The
Nolan County Sheriff's Office is a participant in the
Texas VINE program, a free and anonymous statewide service
available in English and Spanish that is sponsored by
the Office of the Attorney General, the Office of the
Governor and local county officials.
VINE, an acronym for Victim Information and Notification
Everyday, was incorporated in 1994 after the Jefferson
County murder of Mary
Byron.
On December 6, 1993, Mary Byron was shot six times at
point-blank range by Donavan Harris, a former boyfriend
who had been released from jail earlier in the day. Donavan
was out on bail and facing trial on charges of kidnapping
and for raping Mary. Donavan bought a gun and waited for
Mary as she left work; it was her 21st birthday. Mary
had no way to know that Donavan had been released from
jail, no notification. Out of community outrage grew her
legacy.
Today, VINE is in place to protect victims of crimes from
offenders, by monitoring the custody status, as well as
basic district case/court information and making it available
24 hours a day, 365 days year. Texas VINE allows you to
register for automatic notification of any changes in
an offender's custody status. If an offender is transferred
from one facility to another, escapes, or is released
from custody, the system will automatically notify victims
of crime, victim advocates, and law enforcement agencies
for the purpose of providing notification when changes
occur to an offender's custody status.
You may need to register separately for each type of notification.
Register by phone at 1.877.894.8463, TTY 1.866.847.1298
or online at www.vinelink.com.
Registering for Notification
When you register for notification, you will need
to know the Offender ID or the Offender's First and Last
Name. You will then be required to provide the following:
- E-mail, TTY
(Teletypewriter) or Phone number(s) where you wish
to be notified.
Register as many numbers as you like, including your
home and work phone.
Do not register a phone that is answered by a receptionist
or switch board.
- Four-digit PIN (Personal Identification
Number).
Use the PIN you already have
chosen. You may use the same PIN with each phone number
you register.
Receiving a Notification
Call
Texas VINE will automatically notify registered persons
of suspect/offender status and court event changes.
To confirm that you have received the notification,
enter your four-digit PIN. Texas VINE will keep calling
for 24 hours until this PIN is entered.
Texas VINE automatically notifies registered users in
English or Spanish whenever one of the following situations
occurs:
- the suspect/offender
is released, is pending release (for sentenced offender's
with scheduled release dates), or transferred to a
facility in another county or state prison
- a court event has been set or changed
- there is a change in custody status
such as death or escape.
- Emergency funds
not to exceed $1,500.00 in order to qualify for the
Crime Victim Compensation:
While Texas VINE
is a valuable informational tool, it isn't a guarantee
of safety. Please maintain contact with your local law
enforcement and prosecutor's offices.
The Mary Byron Story
The first bullet was fatal, but the gunman squeezed
the trigger on his 9 mm semi-automatic handgun six more
times. Mary Francis Byron slumped in her seat after
work on Monday - dead on her 21st birthday. "She
probably never knew what hit her," Norm Mayer,
chief of the St. Matthews Police Department, said yesterday.
She never even knew, a family member said in an interview,
that the alleged gunman - Donavan Harris, who was already
charged with kidnapping and raping her at gunpoint less
than three weeks ago - had been released on bond from
jail.
Harris was arrested Nov. 19, charged with holding Byron
at gunpoint for more than three hours and forcing her
to have sex with him. The arrest slip called Harris
her former boyfriend. Harris had been stalking Byron
for some time before the rape, Mayer said. Jeffersontown
police said they had no record of complaints of stalking.
Harris, 24, was charged with rape, kidnapping and sexual
abuse. The gun was confiscated. His bond was set at
$26,000, and Circuit Judge William McAnutley declined
to reduce it.
Up to that point, said Helen Kinton, president of the
Kentucky Domestic Violence Association, the system was
working perfectly. But then on Dec. 1, Harris' sister,
Tonia Landherr, posted his bond. Harris got another
gun. And now he is being held for Byron's murder. No
one told Byron, her family, the police or even the prosecutors
in the case that Harris was out of jail. She never knew
she was in danger.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney John Balliet, who
prepared the grand jury case last week, said "it
was news to me" that bond had been posted for Donavan
Harris. "I was shocked to see Mary Byron's name
as the person he shot," Balliet said. "It's
so sad.' Kinton said, "The system should flag domestic-violence
perpetrators when they come in jail,so they will be
aware there's a corresponding victim out there who will
know that the minute he gets out, her life is in danger."
Sherry Currens, executive director of the Kentucky Domestic
Violence Association, has been pushing for notification
laws for some time but has gotten only lukewarm support.
"The problem is the practicality of it," Currens
said. Most domestic-violence perpetrators are held in
local jails, so state officials have little control
over them." Still, Currens and Kinton think a new
state law should require that victims be notified when
their assailants make bond. Across Kentucky, just in
the past two weeks, four women have been killed in domestic-violence
cases. "It clearly could be done and it needs to
be done," Currens said.
When Byron left her job as a hairdresser at J.C. Penney
in the mall St. Mathews, Harris was waiting, police
said. As she warmed up her car in the cold night air
about 8:45 p.m., Harris fired into the car, police said.
The first shot shattered the driver's side window, and
Byron's assailant moved even closer. Bullets fired at
close range crashed into her side, her shoulder and
her neck.
Reprinted from: The Courier-Journal
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