In 1997, Indle King Jr.’s wife divorced him. King had beaten her head against a wall, and she sought and got a protective order to keep King away from her. King felt victimized by the divorce settlement (still does, probably).<\/p>\n
King’s first wife had been what people call a mail-order bride. So King went back to the internet and found a new wife, Anastasia Soloviev from Kyrgyzstan. Two years into their marriage, 20-year-old Anastasia King had realized that she married an abusive monster, and was seeking a divorce. Not wanting to pay a second divorce settlement, King recruited his friend Dan Larson to help him murder Anastasia. King, a big man, sat on Anastasia’s chest to hold her down while Larson strangled her.<\/p>\n
They dumped Anastasia’s body. Then the newly-single King went back to the internet to find his third mail-order bride.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, Anastasia’s body was found before King could close that transaction. King wound up getting a 27-year sentence (newspaper accounts say King’s testimony on his own behalf cleared up any doubt the jury was feeling). The trial was big news in Washington state, where Anastasia had lived, and the issue came to the attention of Washington Senator Maria Cantwell and Representative Rick Larsen. As a result, Congress this month passed The International Marriage Broker Act<\/a>, which requires potential mail-order brides to be informed if their suitors have criminal histories or have had domestic violence complaints taken out against them.<\/p>\n Actually, there’s a lot more to the legislation; Bean, posting on her blog for the first time in months, describes the legislation in detail<\/a>. There’s too much for me to sum up, so go over there and read her post. From Bean’s post:<\/p>\n Bean also discusses the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000. The most disturbing bit? In 2000, Congress created a class of visas – the “U visa<\/a>” – for witnesses to and victims of “rape, torture, trafficking, incest, domestic violence, sexual assault, abusive sexual contact, prostitution, sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation” and a variety of other crimes. U visas are needed; they can give crime victims a way to avoid the impossible choice between staying with an abusive criminal or being deported.<\/p>\n Five years after Congress passed the U visa law, however, the law might as well have never been passed. Why? Because the Bush administration has refused to release rules for U visas<\/a>, meaning that no one can get a U visa. (Women who would qualify for a U visa have been getting by with halfway measures and year-to-year visas in the meanwhile – if they’re lucky.) Sheer incompetence, or cold-hearted indifference? Who can even tell anymore?<\/p>\n UPDATE: See Ginmar’s post<\/a> on this subject, as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In 1997, Indle King Jr.’s wife divorced him. King had beaten her head against a wall, and she sought and got a protective order to keep King away from her. King felt victimized by the divorce settlement (still does, probably). … Continue reading