Texas District Attorney Candidate: Domestic Violence Is 'So, So Overrated'

Texas District Attorney Candidate: Domestic Violence Is 'So, So Overrated'

Lloyd Oliver, a Democratic candidate for district attorney in Harris County, Texas, has a problem with domestic violence: He thinks it's prosecuted too much.

Oliver told the Texas Observer Wednesday that domestic violence is "so, so overrated." If elected, he indicated he'd redirect resources away from family violence to focus on other issues.

Harris County has the highest rate of domestic violence homicides in the state. According to a report by the Texas Council on Family Violence, 30 women were murdered by intimate partners in 2012.

Oliver lost the district attorney's race in 2012 narrowly. After winning the Democratic primary, he came within five points of winning the district attorney's seat.

This isn't the first time Oliver has come under fire for comments on domestic violence.

In a 2012 appearance on "Reasonable Doubts," a weekly call-in show sponsored by the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association, Oliver said domestic violence victims should "maybe learn how to box a little better."

Later, when asked to clarify, he suggested domestic violence is part of some couple's sexual routine.

"There are some people -- I don't understand it -- but part of their making love is to beat one another up first," he said. "Why do we want to get involved in people's bedrooms?"

Oliver faces Kim Ogg, a former prosecutor, in the Democratic primary on March 4.

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