BURLINGTON — Boone County courts acted on Tuesdayto change their procedures on domestic violence cases after a woman who had sought legal protection was stabbed to death Monday in Cincinnati.

        For more than year before she was stabbed to death leaving her Fourth and Plum Street office Monday, financial analyst Cheryl Denise Dawson repeatedly asked courts and police on both sides of the Ohio to protect her from her estranged husband.

Mr. Dawson

Mrs. Dawson

        “He said he wasn't going to let me continue to exclude him from things and that I would (not) be around to see my next birthday,” Mrs. Dawson, 37, of Hebron, told the Boone County Family Court in a show-cause affidavit on Dec. 11, 2001. She would have turned 38 April 8.

        But even after that December statement, a Boone County District Court judge let Robin Scott Dawson, 40, go free without bail at a Feb. 2 appearance for another alleged violation of a domestic violence order sworn out in October.

        On Tuesday, the day after the mother of Erik, 7, Halley, 5, and Nicholas, 3, died en route to University Hospital with stab wounds, Boone County courts changed their policy. All Boone County District Court criminal cases of domestic violence will now be cross-referenced with civil Boone County Family Court cases, so increasing danger or threats do not fall through the cracks.

        Boone District Judge Michael Collins said he was unaware of that statement, other allegations in Boone County Family Court, and a Hamilton County violation of the protective order in January.

        “It is easy to second-guess after something like this happens,” Judge Collins said. He said had he known of the allegations in family court, he probably would have set a bond. Most of the other accusations of domestic violence were contained in a civil court case on file in the same courthouse. That case, which was working its way through Boone's family court, paints a troubling picture of Mr. Dawson.

TO HELP

A fund has been established for the Dawson children. Contributions can be made to the Dawson Children's Trust Fund at any branch of Fifth Third Bank in Greater Cincinnati.

        Mr. Dawson is now in the Hamilton County Justice Center, charged with murder with a $250,000 cash bond set. His attorney, Timothy Cutcher, could not be reached for comment.

        “It certainly is an incredible tragedy, and it certainly looks like she did all the things she could within the law,” said Mary Jo Davis, executive director of the Women's Crisis Center in Covington. “This is the tragedy of domestic violence and is what we try every day to educate the community about.”

        In Kentucky a judge can issue a two-week emergency protective order 24 hours a day. An emergency protective order can then be amended to a domestic violence order, good for up to three years. Violations of these orders can be a Class A misdemeanor or can be ruled as contempt of court orders, granting the judge wide discretion in penalty.

        A first police report of domestic violence against Mr. Dawson filed in 1999 was settled in mediation. By Sept. 29, 2001, Mrs. Dawson had filed for an emergency protective order, saying her husband “pushed and hit me outside my apartment. He also went into my apartment and poured bleach on a hamper full of my clothes.” The EPO was granted Oct. 1.

        The domestic abuse order didn't stop the threat of violence, according to court records. And, it didn't help courts in Boone or Hamilton counties have any more luck in finding Mr. Dawson, who was transient and living at motels and shelters.

        “I am fearful of having to go anywhere near him. I do not know how to handle the visitation of the children if I have to drop off and pick up the children and go around him.”

        Boone Family Court Judge Linda Bramlage discontinued visitation on Jan. 5, after Mr. Dawson was admitted to a hospital after attempting suicide, according to court records.

        “I want visitation discontinued until he is stable and not a threat to himself and possibly the kids,” Mrs. Dawson told the court Jan. 5, about a month before Mr. Dawson would appear in criminal court.

        Hamilton County Court records show that a warrant/summons was issued to Mr. Dawson on Jan. 18, for violating a protective order near her downtown office.

        Mr. Dawson was finally charged for that violation on Tuesday when he was formally charged with Mrs. Dawson's death and a $10,000 straight cash bond was levied against the violation of the domestic violence order in addition to the $250,000 cash bond on the homicide charge.

        The final allegation in the family court file was made on Feb. 14. Mrs. Dawson alleged her husband again violated the domestic protection order by showing up near her office downtown asking for money.

        Judge Bramlage immediately scheduled a March 8 hearing to determine if Mr. Dawson violated the order. But the court couldn't figure out where Mr. Dawson lived, so he was never served with papers requiring him to appear in court.

        Because he was never served, Judge Bramlage couldn't issue a warrant for his arrest or even hold a hearing to determine if he violated the domestic violence order.

        Judge Bramlage said if she had ever gotten Mr. Dawson into her court, she would have likely put him in jail.

        She said: “I cried when I heard what happened.”
       

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