By Lena Vargas
Story Published: Mar 29, 2011 at 5:54 PM PDT
TRI-CITIES -- Tuesday, a jury denied Delonde Pleasant a reduced sentence for beating and killing his girlfriend, Juanita Montelongo, back in 2002.
Action News is digging beyond this one case to the problem of domestic violence deaths in our community.
Domestic violence death cases like the State v. Pleasant have become common here in Franklin and Benton County.
Delonde Pleasant pleaded guilty to the beating death of his girlfriend, Juanita Montelongo back in 2002. But he asked a jury to lower the number of years he'll spend in prison.
Tuesday, a jury said no to that request.
A new report by the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence shows Juanita was one of 28 people killed by domestic violence in the Tri-Cities in the last decade.
That's almost three people killed every year at the hands of someone they know. Erinn Gailey with Domestic Violence Services of Benton and Franklin County says it’s a much more real danger than people realize.
"The reality is that if you're going to be murdered in the Tri-Cities, you're more likely to be killed or murdered at the hands of a current or former partner than gang violence, drug violence, random crime," said Gailey.
And like Juanita Montelongo, many of the women were just teenagers when they met their abuser.
Nationwide, one in four women will be in an abusive relationship in their lifetime. For teenagers, that number is one in three. And for kids in their tweens (ages 11 to 14), there's one in five who report their friends are victims of dating violence.
"A lot of things that make young love so romantic can be huge red flags: quick involvement, love at first sight," said Gailey.
Three other red flags: obsessively wanting to be with the boyfriend/girlfriend, extreme jealousy, and big changes in behavior (especially if a teen is withdrawn after previously being very outgoing).
Juanita Montelongo’s sister, Angel told Action News her sister was drawn to Delonde Pleasant because of problems at home.
"She was the oldest in the household taking care of everything, so he came along showered her with gifts at first, you know loved her a lot took care of her and eventually got her pregnant within a few months of them dating."
Angel says she's also been abused. She got out to set an example to her daughter.
"If I didn't get out what am I going to tell her not to do the same thing. I had to stop for that and especially after my sister," said Montelongo.
Angel and her family was relieved a jury did not reduce Pleasant’s sentence Tuesday. She says it was really hard on the family to relive how he killed her sister.
Domestic Violence Services of Benton and Franklin County will work with teens at New Horizons this week to address the problem of dating violence.
Whitman college is also addressing the issue this week in a seminar on community violence.
Here is a link to the recent report on domestic violence in Washington State: http://www.wscadv.org/
Action News is digging beyond this one case to the problem of domestic violence deaths in our community.
Domestic violence death cases like the State v. Pleasant have become common here in Franklin and Benton County.
Delonde Pleasant pleaded guilty to the beating death of his girlfriend, Juanita Montelongo back in 2002. But he asked a jury to lower the number of years he'll spend in prison.
Tuesday, a jury said no to that request.
A new report by the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence shows Juanita was one of 28 people killed by domestic violence in the Tri-Cities in the last decade.
That's almost three people killed every year at the hands of someone they know. Erinn Gailey with Domestic Violence Services of Benton and Franklin County says it’s a much more real danger than people realize.
"The reality is that if you're going to be murdered in the Tri-Cities, you're more likely to be killed or murdered at the hands of a current or former partner than gang violence, drug violence, random crime," said Gailey.
And like Juanita Montelongo, many of the women were just teenagers when they met their abuser.
Nationwide, one in four women will be in an abusive relationship in their lifetime. For teenagers, that number is one in three. And for kids in their tweens (ages 11 to 14), there's one in five who report their friends are victims of dating violence.
"A lot of things that make young love so romantic can be huge red flags: quick involvement, love at first sight," said Gailey.
Three other red flags: obsessively wanting to be with the boyfriend/girlfriend, extreme jealousy, and big changes in behavior (especially if a teen is withdrawn after previously being very outgoing).
Juanita Montelongo’s sister, Angel told Action News her sister was drawn to Delonde Pleasant because of problems at home.
"She was the oldest in the household taking care of everything, so he came along showered her with gifts at first, you know loved her a lot took care of her and eventually got her pregnant within a few months of them dating."
Angel says she's also been abused. She got out to set an example to her daughter.
"If I didn't get out what am I going to tell her not to do the same thing. I had to stop for that and especially after my sister," said Montelongo.
Angel and her family was relieved a jury did not reduce Pleasant’s sentence Tuesday. She says it was really hard on the family to relive how he killed her sister.
Domestic Violence Services of Benton and Franklin County will work with teens at New Horizons this week to address the problem of dating violence.
Whitman college is also addressing the issue this week in a seminar on community violence.
Here is a link to the recent report on domestic violence in Washington State: http://www.wscadv.org/
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