Charla Mack: Victim of Darren Mack, A Perfectly Normal Abuser

I have gone back and forth about whether to spend much time writing about the trial of Darren Mack who has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity for the attempted murder of Judge Chuck Weller and the murder of his ex-wife Charla Mack. And what decided was that I would repost what I originally posted over a year ago whenever I felt that the story of Charla Mack needed to be told again. As the trial begins, and Darren Mack’s attorney does his best to mount a defense (however incredulous it may be), today is one of those days:

Darren Mack: A Perfectly Normal Abuser

Photo courtesy of LasVegasNow.comSo they finally captured and arrested Darren Mack, who may have actually attempted to arrange an TV interview with Greta Van Sustern before turning himself in or as a condition of his surrender. If this is true, it provides further proof of how unrepentant, calculated, and fucked up the perpetrator is. Even after his arrest, he cannot stop trying to control every aspect of the situation.There are two issues that get the minx ready to go all Cheney on people–government enforced pregnancy and domestic violence. And there is nothing that makes me want to strangle someone more than having to hear all the testimonials and comments about how the perpetrator “was so normal.” Its complete and utter bullshit and the media, mainstream and otherwise, who spend all their time reporting on the perpetrator like its snuff porn instead of on the negative repercussions of the crime and its victims, should all be forced to take a course in victimology and be locked up at the crime scene for 24 hours. And they should definitely have to read Covering Domestic Violence: A Guide for Journalists and Other Media Professionals published by the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence. This kind of reporting continues the trauma and misery of the living victims and victimizes Charla Mack over and over again. Its time to educate yourselves on the matter you pack of slavering idiots.Darren Mack was not normal. Nobody who committs such a crime is normal. As we now know, Charla Mack told friends that her husband was going to try and kill her. Almost all perpetrators of intimate partner violence and homicide demonstrate clear patterns of control and abusive behavior that escalate until the homicide is committee just like in other forms of domestic abuse. Mack seems to have followed this pattern to a T, and please keep in mind that all abuse is not physical. His response to the divorce, hiding his assets, his refusal to pay most of the court ordered payments and support, his abusive litigation tactics, and his apparently bogus bankruptcy claim all point to a man obsessed with the control of his family. Unfortunatley, the murder of Charla Mack cannot be considered a suprise.

In almost every interview, news story, or article, past employees, acquaintences, and consultants remark on the normalness of Darren Mack, who not only stabbed his ex-wife to death, but also planned and executed the shooting of a family court judge. A former employee of the perpetrator (from 10 years ago!) was actually given air time on the Rita Cosby show to talk about how he still sends the perpetrator holiday cards and how he was a “really, really nice guy.” Are you fucking kidding me?

Futhermore, he surrounded himself with Father’s Rights nutcases like Dean Tong and William Wegener, whose ilk has done nothing but make excuses for his crime. This is what Tong, who specializes in helping fathers accused of abusing their spouses and/or children beat the rap so to speak, said about Mack on June 13th on CNN:

Well, she had made allegations of domestic violence, that he had hit her. I had him tested by one of my psychologists, and the results of those findings and conclusions were that he had no propensity to be the monster that she was pinging him to be. I met the man last July in a Las Vegas hotel. We had breakfast together, and he certainly didn`t appear to me to be a risk to his child or his wife. So I mean, this is totally beyond surreal for me.

And on the Rita Cosby show (he gets around doesn’t he?):

You—you worked with him on this consulting issue. Did you see anything in there in his behavior that he had any violent tendencies? I understand there were even some tests done.

DEAN TONG, FORENSIC TRIAL CONSULTANT: No, nothing, Rita.

I met the man last July. He seemed like a fine, upstanding citizen. We shook hands. We had breakfast together. We talked on the phone many times before I even came out to Vegas to see him, or vice-versa.

COSBY: And what about these tests? Tell us about these tests.

TONG: Yes.

He was subjected by my expert to domestic violence and physical child abuse propensity tests. And he passed the same with flying colors. So, there was nothing there to give us any forewarning he was a ticking time bomb ready to explode.

Some tests asshole.

You can read some comments made by the not so lunatic fringe of the father’s rights groups and get a first hand glimpse of the kind of behavior they condone.

Here are some more facts about intimate partner homicide:

• On average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in this country every day. In 2000, 1,247 women were killed by an intimate partner. The same year, 440 men were killed by an intimate partner. 16
• Women are much more likely than men to be killed by an intimate partner. In 2000, intimate partner homicides accounted for 33.5 percent of the murders of women and less than four percent of the murders of men. 17
• Pregnant and recently pregnant women are more likely to be victims of homicide than to die of any other cause.18 , and evidence exists that a significant proportion of all female homicide victims are killed by their intimate partners. 19
• Research suggests that injury related deaths, including homicide and suicide, account for approximately one-third of all maternal mortality cases, while medical reasons make up the rest. But, homicide is the leading cause of death overall for pregnant women, followed by cancer, acute and chronic respiratory conditions, motor vehicle collisions and drug overdose, peripartum and postpartum cardiomyopthy, and suicide. 20

Statistics on intimate partner homicide from the Bureau of Justice Statistics for 1993-2001.

As the Mack case proves, family violence does not always remain in the family. We are obligated as a society that says it cares about families to educate ourselves about domestic abuse and how to stop it. Intimate partner homicide is one of the most preventable crimes out there.

Well see if I can keep the comments open this time.

Similar Posts:

• Darren Mack Was A Perfectly Normal Abuser
• Using The Darren Mack Case To Educate
• Darren Mack Continues to Play The Victim

---

Enjoy this post? Leave a comment below or subscribe to my feed. You also can sign up for email delivery by clicking here.

Subscribe via RSS or Email

Click the icon to subscribe. You know you want to.

Reno and Its Discontents Copyright © 2008 All Rights Reserved · A Reno Fabulous Media Production · Powered by WordPress and ElegantBlue