COLUMBUS, Ohio — A new Ohio law that makes strangulation a felony offense takes effect Tuesday.
The new law states that an individual is guilty of strangulation if they cause serious physical harm or cause a substantial risk of serious physical harm to another person by means of strangulation or suffocation.
The strangulation offense can be charged as a second-degree, fourth-degree, or fifth-degree felony.
READ MORE: Ohio fails to recognize strangulation as a felony
Until Tuesday, Ohio was the only state in the U.S. that failed to recognize the potentially deadly crime as a felony.
Prosecutor's perspective
Medina County Prosecutor Forrest Thompson said the new law will be a useful tool to help put more domestic violence offenders behind bars and for a longer time.
"We've seen a number of cases where it (strangulation) should have been charged and it couldn't be," he said. "The reason it couldn't be is that we simply didn't have this statute on the books."
Thompson said the new law will also help prevent domestic violence homicides.
Research shows being strangled makes a victim 750% more likely to be murdered.
For example, years before Shaker Heights teacher Aisha Fraser was killed by her ex-husband, Lance Mason, records show he strangled her. A separate law named after her passed in 2021 expanded the definition of aggravated murder to include previous domestic violence convictions.
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"We need every tool available to us to break that chain," Thompson said. "And often the link, the first link, of breaking that chain is severing the contact between the victim and the perpetrator."
Lethality assessment legislation
"It (strangulation) is the ultimate form of power and control," said Ruth Downing MSN RN CNP SANE-A. "He does not need to get a gun or knife. He only needs to reach out a hand and he controls her very next breath."
Downing is a forensic nurse who is trained to recognize the injuries caused by strangulation and document the evidence. She also started the nonprofit Forensic Nursing Network to provide better healthcare to domestic violence and sexual assault victims.
She fought for twenty years to make strangulation a felony in Ohio. She said the new law is not enough.
Downing was disappointed language to require law enforcement officers to provide a lethality assessment to victims and direct them to medical care was not included in this law.
She said it is critical victims understand the risks of serious injuries from being strangled. It can quickly leave a victim with permanent injuries to the blood vessels, vocal cords, and spinal cord.
"If we can identify and care for these victims appropriately, understanding how lethal this injury is, more women will come forward and trust the system," she said.
The strangulation law is part of Senate Bill 288, which Gov. Mike DeWine signed in January.
The nearly 500-page bill also changes other criminal statutes, including laws about distracted driving and sexual assault kits.
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