To
hear Noelle Hanrahan's interview with Debi Zuver recorded moments
after she was sentenced to 21 years in prison, click
here.
Moments
after being hit with Judge Daum's mind-numbing sentence, KPFA
Flashpoints' Noelle Hanrahan interviewed Debi on tape. Because
of new, Draconian rules prohibiting audio- or video-taping California
state prisoners, this is the last recording we will have of
Debi Zuver until she is released. Here are excerpts from that
interview and from conversations between Debi and Purple Berets'
Tanya Brannan. (For a compact disc of the entire interview,
send $10 to Purple Berets.)
On
the abuse she suffered:
"Once he hit me so hard in the chest with his hands, he knocked
me off my feet. I flew back in the air six feet and landed sprawled
on my back in the driveway."
On
Garloff's threats:
"He said, ‘You're my star witness, Baby. You better hope I end
up walkin' out of this, because if I'm through, you're through.
And you're dead."
On
why she never called police:
"Right! He'd bail in an hour, and I'd be dead that night."
On
the shooting:
"All I could think was, ‘This guy's gonna kill me. And he's
here right now and he's in my house and he's threatening me.
I come out from around a corner ... thinking I'm going to my
sponsor's house and next thing you know I've got the guy standing
inside my house locking the door. All I thought was I was trying
to save my life."
On
the difference between her case and Pelfini's:
"I should have been a doctor."
Debi
Zuver's message to other battered women:
"If you're a battered woman and you're out there and you're
hearing me, get help. Call someone ... tell someone ... call
the police. Do anything – just get away. Stay away. And whatever
you do, please don't end up like me."
January
24, 2002