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District Attorney: Domestic attack could have been prevented

8 years 5 months 4 weeks ago Monday, September 28 2015 Sep 28, 2015 September 28, 2015 6:00 PM September 28, 2015 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE- District Attorney Hillar Moore believes a man's checkered past could have kept him locked up if Baton Rouge had what's called a risk assessment tool. That would have prevented his death and prevented a woman from getting life threatening stab wounds, according to Moore.

Currently, the City of Lafayette uses that tool when an offender is brought to jail. It's a questionnaire administered to offenders. That questionnaire helps determine whether they get released back out on the streets.

Over the weekend, 46-year-old Anthony McKinney stabbed his girlfriend in the 6000 block of Maplewood Drive in Glen Oaks. When detectives showed up, McKinney was shot and killed by East Baton Rouge Parish Deputies.

McKinney had just been released from jail less than 24-hours before after he got picked up on Tuesday for battery and child endangerment charges. McKinney's checkered criminal history shows over the past 25 years, he's been arrested at least 20 times and had multiple convictions. McKinney was actually scheduled to go to trial on Wednesday for another battery case.

"These kind of cases scream out for us to have what's called a risk assessment tool administered to all people who come into the prison," District Attorney Hillar Moore said. "We know better as a public defender, DA and the court will know better the risk and needs this defendant has."

Money could stand in the way of getting the risk assessment tool here. With time not on the victim's side, the questionnaire needed to be administered when McKinney was locked up last week.

"I believe if we had that type of instrument, tool in this case, he would have been kept in jail and would not have been killed, and this woman would not have had these injuries," Moore said.

Until something changes, offenders like McKinney could keep getting released to re-offend, putting the lives like the victim he attacked, at risk.

"She did everything she was supposed to do," Moore said. "Court orders can't stop bullets or a knife. Doors didn't even stop this person from coming in."

In addition to money and manpower, getting the risk assessment tool here would need the blessing from judges and public defenders.

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