Then, in one hateful strike, he decapitates her. He dumps her body next to a country road. Methodically, he ditches her car, goes home, calls friends, straightens the house and does laundry. Matthew Mirabal is this kind of man. So said a jury of seven men and five women Thursday.
Justice is nowhere in sight.
Not as long as Natalie Mirabal is dead. May he reap what he has sown, till the last syllable of recorded time. The Mirabal case puts a human face and a sense of urgency on the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act. If this federal legislation dies, the U.S. Violence Against Women Office will, too. The first Violence Against Women Act came in 1994, and some worry that Congress won't renew it.