CHARDON, Ohio — Dozens walked around Chardon Square Thursday evening, honoring survivors and remembering victims of violent crime.
"I've screamed at the top of my lungs in the courtroom to be heard and to gain justice," survivor Mary Dolphin said.
This is how Dolphin describes her five-year fight to escape abuse. She says It started around 2017, and she filed a protection order. It was violated, and her ex-husband was jailed and put on parole.
He went on to violate that parole times, according to Dolphin. Then, while drunk and with a gun that was another violation in early 2021, he shot and killed another woman.
Dolphin believes that could've been prevented.
"It's just really hard to believe," she lamented. "I tried to tell the people he was so dangerous and this would happen, but it's too late for his victim."
"It's time to stop blaming victims, time to stop blaming the abused," she said. "Stop victimizing us. It's time to own up to the fact that this system isn't working."
Dolphin was introduced to speak by victim advocate Tracy Jordan with the Geauga County Sheriff's Office, someone who continues to help as Dolphin navigates being a survivor and knowing her rights. Dolphin says the most frustrating part of the process is that each time her abuser would violate parole or a protection order, it was on her to take the time, submit paperwork, and call the proper authorities trying to prove it.
That's why she says being believed and making the system easier is vital to helping survivors.