Amid Budget Bickering, Topeka Kansas Repeals Domestic Violence Law

Protesters gather outside the Shawnee County Courthouse over a decision by District Attorney Chad Taylor to stop pursuing domestic violence and other misdemeanor cases, Tuesday. (AP)

Suspects who were being held in domestic violence cases in Tokepa are free to leave jail without any charges this morning.

The development comes after last night’s 7 – 3 vote by the Topeka City Council to repeal the law that makes domestic violence a crime.

City leaders say they were forced to repeal the law after the Shawnee County district attorney handed off domestic violence cases to the city in early September.

The DA says he was forced to stop prosecuting misdemeanors, which includes domestic assault without a weapon, after another arm of the government, the County Commission cut his budget.

Each arm of the government is hoping its actions will move another branch to take up domestic violence cases, but with no branch of the government accepting new cases, at least 20 people arrested on domestic violence charges have been released over the past four weeks.

Guest:

Tim Hrenchir, reporter for The Topeka Capital-Journal

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J Frog

I noticed you identified “Republican” governor and local officials in this story (as if it was an important statistic to know). Yet I didn’t hear “Here and Now” mention “Democrat” Governor or “Democrat” local officials when the story was about the Rhode Island city overspending and filing for bankruptcy some time back? Wondering what the criteria is for identifying political party when there is a problem….
Frenchymcfrench

I didn’t see any mention of political parties in this story. Why don’t you learn to read and then come back and make comments that are sensical.