Chiefs' Jovan Belcher killed his girlfriend in a society that shrugs at ...

Ralph Wiley, of Sports Illustrated and ESPN.com fame, reviewed a misguided 2002 HBO documentary called "O.J.: A Study in Black and White," and in so doing, challenged the idea that the homicides the Juice was booked with were unique in any significant way. "During the months of the (1995) trial," the late Wiley wrote for ESPN, "I kept clippings of crimes similar to the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and the unfortunate Ron Goldman, mostly committed by men, often spouses, against women, often their wives. I stopped after three months. Why? I was running out of storage space."

A memorial grows on the stoop of 1354 Annette St. on Oct. 11, 2011, the day after Kywanda Butcher and her 13-year-old son, Au'Sha Butcher, were found shot to death inside the home. Keith Tate, Butcher's ex-boyfriend, was charged with the murders. In court documents, Butcher had accused Tate of breaking into her house, choking her, raping her and vowing to kill her. Dinah Rogers, The Times-Picayune

?Wiley then points out something so obvious that its truth is forgotten: "These crimes of passion happen every day."

Saturday morning, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher, 25, shot and killed Kasandra Perkins, the 22-year-old mother of the couple's 3-month-old daughter. Belcher killed himself later that day.

Earlier that morning in New Orleans in the 2800 block of South Roman Street, police say 39-year-old Larry J. Haynes killed 26-year-old Tiara Reynolds in front of her children. Haynes was arguing with four people in the middle of the night, New Orleans police say: Reynolds, Haynes' 32-year-old girlfriend and two men. He allegedly shot all four. With so many victims both male and female, it's unclear if that crime fits the classic domestic violence scenario. But a crime two days later is less ambiguous.

Monday evening, 25-year-old Renesha Nix was at her eastern New Orleans apartment where, according to police, she argued with her estranged boyfriend, 22-year-old Keith Phillips, the father of the couple's infant son. To avoid a physical fight with Phillips, Nix reportedly called her mother, Tiesha Nix. But when the mother arrived, police say, Phillips killed her with a single shot to the head. They say he then shot the younger woman multiple times.

Experts say that suicide is catching. For example, when a news outlet reports that somebody has leaped from a bridge, that report often gives other vulnerable people permission to do the same. When I saw that Phillips was accused of a murder within days of the Kansas City crime, I wondered if domestic violence isn't contagious, too. Phillips didn't kill himself like Belcher did, but could Belcher's crime have given Phillips permission to do something similar?

Tania Tetlow, a Tulane law professor who directs the school's domestic violence clinic, said Thursday that it would be difficult to say one domestic violence homicide is the copycat of another because, sadly, such violence is "so incredibly ubiquitous." What we do know, she said, is that domestic violence "is not a disqualifying factor for playing football." It's not a big deal for football players, she said, because it's not as big of a deal as it ought to be for the rest of us. "We don't encourage it," she said, "but we don't' see it as shameful as we should. And we don't pay attention to it as we should."

Tetlow pointed me toward a San Diego Union-Tribune database that has NFL player arrests since 2000. Slate Magazine analyzed the list and determined that "of the 32 NFL teams, 21 of them have this year had at least one player who's been charged at some point with domestic violence or sexual assault." In November 2010, Saints defensive end Will Smith was arrested in Lafayette after police say he pulled his wife down the street by her hair. I would ask if you remember the subsequent outrage, but you and I know there was none.?The charges against Smith were dropped after he completed community service and participated in counseling.

"We have a much stronger reaction to a Michael Vick beating dogs," Tetlow said, than his fellow football players attacking their wives and girlfriends.

While he was a standout at Maine, Belcher was a member of a group called Male Athletes Against Violence, but apparently its members' pledge to never assault women and stand up against their abusers didn't sink in with Belcher. It's great to hear that such a group exists, but athletes aren't the only males who should be opposed to domestic violence. After all, the news would still be filled with stories such as Belcher's even if football didn't exist.

Jarvis DeBerry can be reached at jdeberry@nola.com or 504.826.3355. Follow him at twitter.com/jarvisdeberrytp.

Source: http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2012/12/jovan_belcher_killed_his_girlf.html

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