaching out to the Nation for help and support to make this NC Landmark Case mean something. Visit http://www.promiseofprotection.com and send it to everyone you know>

    Comment by Pamela — February 11, 2008 #

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