Have At It, Sister by Bill Griffeth
Have At It, Sister by Bill Griffeth
This is the story of Gloria Burtzlaff and her relationship with her husband, Lance. Lance was a domineering man who became increasingly abusive as his marriage deteriorated and Gloria had an affair. The situation is complicated by Lance’s illness which clearly lessened his sense of self-worth which led to more abuse of Gloria until one night when he tried to drown her before deciding that drowning was too easy a death. While he sat on his couch getting drunker, Gloria decided she’d had enough and shot him.
What follows is Gloria’s experience with the court system and later in prison as she, her attorneys, and her sons try to get her freed to return to her life. It’s a fascinating, and often heart wrenching story which highlights many of the challenges and problems with our legal system. While Gloria is in prison in effect for not leaving her husband, another case in South Dakota spotlights a woman who did the “right thing” only to have her husband murder her and her children. Shortly thereafter, a man who kills his girlfriend in a case that is less stark than Gloria’s is given four years (instead of the twenty that Gloria received) and then let out of prison before his first year is completed. These cases highlight both the inequities in the legal system and the extraordinary difficulty in handling these cases.
Another fascinating part of the story are the many letters to the editors written by Gloria or about her case by members of the community showing differing perspectives on her actions. The biggest challenge to determining the correct outcome of Gloria’s situation is that when all is said and done we only have Gloria’s account of her abuse and the events of the final night. Abusers are often clever enough to hide their actions from the community, so it is not widely known that the abuse is happening. This is reflected in the letters to the editors as people anguish over the lack of external evidence that Gloria and Lance’s marriage had become abusive. This is really the only place in the book where that complexity comes through because Griffeth accepts Gloria’s claims wholeheartedly and following his narrative it is easy to forget that all the critical information comes from her. This doesn’t mean she was lying, it’s just the reality of the source of the evidence.
Gloria’s fight for her freedom is a fascinating story, but what is even more interesting is the growing public awareness of a serious problem and how that awareness impacts the South Dakota legislature, the governor, and the court system.
