Maine mother says she has to go into hiding when her abuser gets out of jail

By Norah Hogan

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    FARMINGTON, Maine (WMTW) — Agnes Barden’s abuser is getting out of jail on Wednesday morning. By the time he’s released, she’ll have fled with her daughter. She says it’s her only option.

“I have a whole life that I have to evacuate,” said Barden.

She says her husband abused her for years and that she finally went to the police when her husband threatened to burn down their house and kill her and their daughter. Court documents show that he pleaded guilty to domestic violence terrorizing and illegal gun possession. Despite having prior convictions, he’ll get out after spending less than a year in jail.

“I was very adamant about it the day of the sentencing, and they still just let him accept a plea,” said Barden.

When she heard he was getting released, she panicked and turned to advocates for advice.

“She’s telling us that we’re on, like, a high mortality list,” said Barden about the advice she was given by an advocate. “That we have … if he’s released, there is a high probability he’s going to come back home, and he’s going to try to harm you and your daughter. You’re not safe there.”

She has a protection from abuse order against him, he’ll have to adhere to probation conditions, and local law enforcement officers have offered her some safety precautions, but she doesn’t think it’s enough to protect her and her daughter. An advocate told her she needed an escape plan.

“She’s putting all these ideas in my head about teaching my daughter how to jump out a window and run to the nearest neighbor and teach her not to protect you and tell her that her life is more valuable than yours … and this is a seven-year-old child you’re telling me that I have to tell these things to,” said Barden. “It’s terrifying.”

Although her husband is prohibited from owning guns, that hasn’t stopped him from acquiring them in the past.

“I’m just going to make sure he can’t find us because my daughter and me are not a statistic,” said Barden. “I’m not going to allow it.”

She’s packed up all her belongings, and she and her daughter are going into hiding.

“I don’t understand why our system’s this way,” Barden said. “I think that there needs to be change.”

Prosecutors say that sometimes a plea agreement is the best-case scenario.

“A lot of it is not based on victim’s safety, but also on keeping defendants out of jail,” said Maine Prosecutors’ executive director Shira Burns. “They want to see them be able to rehabilitate.”

In Barden’s case, it’s possible that the defendant would have served a longer sentence if the case went to trial, but only if the prosecutor managed to get a guilty verdict, something Burns says it difficult in domestic violence cases where much of the abuse happens behind closed doors.

“Other factors when you’re looking at plea agreements is, what can the state actually prove,” noted Barden.

District Attorney Neil McLean, whose prosecutorial district includes Franklin County, where Barden’s husband was charged, says the prosecutor on this case took a unique approach, pursuing a longer sentence by filing charges for each gun and helping secure a longer probation period.

Barden says she would feel safer if her abuser had electronic monitoring, and some counties do offer G.P.S. monitoring for pre-trial inmates, but when it comes to probation, that would be up to the Maine Department of Corrections to handle, and Maine doesn’t have an electronic monitoring program at the state level.

“Will the victim feel safe and actually be safe when the defendant is released,” asked Burns. “The criminal justice system doesn’t provide that.”

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