“There is no actual physical injury, is there, other than some bruising? I am not suggesting that bruising is nice, but there is no disfigurement. There are no broken bones. There are no serious physical injuries, are there?”

Those words were spoken by Criminal Court Judge Lorin Duckman at a bail hearing for the man who had been relentlessly stalking and abusing Galina Komar. Galina was present in the courtroom that day, forced to listen as the severity of what had been done to her was minimized. At one point she would note that the judge was more concerned about the placement of her stalker’s dog than he was about her life. Three weeks later, she would be dead. With January marking National Stalking Awareness Month, this episode does not only revisit the injustice of Galina’s case, it examines the ripple effects her murder had across New York City, exposing deep failures in how stalking and domestic violence were treated at the time. Galina’s death set off political infighting at the highest levels, and as the debate played out, a grim pattern continued to emerge: women being targeted by former partners kept being killed.

If you need help with stalking, contact the National Center for Victims of Crime Helpline (800-FYI-CALL), the National Domestic Violence Hotline (800-799-SAFE), or the VictimConnect Resource Center (1-855-4-VICTIM)

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Thumbmail art: Lauren Kelty, host of True Crime BFF Podcast

Source Material:
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-galina-1/188867530/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-crazed-stalker-12/188868824/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-no-way-out/188868951/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-stalker-22/188869239/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-ex-by-shoots-kills-self/188869480/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-deadly-passion/188869537/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-freed-to-kill/188871135/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-judge-freed-him-to-kill/188874467/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-moms-record-of-abuse-and-orde/188874662/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-more-care-about-the-dog/188875210/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-funeral-and-limitations-of-dv/188875324/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-transcript-and-outrage-22/188876814/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-statements-from-ex-gfmore-on/188877181/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-additional-botched-cases/188877413/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-previous-mishandlings-and-com/188877846/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-op-ed-piece/188877923/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-op-ed-piece/188877923/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-top-judge-wont-bench-duckman/188878060/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-gov-would-bolster-das/188878123/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-rudy-g-asks-gov-to-oust-judge/188878206/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-the-quack-ducks-the-heat/188879161/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-two-sides-to-the-right-to-app/188879597/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-cried-for-galina-12/188879829/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-other-duckman-opinion-22/188879940/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-opin-piece/188880009/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-3-cases/188880210/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-update-on-duckman/188880420/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-da-or-judges-fault/188880626/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-list-of-cases/188880917/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-eva-rosenthal/188880972/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-paper-protection/188881247/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-curbing-domestic-violence/188882799/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-mom-rips-duckman/188882983/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-benched/188883146/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-cops-death-a-mystery/189191073/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-valdes-murder/189193232/
https://www.stalkingawareness.org/

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