AUGUSTA – In 2005, Roger Keene of Litchfield was found guilty of manslaughter for fatally beating his girlfriend, Leslie Stasulis of Livermore Falls, and leaving her body along Route 126. That same year, Daniel Roberts of Sabattus shot and killed his ex-girlfriend, Melissa Mendoza. Both cases are examples of domestic violence homicides.

A biennial report released Friday by the state Attorney General’s Office and the Maine Domestic Abuse Homicide Review Panel examined the circumstances surrounding 14 domestic violence homicides occurring from 2004 to 2006.

In the report, the panel makes recommendations aimed at preventing domestic violence related deaths, like those of Stasulis and Mendoza.

“To me, education is the touchstone of this,” said Lisa Marchese, assistant attorney general and the panel’s chairwoman. “What we’re trying to do is educate people whose lives or whose work intersects with victims of domestic violence.”

The report stressed the importance of “generating social change” via public awareness campaigns, and made recommendations to health care providers, law enforcement officers and teachers.

The panel specifically proposes that the state Department of Education require all Maine schools to provide “age-appropriate prevention education on domestic abuse, teen dating violence and healthy relationships.”

Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe said children who witness domestic violence are three times more likely to abuse others.

Of the cases reviewed, 10 children were present when their parent was killed, Rowe said.

“We must break this cycle of abuse,” he said.

Marchese said while most of the panel’s recommendations could be achieved at little or no cost, the educational mandate would require more funding.

The report comes just days after hundreds of angry Mainers converged at the State House to protest Gov. John Baldacci’s proposed budget cuts to social services, including domestic violence victim support agencies.

Rowe said he does not support the governor’s proposed cuts to those programs.

“The best way to reduce domestic violence homicides is to reduce domestic violence,” he said. “Those agencies work in many different areas (to help victims). I certainly hope the Legislature does not make those cuts.”

The Legislature appears to agree with Rowe.

Working late into the night Thursday, the Health and Human Services Committee voted unanimously against the governor’s proposed cuts to domestic violence and sexual assault programs. Members of the committee presented their recommendations to the Appropriations Committee on Friday.

Kate WilliamsPalmer, executive director of Abused Women’s Advocacy Project, said the agency would lose $289,000 under the governor’s budget.

AWAP provides services to victims of domestic violence in Oxford, Franklin and Androscoggin counties.

“We had about 10,000 calls in 2007 on our help line and provided direct services to about 8,500 people,” she said. The agency provides victims with court advocacy, support groups and a 15-bed domestic violence shelter.

WilliamsPalmer said the greatest risk for domestic violence victims is leaving.

“As women try to leave, that’s when things escalate often in some form of attack, that in a lot of cases results in a homicide,” she said.

In Maine, domestic violence homicides made up 52 percent of all homicides for the biennium of 2004 and 2005, but fell to 42 percent for the most recent biennium, 2006 and 2007, according to Marchese. But she was wary of calling the drop a trend.

“It’s too soon to tell,” she said. “But the numbers did go down in the past couple of years, and I am optimistic about the work of the panel.”

This is the seventh report of its kind since 1997, when it was first required by the Legislature.