Will President Obama Maintain Zero Tolerance for Domestic Violence in the Case of Federal Judge Mark Fuller?
By Dana Jill Simpson
August 13th 2014
Every October President Obama and Vice President Biden speak out against domestic violence and proclaim that they stand for "zero tolerance" regarding this crime. Their speeches often feature the statistic that one in three women in America are impacted by domestic violence. VP Biden, in his first year in office, announced long-time advocate Lynn Rosenthal would be the White House advisor on violence against women, a newly created position because, Biden claimed, his office and the President genuinely believe in zero tolerance for domestic violence. President Obama called on executive heads of federal agencies in 2012 to create policies against domestic violence in their workplaces. In the following years President Obama has signed further laws to protect women who are victims of domestic violence.
This October President Obama and Vice President Biden will be faced with a challenge to the seriousness of their commitment to zero tolerance for domestic violence. They are now confronted by a sitting federal judge in Alabama named Mark Fuller who has been arrested for battery against his wife in the "ritzy" Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Atlanta Georgia. Fuller has been quoted in the press on the day of his release stating that he "just pushed" his wife (Kelly Gregg Fuller) to the ground and was defending himself from an attack by her, triggered by her concerns over his possible infidelity.
However a local news station has obtained and published the audio from Kelley Fuller's 911 call in which you can hear her being hit. The police report also established that there were bruises on Kelly Fuller's legs, cuts on her face and at least one hair plug pulled out and left laying on the floor. There were no marks of any sort on Judge Mark Fuller according to the police. The room was filled with an odor of alcohol and blood was found in the bathroom which is consistent with Kelly's story that she was dragged by her hair around the room.
What is important to note is that Mark Fuller is a federal judge in Montgomery Alabama and was married to Lisa Fuller when reporters started writing about his lack of fidelity to Lisa with his own bailiff, Kelly Gregg who is now his wife and second alleged victim (so far?) of Mark Fuller's alleged violent domestic tendencies.
His first wife (Lisa Fuller) on filing for divorce alleged marital infidelity, domestic violence and prescription drug abuse on Mark Fuller's part. I became aware of this as people active at the courthouse in Montgomery when the divorce was filed asked me to notify reporters who had been covering the Siegelman case so that they could connect the dots between the judge and bailiff who were involved in Gov. Siegelman's prosecution as they felt it was unethical. Around the time that we became aware of Lisa Fuller's divorce, Mark Fuller's lawyer filed to have those divorce records sealed. It is now imperative in my opinion that a new public records request should be filed by reporters covering the Siegelman case and the new Fuller criminal charges in Georgia so that any possible pattern can be established that might affect the course of justice in the Georgia state court system.
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