A former local woman, convicted of her third domestic violence charge, will not be going to prison.
In January, Elisabeth Rachel Carver, 43, whose court-listed address is Montpelier, Indiana, pleaded guilty to one count of domestic violence, a felony of the third degree. This week, visiting judge Mark O’Connor sentenced the woman to five years of community control and told her she needed to work it out with the probation department before she could move back to Indiana.
On July 27, police were called to the City of Marysville Municipal Pool. When they arrived, police found Carver who was intoxicated and disorderly.
Witnesses told investigators that Carver pushed her 18-month-old daughter off a park bench. They told police Carver screamed obscenities and repeatedly told the girl’s father to get the girl away from her. Witnesses said the woman was throwing books.
She also hit the girl’s father under the chin.
Defense attorney Cliff Valentine told the judge the matter was, “a family incident that quite honestly got a little bit out of control.”
Assistant Union County Prosecutor Kelly Hamilton said he disagreed.
“This wasn’t merely a family incident,” Hamilton said. “This is a pattern of behavior by Ms. Carver where she abuses people in her family.”
Court documents indicate Carver has prior domestic convictions in 2006 and 2010. Hamilton said the woman also has an aggravated assault conviction in Logan County.
He argued that because Carver had two prior convictions for the same offense, she needed to go to prison.
“When you assault a child, who cannot defend themselves, what may happen next time? The best way to protect what may happen next is to incarcerate her.”
Carver, who served 222 days in jail awaiting her sentencing, said she wanted to address the judge. While she admitted to the violations, she said she only pleaded guilty so she could get the matter over with and go home to her daughter and fiancé.
“I take full responsibility that a situation occurred that day, but it wasn’t the situation that is being portrayed by whoever,” Carver told the judge.
She said none of the allegations occurred, though she admitted to “flipping off a pool lifeguard because she kept staring at us.”
Carver explained that she came to Marysville to reunite with her other children and “to have a happy day.”
She said the problem is that “the cops here hate me.”
She said she does not hurt children, “but when people don’t know what’s going on, the perception can look different from what it is.”
She admitted she has been to prison several times, “but every time I have gone to prison, I tried to be a better person.”
She asked the judge to be fair to her and her fiancé, who was in the courtroom to support her. She said he has tried to raise the child without her.
“I just want to be home to be a good parent to my daughter, who I feel is being neglected by me being in jail,” Carver said.
O’Connor ordered the community control, but said if she violates the terms and condition, she could be facing as many as 30 months in prison.
He told Carver the local probation departments Union County and in Indiana would need to coordinate an agreement before she could go to Indiana.