Cries Unheard: The Donna Yaklich Story

Unless you have walked that path of abuse it is really hard to say what is rational and what is not. I know from experience that all you do is try to escape and when there is no out because he comes after you every time then your mind begins to think of any means out for a normal life. It is sad when I read the comments of others about yelling HELP etc. because she did when she went to a shelter and asked his friends for help. The only thing to do is to look for red flags in a relationship and get out at the first sign of violence. She should have left when he threw the can at her but unless you know about abuse and violence you have no idea of what you are in for.

This is the story of a battered woman in fear of her life who elicits the help of two friends to kill her husband. She is arrested and tried for murder, convicted, and sentenced to 40 years in prison. The story is narrated by Jacklin Smith's character in jail as she tells her grown up son what happened to his father. Although a very suspenseful look a domestic abuse, the movie follows the traditional Lifetime TV conventional formula of the weak, helpless, ignorant female who is the victim of circumstance and mistreated he husband and by the law. All men in the movie are portrayed as sexist jerks except for her little boy who would do anything to make his mother happy. All the women in the movie are portrayed as weak and passive, helplessly letting men step all over them. So her husband's a cop, that's no excuse for not calling the police and having him arrested when he hits on her. She calls her sister, who's as weak and helpless as she is. Didn't she ever think to call the police and press criminal charges? They may be her husband's friends and colleagues, but if it's a domestic violence call and they have to make an arrest, then they will. And if she had so much money to throw at hit men, couldn't she have gone to an attorney and asked for help in filing a divorce? She never once talked about getting a divorce from her husband. When she tries to leave him with the help of her sister, he says she can't take the baby. Well, if she can't take the baby, couldn't she just leave the baby behind and flee for her own safety? I mean, I know it's a maternal thing to look after your children and their well being, but you can't help them if you can't help yourself. And also, why didn't the people at the shelter help her when her husband came and dragged her away? Because those women are helpless, ignorant fools too! So she stayed with her husband to try to protect her baby and what happens: she kills her husband and gets put away; the baby is now a grown up young man off to start college and begin his life. He walks away free while she stays behind bars. She says she stayed because she loved him and tried to block out all the bad things,but I can't help but wonder if she also stayed because she's a gold digging freeloader? This movie makes Donna Yaklich come across as a stupid, gold digging bimbo who helplessly lets a man kick her around while making no rational attempts to get help for herself except cry to her little sister and stepdaughter who are too stupid themselves to help her. Why didn't her sister testify at the trial? She was a witness too. The most compelling part of the movie was the end, when her son tells her "someday when you're free and will come for you and we will go see the ocean together" since that was always her dream. She looks at the old woman, also an inmate, and knows she may grow old in jail and her dream may never come true. Then she says in narration, "if a man kills a his wife, he gets 6 years, if a woman kills her husband she gets 20 years and I got 40 years". Well, yeah, don't blame yourself for being brainless and stupid, blame it on society and the law. This was a good attempt to make viewers feel sorry for Donna Yacklich.

In the real story as told on the ID Channel's true crime series "Evil Stepmother," Donna Yaklich allegedly, both physically & verbally, abused her stepchildren, especially the youngest, which was her 5 year old stepdaughter. Also, during the autopsy there was no evidence found of steroid use in Dennis Yaklich's remains. Moreover, the decease's family accused Donna of stealing $11,000 from his parents & that she was motivated by greed. Dennis had $325,000 worth of life insurance.

This is a typical wife-abuse movie which is well acted. The main problem with this production is the casting of Jaclyn Smith. She does a creditable portrayal-however as an obviously intelligent individual, she has to portray someone who does highly illogical things that someone of her intellect wouldn't.

I remember my mom telling me a story about a women who was beaten to death by her husband in her hometown in Portsmouth, VA. Folks in the small neighborhood heard the man beating his wife. In fact, the beating was so severe that mom said it sounded as if he was chopping wood. However, it was during the era when people didn't interfere with a man "disciplining" his wife. The man got less than 5 years for the murder. Similar to the facts in the Donna Yaklich Story -- folks who could have made a difference stayed loyal to the old myth that what a man does with his woman is his "business" -- no matter how terrible. I'd like to think we've grown more as a society, however, my perception is that lawsuits against law enforcement agencies has been the main factor in changing laws that affect the abuse of women. As with everything else, it's a matter of money and politics. I wish Donna hadn't felt so helpless, and had taken greater steps to protect her life via the legal system.