Battered Spouses

Starting next month, Ventura County officials plan to launch a specialized court for handling domestic violence cases and hope the revamped system will help crack down on one of society's most chronic problems. Domestic violence reports to law enforcement agencies have more than doubled in the past decade, and shelters for battered women are routinely swollen to capacity.

An Oxnard Elementary School District trustee convicted of battering his wife was spared a jail sentence Monday. Instead, 42-year-old Ray Gonzales was placed on three years' probation and ordered to attend domestic violence counseling for a year. He was warned to obey all laws and ordered not to harass his estranged wife, Nicole. At the prosecution's request, he was also instructed to attend 15 weeks of parenting classes.

Football Hall of Famer Jim Brown was convicted Friday of smashing the window of his wife's car during a June 15 argument, but was acquitted of making terrorist threats against her. Deputy City Atty. Grace Lee said Brown could be sentenced to up to six months in jail under domestic violence guidelines and be fined as much as $1,000. Holding hands with his wife, Monique, in the doorway of the Hollywood Municipal Courthouse after the verdicts, Brown declared that he had been vindicated.

Jurors will begin deliberations today in the spousal threat trial of football legend Jim Brown, debating whether to believe his wife's original allegations against him or her subsequent recanting. In closing arguments Wednesday, both defense and prosecution lawyers painted Brown's wife, Monique, as a disturbed woman but left jurors to choose between two very different profiles of her. Deputy City Atty.

Jim Brown's defense rested its case Tuesday without calling the football legend to the stand in his domestic violence prosecution. Brown told reporters outside the Hollywood courtroom that he saw no need to add his voice to the many who have testified about the dispute between him and his wife, Monique, which led to his arrest. "At this time, I don't think there's anything I could say," Brown said. "The prosecution hasn't been able to prove anything and this case doesn't really involve me."

A poised and defiant Monique Brown defended her husband in court Wednesday, telling jurors that she lied to detectives when she first complained that football star Jim Brown had beaten her and threatened to "snap" her neck.

A Ventura woman accused of fatally shooting her husband and dismembering his body with an electric saw pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of murder and deadly assault. Gladis Soto, 38, stood behind a screened courtroom partition with her eyes downcast during an arraignment in Ventura County Superior Court. She looked up only once to say "Yes" when asked if she waived her right to a speedy trial. Attorney Jorge Alvarado entered the plea on her behalf.

Hard rock guitarist Slash, formerly of Guns N' Roses, was arrested over the weekend after his live-in girlfriend accused him of beating her, authorities said Sunday. Sheriff's deputies arrested the 34-year-old rocker, whose legal name is Saul Hudson, about 8:30 p.m. Saturday at his West Hollywood recording studio, said Deputy Cruz Solis. The girlfriend's name was not released. Hudson was booked on suspicion of spousal assault. Within two hours of his arrest, he posted $50,000 bail.