New law requires Texas to create website showing people's domestic violence history
DALLAS - Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia applauded Texas lawmakers for a new law that requires the state to create a free website where people can see if someone has a history of violence against intimate partners.
The website will allow the public to easily search a person's name for free and see if they have prior felony offenses like assault or stalking.
It's a law the chief says he first tried to get passed while he was in California.
Diann and Rick Beatty's daughter, Alessandra, was killed by a man who had a prior conviction for domestic violence.
After years of working in the advertising industry in San Francisco, the 27-year-old decided to become a nurse.
"She was accepted to Samuel Merit Nursing College in the Bay Area of California like three days before she was killed," Rick said.
Rick says Alessandra had broken up with her boyfriend two weeks before he murdered her. He is now serving a sentence of 50 years to life in prison.
"She was 27 years old when she died. She had 800 people at her funeral," he said.
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Rick started the Alessandra Foundation one week later. Since then, the Beattys went to work.
And that is how they met Chief Garcia when he was in San Jose.
"We tried to push in California to make this legislation happen. When it couldn't happen, when I was coming to Texas, I promised them I would continue to try," he said. "And because of the leadership in this state and city, we were able to do something in the great state of Texas that was not done in the other state."
One representative who listened was State Rep Victoria Neave Criado.
"This tool is going to help us save lives," she said. "Before this law goes into effect, there is some of this information available, but it sits behind a paywall hidden. This law dissolves the economic barrier in hopes of preventing domestic violence."
For the Beattys, it was worth the 7.5-year fight.
"The Alessandra Foundation: it was a release of emotion that neither one of us have had since we found out she was dead," Rick said. "The Alessandra Foundation: knowing that her legacy is a helper and defender of mankind, her legacy is saving lives."
For the Beattys, the passage of this law is one state down and 49 to go. They say it's not something they want to be doing but something they must be doing.
The website will be run by the Texas Department of Public Safety and is expected to be available to the public on Sept. 1.