Law students aid violence victims
When crossing the state, UI law student Kiri DeLaubenfels cannot resist stopping by the Correctional Institution for Women.
DeLaubenfels is one of six law students working on the Skylark Project, a collaboration between the UI College of Law and the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The group works to give three convicted women a chance at parole by exposing the specter of domestic violence.
Roughly 85 percent of domestic-violence victims are women, according to recent statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice. Today, judges and juries generally consider this in deciding an abused woman’s charge, verdict, or sentence.
But this wasn’t always the case, said Linda McGuire, associate dean of the law school.
“You don’t get to tell your story unless there is legal relevance,” she said. “If it doesn’t matter that a woman is abused, there is no reason a judge or jury will hear it.”
This year the students worked to help three women serving life sentences for crimes they may have been threatened or coerced into committing decades ago.
Laurie Schipper, executive director of the Iowa domestic-violence coalition, said the Skylark Project was stuck in limbo for 15 years before the university got involved last fall. McGuire helped set up the program, offering one credit hour for participating students.
It was a learning experience outside the cocoon of Boyd Law Building, said DeLaubenfels, who worked with domestic-violence issues before joining the project. With the help of another student, DeLaubenfels immersed herself in the life of an abused woman who was convicted of first-degree murder more than 20 years ago.
The students faced one major obstacle: Their clients’ cases were too old to appear in electronic court records and news archives. Research meant road trips to the prison near Des Moines for interviews.
With cropped red-blond hair, DeLaubenfels could not help smiling as she talked about her client. The woman is 52 years old now and earned the nickname “Mom.” She completed college, earned a master’s degree, and learned to use the computer. She wants to educate young girls so they will not end up in her situation.
But the intense emotions oscillated to disappointment as well.
Last December, the parole board decided not to recommend DeLaubenfels’ client for review. The governor’s office sent a short rejection letter, and McGuire — who waited outside the women’s exam room to tell them — said her own crestfallen expression gave away the bad news.
Their client is cheerfully gearing up for her next chance at parole, despite having to wait 10 years before applying again.
“She’s already talking about meeting us for lunch,” DeLaubenfels said. “She has lofty goals.”
Another woman, Sheila Schertz, had better results. Third-year law student Amy Halbur said the woman was coerced into aiding and abetting kidnapping. With Halbur researching her case and coaching her for interviews, Schertz received a favorable recommendation from the state parole board.
They are waiting to hear from the governor’s office for the final decision.
For now, the Skylark Project members are focused on two weeks of final exams. At least two have graduated. With one year of law school remaining, DeLaubenfels is eyeing a clerkship position in Minnesota for next summer. But the women of Mitchellville are not far from her mind, whether her unsinkable client or more haunting memories.
“When you walk by the hospice wing, you see old women who are dying in prison,” she said. “It really shows you what it means to lock someone up for life.”
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