Laura Abbott of Cabot said she speaks out on domestic violence for a reason.
“It will be the voice of the victims that will bring the change,” she said.
Abbott, a health teacher at the Freshman Academy in Cabot, was recently appointed for a second term to the Arkansas Commission on Child Abuse, Rape and Domestic Violence. She will serve until July 1, 2020.
Abbott, who is a domestic-abuse survivor, has worked for years to change what she says is a justice system that is “onerous and traumatic without meaning to be” for victims.
“Victims in Arkansas don’t have a state constitutional amendment, and we don’t have a national amendment for victims’ rights,” she said. “It’s just statutory laws in Arkansas. Thirty-eight other states have constitutional amendments. It’s time for an upgrade in Arkansas.”
Abbott said she went to a national conference on victims’ rights in 2015 and realized Arkansas was behind.
“I started to gather up other victims … who believed the same,” she said.
Abbott formed Victims’ Rights Arkansas to work for a constitutional amendment on the subject.
Although Abbot said she has met pushback on the amendment effort, she’s been the impetus for legislative changes.
Act 877 of 2015 is known as Laura’s Law, named in memory of Laura Aceves, who was murdered in Carroll County by her ex-boyfriend. The law requires law enforcement personnel on domestic-abuse calls to ask the victim a series of questions to ascertain a lethality rating, or the risk of death to the victim. If the score is high, the officer must refer the person to a domestic-violence program.
They also hand out Laura’s Card, Act 873, which was passed in Abbott’s honor. It requires law enforcement officers who go on a domestic-violence call to hand out a card with victims’ rights and resources printed on it. More information is available at arkansasag.gov.
Abbott was also the inspiration for the passage of Act 952, which requires that dating-violence awareness be a part of schools’ health curriculum.
“I volunteer my time going and speaking around the state on victims’ rights and issues victims deal with: trauma, adverse child experiences, suicide prevention and [post-traumatic stress disorder],” Abbott said.
About a decade before that, she was bringing speakers into her Cabot classroom to talk about healthy relationships.
Abbott has been recognized for her work by the U.S. Department of Justice. In April, she was presented the Volunteer for Victims Award.
That was a satisfying honor for a couple of reasons, Abbott said. One is that it’s a national award. The other is that her former husband, who was jailed for abusing her in 2012, was a law-enforcement agent for the Office of Inspector General with the U.S. Postal Service.
Mitchell Webb ran over her with his truck — twice — when they were spending a weekend at Mount Magazine in Paris, Arkansas.
Abbott was air-lifted from the mountain with serious injuries.
“My heart had stopped beating before I was put on the helicopter,” she said. “I was in tip-top medical shape when he ran over me. I was a nonsmoker and a runner. I [now have] five titanium plates and 32 screws in my right rib cage.”
Abbott said Webb had been upset, cursing her and drinking alcohol all day before he ran over her.
Webb drove off and wrecked his truck shortly afterward, she said, and was arrested that night. He was charged with domestic battery in the first degree, DWI and leaving the scene of the accident involving personal injury or death, according to online circuit court records.
“He wound up a little over a year later going to trial,” Abbott said. “Then I saw that the court system — and I have great family support, and I have super friend support and great church support — seemed to make the victim at fault. The defense attorney can say whatever they want.
“Victims and their families — it is horrific to go through the court system. It’s not intentional. You want a good defense attorney, but it’s like the victim is almost blamed for what happened.”
In May 2013, a Logan County jury convicted Webb of third-degree domestic battery, which is a lesser charge; and driving while intoxicated, according to documents on Court Connect. He was sentenced to three months in the Logan County Jail.
The national Department of Justice award “was validation that yes, what happened was what happened. Ninety days in the county jail was not validation,” Abbott said.
“I’m so honored to win that award; it took the entire state — every victim, every survivor, every person I’ve met. It’s so grossly unfair in the justice system, we could talk all day,” she said.
“That’s [the award] for all the people — they’ve shared their stories; they tell me what they’ve been through,” Abbott said. “I know the victims in our state … who have experienced the justice system — it’s onerous and traumatic without meaning to be.”
Abbott said she and Webb were married for 10 years before they divorced, and their relationship started off happily. They met playing co-ed softball.
“I thought somebody with a background check from the federal government, they’d be OK,” she said. “He had a badge and a gun.
“We had a lot in common; we were both athletes. He seemed very mild-mannered. I would tease him about being a pocket-protector nerd. He brought me roses and opened car doors.”
Abbott said Webb threatened to divorce her throughout their marriage. She said he had head-butted her once and backhanded her once before the near-death experience on the mountain.
“A backhand isn’t the same as backing over someone,” she said.
“He is a cobra. They strike once, but when they strike, it’s deadly.
“I’ve never spoken to him after he ran over me,” she said. “The only two words he said after he got handcuffed [after sentencing] were, ‘You win.’”
Abbott said victims should know they can give a victim-impact statement. She didn’t want to speak at the trial, but 15th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Tom Tatum II encouraged her to do so.
However, she didn’t want to be in the same room with her abuser, so she gave a statement days after Webb was sentenced and in another city’s courtroom.
Abbott said it was satisfying that “Hey, my voice is being heard, and I’m not being interrupted.”
“I took a play on what he (Webb) said. I said, ‘Hey, here’s what I won — a set of titanium ribs. I’ll never play softball again,’” she said.
Abbott was an All-AIC cross-country and track runner and helped restart cross country at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway in 1985, according to the UCA website. She was inducted into the UCA Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.
Abbott said that because of her injuries, she lost thousands of dollars in wages, which affected her contribution to the retirement system.
She said she didn’t know during the court case that domestic-violence victims can seek restitution from their abuser.
“No one had explained it to me. Even when I sent an email to a victims’-rights coordinator, I never got an explanation of what [my rights] were; there’s a process for each right,” she said.
“I got docked [pay] because we were in court for over a week, and I didn’t have that many sick days. I still have medical costs from what he did. I spend an extra $200 on medical a month,” Abbott said.
“Most victims are always the ones who wind up carrying the burden of the debt. They’re the ones with the injuries. I’ve met people who are paralyzed the rest of their lives. Who pays for that care?” she said. “When I’m meeting sexual-assault victims and they can never have children, … how do you put a value on that? Everybody needs to know about these victims’ rights.
“Sadly, statutory victims’-rights laws have no standing, recourse or remedy; therefore, victims’-rights implementation is not uniform across the state.”
Beth Goodrich, executive director of the Arkansas Coalition Against Domestic Violence, praised Abbott for helping to enact the legislation.
“Her willingness to share her story and talk about what happened really paved the way for the Laura’s Law legislation,” Goodrich said.
She said a key aspect in the lethality assessment is the referral to a domestic-violence program, because “it can reduce the chances that they will be killed by their abuser.”
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and according to the state coalition, one in three women and one in seven men are victims of domestic violence in the United States.
Under Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s administration, key domestic-violence legislation has been passed, Abbott said.
In addition to Laura’s Law and Laura’s Card, Act 876 of 2015 allows for victimless prosecution. Abbott helped draft the legislation.
“If a victim doesn’t want to prosecute their perpetrator in cases of domestic violence, the prosecutor can go on with the case,” she said.
Abbott said the Arkansas Commission on Child Abuse, Rape and Domestic Violence “is one of a kind and a great asset in our state. I am grateful to Gov. Hutchinson” to be part of the commission.
The commission is “an outstanding organization that allows for collaboration, consensus and civil discourse on how to best help victims of crime and victim-service providers across the state,” she said.
“The commission does an extraordinary amount of work,” Abbott said, “including, child-death reviews and policy-making partnerships on issues of child abuse, rape and domestic violence.”
She said there are about 22 agencies represented by the commission.
“It is intriguing to see the amount of stakeholders working on prevention, intervention and postvention of crime victimization,” she said.
Abbott said the commission works with the Arkansas Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
“Had there not been shelters available for support and education, I would not have been able to get back on my feet as easily [after my abuse],” she said. “Right now, across the nation, there’s a transition in services for crime victims.
“My ultimate goal is, we do the best we can with the money to get direct services to victims. We need the money to get to victims and victim services in the most economically feasible way.”
Abbott said the Victims’ Rights Arkansas group is considering gathering signatures for the constitutional-amendment push.
“We’re not done,” she said. “I’ve run across people who have been working on [victims’ rights] for decades across the state. I’m just a newbie in the movement.”
Abbott said her appointment to the Arkansas Commission on Child Abuse, Rape and Domestic Violence provides an opportunity to support victim-service providers and victims on the road to recovery and healing,” she said.
That includes her. And all victims.
“They’re ready; they’re ready for change,” she said, “and it is the voice of the victims that will bring the change.”
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-5671 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.