Alissa Blanton, image via AOL News
This story is about sexual harassment, stalking, and the utter failure of society to protect women. A young woman in Florida was murdered by a man who had been stalking her for two years. She was denied a protector order from him just a week earlier. As someone who has been a victim of street harassment and sexual harassment numerous times, this news story just broke my heart.
– Gabrielle
“A central Florida woman was shot and killed in her workplace by a stalker just one week after a judge denied her request for an emergency order of protection against the man, authorities said…
In a request for an order of protection, Alissa Blanton said Troy had been stalking her for the past two years. The two first met when she worked as a waitress at a Hooters restaurant in Merritt Island, Fla. Troy, a Cocoa Beach, Fla., businessman and regular customer, allegedly began harassing her on a regular basis. She said she turned down his requests for her phone number but eventually relented and provided him with her e-mail address…
The alleged harassment continued. In 2008, Blanton, in desperation, quit her job just to get away from Troy. That failed to end her torment, she said…
Despite Blanton’s 72-page petition, Brevard County Circuit Judge John Dean Moxley was not convinced that the situation was dire. Last week, he denied her request for emergency protection. Following the shooting, Moxley told the Orlando Sentinel he had not been able to determine whether Troy’s actions met the legal definition of stalking…”
Stop Street Harassment! 
Ugh, dumb judge. What about this woman’s story didn’t involve stalking and harassment?! What did he not see?! Because of his inability to act (or inability to care, more so), a woman’s dead. I hope he thinks long and hard about the result of his poor choice.
I wonder if a protection order would have been issued if the judge had been female? Seems likely. Either way, a paper order is hardly the sort of thing that will keep a psycopath with a gun from rampaging through an office.
This is so very sad. I hope judges will learn from this–better to give a restraining order than not in the case of doubt. I want to cry!
Wow. Not the first time this has happened. Won’t be the last. I had a client who moved to another country to avoid her stalker (her ex husband in this case). Even though he broke her eye socket, jaw, wrist, several ribs and cracked her skull she was refused protection by the police as it was a “domestic issue”. I suppose it was her fault for having the gall to divorce him. How dare she!
I wonder how many people will jump on the “it’s her fault for leading him on and teasing him” bandwagon. Too many I suppose. Sad. I hope he gets gang raped on an hourly basis while he’s in prison. There’s no excuse for ruining and then taking a young woman’s life.