By FREESIA SINGNGAM
STAFF WRITER
HARTFORD — Students from the University of Hartford, family members and several others spent a cold Valentine’s Day morning on the steps of the state Capitol building to remember Tiana Notice, who was brutally murdered in front of her Plainville apartment a year ago. The group was also there to send a clear message — more action is needed to prevent women like Tiana from being attacked or killed by those who are supposed to love them.
Attendees including Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Speaker of the House Chris Donovan, representatives from the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Tiana Angelique Notice Foundation, supported GPS tracking of domestic violence offenders.
Tiana Notice, 25, was stabbed outside her apartment and later died Feb. 14, 2009. In a 911 call to police, she said her ex-boyfriend had stabbed her.
At the time, she had a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend, James Carter II, and she had just spoken to police earlier that day because of alleged harassing e-mails from him. Carter is charged with murder and has plead not guilty.Carter is due back in New Britain Superior Court Feb. 25. He is being held on a $3 million bond for charges of murder, first-degree criminal trespassing and violating a restraining order. Carter will also appear in court for two other cases in which he is charged with violating a restraining order, second-degree harassment and interfering with an officer.
Tiana’s father, Alvin Notice, said his daughter’s death could have been prevented if Carter was tracked by a GPS monitoring system. He started to cry as he spoke to the crowd outside the Capitol Sunday.
“Tiana had an active restraining order throughout the time of her murder,” Alvin Notice said. He said a GPS tracking system would allow victims of domestic violence to know where the offenders are, and if they get close, the victims can find refuge.
“There’s no reason why we should be locking away the victims,” he said.
Alvin Notice, who is a co-founder of the Tiana Angelique Notice Foundation to prevent domestic violence and promote the GPS monitoring system, said he’s not speaking against battered women’s shelters — he just wants more done.
“I want Connecticut to be a place where a domestic violence offender would say, ‘I don’t want to be in this state,’” he said.
Blumenthal said the GPS monitoring system is already used for offenders of nonviolent crimes and called the proposed legislation for monitoring domestic violence offenders “an opportunity to use the same technology to save lives.”
Diane Rosenfeld, a lecturer on law at Harvard Law School, said Massachusetts passed a GPS monitoring law in 2006, and since then there have been no violations from offenders wearing the tracking systems.
“Stop the question, ‘Why doesn’t she leave,’” Rosenfeld said. “She’s living in a jail. It’s Valentine’s Day and we should be celebrating love, and love shouldn’t hurt, like that sign says,” she added, pointing to one of the signs in the crowd.
State Rep. Kenneth Green, D-Hartford, said he doesn’t put a cost on the GPS monitoring system if it saves lives.
“We must stand up and do all that we can regardless of cost,” he said.
Harald Sandstrom, an associate professor of politics and government at the University of Hartford, taught Tiana and said she founded the university’s chapter of the Roosevelt Institute, a public policy think tank. At the time of her death, she was a graduate student there, pursuing a master’s in communications.
Many of the students and others carried signs that read “Love shouldn’t hurt” and “Domestic violence is a public issue not a social issue” and several speeches.
Nicole Suissa, president of the university’s Roosevelt Institute chapter, said she never met Tiana, but after reading about her and talking to those who know her, she saw a lot of herself in her.
Suissa, a sophomore politics and government major at the University of Hartford, said she and Tiana had a lot of the same ambitions. She also told a story of how her mother got out of an abusive relationship.
On behalf of the chapter that Tiana founded, Suissa said the Roosevelt Institute supports this bill for GPS monitoring.
Tiana’s sister, Natasha Smith, who is also a co-founder of the Tiana Angelique Notice Foundation, said Tiana would have wanted this bill to pass and would have been proud to see everyone gathered for the rally.
“Tiana had the same passion,” Smith said, referring to their involvement in civic engagement. She said this bill isn’t just for Tiana but for all women and children.
Freesia Singngam can be reached at fsingngam@centralctcommunications.com or 860-584-0501, ext. 7259.