BY STEPHANIE HAGAN
STAFF WRITER
THE CAPITAL NEWS SERVICE
In the summer of 1996, Janet Levine March was in the middle of a custody fight with her husband. She told him she planned to file for divorce, and she wanted their two kids.
On August 15, 1996, her husband murdered her.
The husband, Perry March, took the kids and ended up in Mexico, starting a decade-long custody and visitation battle with the Levine family, including Janet’s brother, Arlington County Democrat Del. Mark Levine. Although Janet’s parents proved she was murdered by her husband, there was no evidence March committed the act in front of the kids or that he harmed the children. Her parents were denied custody until March was convicted of second-degree murder in 2006.
That fateful night ignited a flame in Levine that is still burning almost 23 years later.
“I come by this passion very naturally you know,” Levine said. “This is my life.”
As a member of the Virginia House of Representatives, Levine has been fighting for the passage of a bill about custody and visitation rights in the best interest of the children when abuse is present since 2016—a battle that has not yet been won.
Levine has introduced a bill for four consecutive years and all of them have died in the House, but Levine is not discouraged.
“I plan to be here a long time,” Levine said.
In the 2019 Virginia General Assembly session, Levine introduced HB 2650, which would have required the court to consider child abuse and domestic violence in cases concerning custody and visitation. It also created a definition of domestic abuse to be added in the Code of Virginia.
The main idea behind all of his bills is to take into consideration actions of abusive parents that extend beyond just one particular child or one particular partner in one family. Levine said there have been instances where a parent has abused children, but gains custody of a child they didn’t abuse.
“Courts have consistently held based on our law that because a guy beats up all these other women, it doesn’t mean he’s a bad father,” Levine said. “Just because he abuses all these other children, doesn’t mean he’s a bad father. You’re only a bad father if you can prove you abused your kid or your wife.”
HB 2650 was initially reported out of a House subcommittee, but was brought back to the same committee and failed the second time because of concerns from advocacy groups.
Susheela Varky, a domestic and sexual violence attorney for Virginia Poverty Law Center (VPLC), a statewide nonprofit that represents all local legal aid offices, said although she understood the intentions behind expanding the definition of domestic violence, it would add a second definition of domestic violence to the Code, which is currently labeled as family abuse, and could cause confusion.
“I understand where he’s coming from, to try to improve the laws for people like his sister,” Varky said.
She said one thing she was concerned about was abusers or lawyers could potentially use language that might be too broad against the victim.
“There might be unintended consequences of certain bills and how they’re phrased, and I think that’s what has been happening to this particular bill,” Varky said.
Each year, Levine said he has altered his bills based on feedback from advocacy organizations including the VPLC, the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance and the Virginia Family Law Coalition.
“They said they wanted a clear definition we gave them a clear definition, they wanted it narrow, we made it narrow. They wanted it broad we gave it broad, they wanted it in the middle we made it in the middle,” Levine said, his voice rising slightly with each word.
Every session, Levine, a Yale Law School graduate, stands in front of the House Courts of Justice subcommittee with the bill changes and armed with personal accounts. He rarely uses his own experience as an example.
The first bill in 2016 took the family abuse definition and expanded it outside of the household.
The second in 2017 introduced the term “other abuse” making the bill much broader. In 2018, the third bill added “pattern of other abuse” until it was amended toward the end of the session to include a specific definition of domestic abuse per request by the Family Law Coalition, a group of family law practitioners, Levine said.
Levine has not been the only legislator to put forth this bill. This year’s session was the first to have multiple legislators across party lines introduce a bill as similar as Levine’s. None of them have made it out of the House.
Warren County Republican Del. Chris Collins introduced HB 1653, and Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax County, introduced SB 1757. Despite original support from the Family Law Coalition, they withdrew their support and both bills later died.
“The reason the support changed was to make sure we had the right definition the first time rather than have to come back and re-do it,” Richard Garriott, Virginia Law Bar president and member of the Family Law Coalition, said.
Collins’ bill used the exact same language Levine introduced late in the 2018 session. It was killed in a subcommittee.
Surovell’s bill was amended to take out the definition of domestic abuse, a change Levine also proposed with HB 2650. The bill passed the Senate unanimously in a 40 to 0 vote, but was killed in the House.
“We thought we at least had an agreement as to the bill that came out of the Senate, but then when I got over to the House, the people on the House committee said they felt more comfortable not tweaking anything until we tweaked everything,” Surovell said.
Jonathan Yglesias, policy director for the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance said the action alliance, the VPLC and the Family Law Coalition will work on the legislation between sessions with any legislators who are interested.
“We are going to try to figure out if there’s a way to consolidate and create one uniform definition that can be everywhere in the code, and that opens up family abuse to include those beyond the household or family member dynamic,” Yglesias said.
Levine said he believes most legislators from both parties care about child abuse and domestic abuse, but he is frustrated with the Family Law Coalition for changing their mind every session, and often at the last minute. He said he will pass the bill without them next year if necessary.
After four years, Levine is still adamant about getting this legislation passed.
“I’m not done until this becomes law,” Levine said.
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