s just to reach pluto. that's it for this edition of al jazeera america i'm del walters in new york. thank for watching. i'll be back with another hour of news at 11:00. "america tonight" is next. >> on "america tonight": a year of remembering. the crash of malaysia air flight 17 and the questions that remain. also ahead three strikes she's out. the rules that put domestic voyages victims at risk of losing their homes. >> like please don't call the cops. i'll go to the hospital myself. do not call the cops. they going to put me outside of my house. >> "america tonight" averages sarah"america tonight's" sarahhoye why many women fear it

will leave them homeless. thanks for joining us, i'm joie chen. we begin by looking at safety and shelter and the challenge facing those threatened by domestic violence. put yourself in their shoes. in a moment of december operation should you call for help? now you may think the only concern is whether the 911 may agitate the abuser, make things worse but in dozens of communities across the nation, "america tonight's" sarah hoye found a different reason, it could force them from the safety of their own homes. >> nobody would choose to live like that. that's a hard way to live. that's a hard way to live. >> reporter: for months lekesha briggs lived in fear. after police responded to a call to her home after her boyfriend became violent she warned her two more calls there would be

trouble. >> nobody ever called again from our house. that with was it. what else do you want to draw? >> instead of protection, the mother of two working double shifts making ends meet faced eviction from her home. because of a public nuisance ordinance in norris town. if tenants called 911 three times, making the home a three-strike property. landlords in turn threatened tenants who called for help with eviction. forcing residents like lakesha to a threatening dilemma. >> i can't have anybody call y'all, i can't have anybody physically remove him. it's going to be as silent as possible because i don't want the cops to come because if they do i get put out my house.

>> lakesha's boyfriend would commit his most violent act yet. >> how dangerous did it get? how bad did it get for you? >> it got real bad. got my lip bit off. hit in my head with an ash tray and then he took a piece of the ash tray and slit my neck down here. >> reporter: all this time you couldn't call the police? >> all that happened in one night. >> one night? >> in one night yes. >> you could have been killed. >> absolutely yep. >> reporter: after the warning from police, lakesha was afraid to call for help and even repeated to neighbors after fear of losing her home about. >> when i finally came to and i went outside and i saw one of my neighbors i was like, please don't call the coches. i'll go to the hospital myself. don't call the cops. they're going to put me out of

my house. she's like i got to, i got ocall the cops. i went the opposite direction. >> at night lakesha was air lifted to a nearby trauma center. >> but it didn't end there did it? >> uh-huh. got worse. be came back from the hospital june the 25th, about 8:30 at night. that next morning the 26th, my landlord was knocking on my window with a letter saying that i had about 14 days to vacate the premises. if not i would be locked up for trespassing. >> reporter: lakesha briggs is not alone. in rochester new york after her boyfriend attacked her and her children in her home she too faced eviction. >> i remember him grabbing me and pulling me off of the bed

and onto the floor and he was choking me. and i remember trying to like force myself out of that choke position. so i grabbed the phone. and i dialed 911. >> reporter: the nuisance ordinance in rochester operates on a point system. too many points and landlords can lose their rental license. after her call to police, javonte said she was informed by her landlord that she needed to move immediately. >> i still couldn't understand why the police would call them to tell them that because there was a domestic violence case at my address that they would have to get rid of me. because my boyfriend had a gun like, i didn't have the gun. so i was really confused. you know, but by me being the

person who actually rented the apartment, it was held on me. i remember saying to her i'm going to need something in writing stating you know what we're talking about and what's going on. and she said to me, she said well if i see anything in writing it will be an eviction notice. >> aclu senior attorney sandra park say both cases are the unintended consequences of laws created to regulate nuisance calls in rental properties. >> who's really getting hurt here? >> when you're dealing with a law that's tied to police calls you are necessarily going to harm domestic violence victims. because we know across the country most police departments the biggest category of calls they receive are about domestic violence. >> the aclu women's rights project released a report this june that examined nuisance ordinances in new york state by looking at two cities.

it found the laws disproportionately impact victims of domestic violence. >> we are concerned that there is a bias and stereotyping of domestic violence victims that they are somehow blamed for the violence occurring against them. and so the city thinks it's perfectly okay with moving forward with adopting an ordinance like this that will be enforced against them. >> reporter: these laws have a disproportionate effect on women living in predominantly black neighborhoods. issued to landlords in milwaukee, domestic violence was involved in more than one-third of the cases there. >> we are basically setting the clock brak 40 years. the last 40 years of reform around domestic violence in this country has been all about encouraging victims to come forward, to report to law enforcement, despite all of the other barriers that they have to reporting. and these laws are basically saying, not only are we

discouraging from reporting, but we are going to finish you for it. >> she -- we are going to punish you for it. >> she says in many many instances city officials threaten landlords in take away their rental permits. facing homelessness, lakesha briggs decided to fight back. she filed a lawsuit against city in 2013. the following year norristown settled agreeing to pay $499,000 and even repealing its ordinance. >> why was that so important for you? >> because i almost lost my life. >> for you it wasn't about the money. >> huh-uh. >> why was it important for you? >> saving another woman's life, so she wouldn't have to choose between the be choices of get

beat up or shut up, basically that's a hard thing to go through. >> maybe i should cut it for you. >> javonte simmons is still waiting for her day in court. in 2012 she filed a lawsuit against the mayor be and the police chief. the waiting is as nerve wracking as it is exhausting, she says. >> it's been a very long time. >> both of the women's attackers spend timeattackersspent time in jail are now out. this year, lakesha and her children have moved into a home she was able to purchase with her settlement money. she goes day by day and refuses to live in fear. >> i want these municipalities

to realize the danger they put the people in. we know you have to keep your town your city whatever safe but use better judgment when it comes to what a nuisance really is. because somebody that's fighting for their life is not a nuisance. >> reporter: lakeisha may have is won her fight but others are faced with fear. >> does this happen often or is it exclusive to these incidents? >> no, joie, this happens across the country. we don't have firm numbers as to x amount of ordinances on the books in x amount of states. the aclu found in their report there are about 59 of these ordinance he nationwide. however, there was another study we found there were over 100 ordinances in the state of

illinois itself. there is no way to qualify or quantify it across the country. >> sarah, i can't believe the only way for women to solve this is to step up and file a lawsuit, i can't believe that's the only solution. >> unfortunately that's the only resource. the only other recourse you have is to have the state step in. to create some sort of protection the state of new york they have put forward legislation but it hasn't passed. i'm told they're going to go ahead with another time another bill to see if they can at least get one passed in the coming session, so they can have this passed. but the only question is to have the state step in. and we're not talking about state law or county law this is

down to the cities. >> sarah, you say this disproportionately affects domestic violence victims but this is not just domestic violence where they're accused of being a nuisance as it were. >> there are lots of people who are affected. it is a domino effect, you can point to the landlord, the city or the police are actually squeezing the landlords to then put pressure on the tenants. now also who are affected by this is the victim of any crime. if you get broken in to by kids down the block or whatever, you are now also a nuisance. anybody who is in domestic violence situation any crime victim. >> i cannot believe that these rules were put into place to discourage people from getting police to help them. i mean after all that's why the police are there to help you. why were these resumes established anyway? -- rules established anyway ?

>> right when he think about it when 911 came online, the '90s. local police departments had gotten more phone calls than they had the in the past, didn't know how to respond to things. to help deter make there a case for which has more priority, things like this, these nuisance laws came on the books to help them respond to the calls effectively. for all intents and purposes these are the cause and effect of these laws, that disproportionately affects people who are victims of crime. >> "america tonight's" sarah hoye thanks. next the long journey of an ancient people, why protest of native americans are bringing them from their ancestral homes to the halls of congress. later, a tragedy remembered, one year after the crash of malaysia air 17, questions remain. and a brother answer legacy, the mh 17 legacy claimed his

life but gave birth to a new mission, that's aljazeera.com/americatonight. on target weeknights 10:30p et

be. >> a fast forward look now to a trail of steers leading all the way to the u.s. capital. native americans charge controversial and consciously direct land swap, to the apache tribe is also highly prized by one of the world's largest mining companies. adam may reports that prize may

be awarded to the highest bidder. >> holy land, a place to be protected from the top of the sky to the bottom of the earth. oak flat. part of arizona's tonto national forest sits on top of one of the world's richest copper deposits. a company called resolution copper has been trying to acquire the land for nearly a decade. in december, they finally succeeded. >> were the apache consulted in this before it was put into the defense bill? >> no, we were not consulted at all. >> available to councilmember wensler nozee has fought against land deal for years. >> a couple of years from now they break ground at oak flat and you're standing there looking at it, what's going to go through your mind? >> i probably will cry. i mean, i definitely know i would cry.

because the history of our people, those dreams, those ways that god blessed us, and to turn to our children and know that there's no more. it's gone. >> reporter: resolution copper a subsidiary of foreign mining giant riotinto, year after year the bill failed to pass. this time a new tactic. the land deal was insert intermediate the defense spending bill. a move critics say allows the company to privatize the planned and bypass critical be environmental and critical protections. >> i'm very grateful for that. >> resolution copper and parent company rio tinto refused requests to speak to "america

tonight." we ran into dave richens resolution's head of affairs. >> adam may. we were trying to get in touch with you for an interview. we were trying to get him to answer questions. about how did this get tacked onto a bill. >> you are welcome to join the meeting. >> the san carlos apaches say they haven't given up yet but just up the road, resolution copper has already completed work on a new exploratory shaft. it will be used to gather information on the ore body, on the anticipation of the day when the land will be theirs. >> the protests, the apaches

began a protest six weeks ago to a demonstration in sometimes square on friday as they try to draw substantiation to the oak flat land swap. they will continue their mash on to washington, d.c. on tuesday where they intend to press the issue with members of congress. next here, grounded in sorrow, one year after families, children and innocence is lost, snatched from the sky above ukraine. and, divided loyalties. next week on "america tonight," the unlikely community coming to terms with the iranian nuclear nuclear time. michael okwu visits with the largest persian jews in iran. that's next week on "america tonight."

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>> a year old miss industry marked in ukraine where families keep up an urgent demand for answers. in the downing of malaysia flight mh 17. that crash happened between the turmoil of russian backed separates and ukrainian politics. for families who lost loved ones this was a day of mourning and remembering. a memo to reflect. the steady procession to the crash site. on the anniversary of the tragedy, al jazeera am charles's charles stratford joined the mourners.

>> the balloons symbolizing the 298 people who fell to their deaths in the surrounding cub side, hundreds of people came out to pay their respects and mourn their dead. >> it began with a day of promise, july 17, 2014, passengers and crew started to board flight 17 just before noon. touch teenager gary slock who snaps a selfie with his mom before take job. flying time from amsterdam to kuala lumpur just over four hours. the local airport in ukraine tries twice to make contact with the pilot no answer, the plane's black boxes stop recording, the aircraft is down. al jazeera's scott heidler arrived on the scene just as the sun rose the next morning. he reported seeing white marks already dotting the site, mapping out the lives lost.

>> reporter: as those rescue workers were fanned out across these fields, identifying the human remains, we were close at the time debris field as they came up. as they approached this debris field, he said, there are too many bodies in there, i don't are enough steaks and white flags. >> "america tonight's" lori jane gliha was in the small town, home of a young boy on board all remembered by their tight knit community. >> they bring flowers because they know families left the houses and they were happy and they will never come again. never come back again. >> and you really see people of all ages. >> and "america tonight's" producer fully cole gresser who had gone to high school her self reflected the pain in her own neighborhood. >> the neighborhood of hilvershom to lose residents in

this city alone is absolutely devastating. >> she guided us through the town where grief was shared on every block. >> and to see the photos of the plain wreck something that is so far away, be so close to those memories that i hold so fondly, it has an effect on you. it is a profound effect. >> two of the victims zeger and chris, were students at this high school. >> describe to me what it's like to hear those words that there were actually two kids from the school? >> it was really a shock. you think it's a long distance away ukraine. and you hear more often about greater accidents. and it's always far from home. and now suddenly, it's very nearby. >> teacher garrett vanderhuvel

helped by laying flowers on the front lawn. >> everybody is in shock. it's a graik shock because several families died. >> flog with the conflict, the victims, that can be the consequence of how people act. and it's -- that makes it more tragic. when it's their own choice, you can say it's your own responsibility. but they didn't choose for it, they went for vacations. and i hope that we will listen from that lesson, i said it in the mass. say to one another i'm sorry. make peace again before going to sleep. because perhaps there is no new day for you. >> the evidence lay scattered across the crash site. a doll.

a magazine. suitcases still packed. the everyday objects reminder of sacrifices on when one year later so many secrets still lie. exactly who brought mh 17 and with what? was it planned? was it ordered and will anyone ever be held accountable for the heartbreak left behind? a loss that won't be forgotten. that's "america tonight." tell us what you think at aljazeera.com/americatonight. talk to us on twitter or facebook and come back. we'll have more of "america tonight," tomorrow.

more on every screen. digital, mobile, social. visit aljazeera.com. follow @ajam on twitter. and like aljazeera america on facebook for more stories, more access, more conversations. so you don't just stay on top of the news, go deeper and get more perspectives on every issue. al jazeera america.

>> i'm mary snow in for ali velshi. "on target" tonight. the cost of injustice. thousand the president wants to show mercy to people he says are just like him. plus an exonerated death row inmate learning just how little his life is worth. president obama went to prison this week to make his case for reforming the u.s. criminal justice system. he visited the el reno correctional institution near oklahoma city, becoming the first sitting president to visit the federal prison. the president met with inmates and walked past cells with big gray doors to address the social and financial cost that incarcerated millions of americans, many of