Domestic-violence Loophole Closes Aggressive Tactics Are Winning Convictions Even Without The Testimony Of Victims, Who Often Recant.

Bleeding and agitated, the Chester County woman told police her boyfriend had just beaten her in the face, leaving her kitchen floor spattered in red.

A few days later, she named him again, in a written statement. He was charged with simple assault.

Yet, within weeks, the woman - like many domestic-violence victims - stopped returning prosecutors' phone calls. By the time the case went to trial last year, she had changed her story. She had been high and drunk during the beating, she told the jury, and could not remember who attacked her.

But that did not stop Assistant District Attorney Megan Abbonizio. She called police officers and a paramedic to the stand. She showed jurors the written statement. They found the boyfriend guilty.

Just a few years ago, that case never would have been prosecuted, Abbonizio said. The attitude used to be ``no victim, no case.''

Now, prosecutors are taking the opposite stance across the region and nationwide: Domestic-violence cases do not always require victims' cooperation.

Instead, convictions and guilty pleas are increasingly won with physical evidence, photographs, 911 tapes, and testimony from police, doctors, neighbors and other witnesses.

Said Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Risa Ferman: ``If she can't speak up to save her life, we're going to do it for her.''

Their technique, called ``evidence-based'' or ``victimless'' prosecution, has been gaining acceptance as states pass laws making more types of evidence admissible in domestic-violence cases. It is endorsed by the attorneys general of Pennsylvania and New Jersey - though not every jurisdiction has the time and money to make it work.

Even big business has gotten into the act: Polaroid discounts cameras for police to photograph injuries.

Police, prosecutors and victims' advocates say their traditional frustration with domestic violence can be described as a vicious circle: Those who report assaults often recant their accusations - out of fear, shame, economic dependence, mixed emotions - and then, days or months later, call again for help. Police, in turn, become reluctant to invest energy in the cases and often end up trying to mediate rather than make arrests.

Unchecked, the violence can escalate to murder.