Victim advocates say the killing of Orlando newlywed Alissa Blanton outside her workplace shows why judges should not delay decisions on protective orders, reports the Orlando Sentinel. Mark Goedecke said he wished he had stopped Roger Troy, the 61-year-old businessman who would not leave his 23-year-old daughter alone. On Monday, a week after a judge denied Blanton an emergency protective order, Troy killed her in a parking lot near the University of Central Florida and then shot himself.
Judge Dean Moxley had scheduled a hearing on Blanton’s plight for next week to get more information on Troy. Victim advocates would rather see judges deny a protective order than schedule a later hearing, which alerts the alleged abuser. “In these cases, an already terrified victim is left legally unprotected for 14 days while their alleged perpetrator [] is given not only a heads-up about their action to end the relationship, but time [] to continue the behavior that led to the victim seeking the injunction in the first place,” said Carol Wick of Harbor House, a domestic-violence shelter. Harbor House wants judges either to grant or deny protective orders. If an order is granted, a notice is sent to the suspect, and the victim is legally protected. If an order is denied, the victim can modify the request and resubmit it without a suspect’s knowledge.