from The Columbus Dispatch: Year later, Ohio law making strangulation a felony sees few convictions in Franklin County

By Jordan Laird

A 31-year-old man admitted in Franklin County Common Pleas Court to attacking his ex-girlfriend inside her apartment on Columbus’ West Side last August. He punched her three times in the face and squeezed her neck for 10 to 15 seconds, causing her to get lightheaded.

Apologizing last week in court to the woman, who was not present, he said he’s going to better himself.

The man pleaded guilty to strangulation and Judge Karen Phipps sentenced him to six months in prison, the recommended sentence in the plea agreement. With 163 days (more than five months) already spent in jail, he’ll be out within weeks.

Hundreds of people in Franklin County have been charged with strangulation since Ohio law changed a year ago on April 4, 2023 making the offense a chargeable felony separate from domestic violence.

But few defendants have been convicted of a felony and sentenced to prison.

Even when it’s not lethal, cutting off someone’s breathing can cause them to lose consciousness within seconds, lead to temporary or permanent brain damage and serve as a harbinger of future violence as strangulation victims are seven times more likely to later be killed by their abuser, according to Maria York, policy director at the Ohio Domestic Violence Network.

Freshly-trained on the seriousness of the crime and how to ask victims about it, Franklin County law enforcement has charged individuals with strangulation in more than 810 cases in the past year, more than double what authorities anticipated. But the much-heralded law — for which victim advocates lobbied for years — isn't leading to many felony convictions and only rarely results in prison time for domestic abusers in Franklin County.

Immediately after the 31-year-old’s hearing last week, Phipps handled another case in which a 44-year-old man charged with strangulation pleaded down to misdemeanor assault. He received a time-served sentence for the 62 days he had already spent in jail.

Of the 60 people charged with strangulation in April 2023 (the first month the law took effect), only two have since been convicted, with one receiving a prison sentence. He received a two-year sentence and avoided a conviction on a rape charge, for which he could have received up to 11 years in prison.

The new law doesn’t fix the inherent difficulties that come with prosecuting domestic violence-related crimes. Prosecutors still have to grapple with a frequent lack of evidence and victims who often stop cooperating or even recant their testimony, according to Assistant Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Daniel Meyer, director of the office's Special Victims Unit.

Alexandria Ruden, a supervising attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, who co-wrote a book on domestic violence law in Ohio, said charges are the first step and it will take time for the justice system to catch up to treating strangulation like the serious crime it is.

“I think the idea of charging at this point is the most important piece,” Ruden said. “Would I love them all to be charged and convicted of the crime as it stands? Yes. But the case law hasn’t caught up with it.”

In the meantime, Ruden said the fact that officers, medical professionals and others are now asking about strangulation, documenting its prevalence and encouraging more victims to seek the medical help they may need is its own victory.

The Mount Carmel Health System, for instance, reported that since Ohio law changed it has treated 174 strangulation patients, who have suffered multiple broken bones, damaged cartilage and aneurysms. That's an 83% increase over 2022.

A flood of strangulation cases

More than 540 strangulation cases have resulted in grand jury indictments in the last year out of 810 people initially charged by police, according to the prosecutor’s office.

The prosecutor's Special Victims Unit (SVU) had anticipated about 300 strangulation cases per year, which shows that authorities weren't always asking domestic violence victims the right questions or documenting allegations around choking, Meyer said.

To keep up with the caseload over the past year, the prosecutor's office has added two attorneys to the special victims unit.

And the Columbus Division of Police has created the STOP (Strangulation Team Operations for Prosecution) unit to train officers to handle less severe strangulation cases because there are not enough detectives to handle them all. Detectives still handle second-degree felony strangulation cases while officers handle third-degree through fifth-degree felony cases.

Laurie Carney, a Columbus police detective in the felony domestic violence unit and the STOP program coordinator, said they've trained 47 uniformed officers and six sergeants who volunteered to take an 80-hour course. Carney has also helped train all Columbus officers on how to best respond to strangulation cases until a STOP officer or detective arrives.

Few strangulation charges resulting in convictions so far

Only one strangulation case made it to trial in Franklin County last year, and the jury found the defendant not guilty. Meyer said the woman in that case said her boyfriend strangled her with a green rope and a green rope was found at the scene. The jurors later told attorneys they believed her, but were hung up on a lack of markings on her neck, according to Meyer.

Like most criminal cases, strangulations are often being resolved with plea agreements.

The Franklin County Prosecutor’s office is not tracking conviction rates because, Meyer said, each case is unique. Any state reports on how the law plays out will lag by months or more.

The Dispatch examined records for the 60 cases charged in April 2023 in Franklin County. Of those, seven have pleaded guilty to a felony; 18 have pleaded down to a misdemeanor; four cases were dismissed because the victim stopped cooperating or recanted; and 31 cases have not been indicted or are pending.

Those that reached sentencing have received minor sanctions: nine defendants were sentenced to probation and 14 others got sentenced to time served for time spent in jail (between 3 days and 134 days).

Meyer said local authorities better got their arms around the law change in June or July, so The Dispatch looked at the 70 cases officers charged in the county in August 2023.

So far, the August charges have also led to few convictions or prison terms.

Of those 70 cases, three defendants have pleaded guilty to strangulation and four have pleaded guilty to other felonies. Two of those cases have been sentenced to prison, with both of them getting six months.

Three August cases were dismissed because the alleged victim recanted or did not show up to court. Five defendants pleaded guilty to misdemeanors, including domestic violence, disorderly conduct and criminal mischief. The bulk of the August cases, 55, have not been indicted yet or are pending.

In one August case, a Far North Side man punched a 10-month-old child in his partner’s arms twice before he tackled the woman and wrapped a hand around her neck, cutting off her air for 15 to 30 seconds, according to charging documents. He pleaded guilty to felony domestic violence and misdemeanor endangering children. Common Pleas Court Judge Jaiza Page sentenced the man to three years of probation.

Whenever possible in domestic violence cases, facing a lack of evidence or an uncooperative witness, Meyer said prosecuting attorneys try to get some kind of conviction, even if it’s just a misdemeanor. But it can be difficult.

“If we don't have a cooperative witness, then we don't really have much of a case,” he added.

In a dismissed case from April, a Hilliard police officer wrote in charging documents that officers responded to a woman’s call for help. She said her ex-boyfriend, the father of her 14-year-old child, strangled her and headbutted her during an argument. She had visible swelling beneath her eye and the man had scratch marks on his arm from the woman’s attempt to escape his hold, the officer wrote.

Both the woman and the teen told the officer the man had held the woman down.

A county prosecuting attorney requested the judge dismiss the case after the woman stopped cooperating and requested a dismissal.

Maria Houston, executive director of LSS CHOICES, Franklin County’s domestic violence shelter, said there are many reasons why a domestic violence victim might not cooperate with authorities, including fear of the abuser, a financial reliance on the perpetrator or a desire to not see the person jailed. It can be particularly difficult for victims when there are children involved, Houston said.

Defense attorneys allege charge being overused

Some Columbus defense attorneys told The Dispatch that few defendants are getting convicted of strangulation because the charge is being overused by officers and prosecuting attorneys.

Emily Anstaett, a Columbus defense attorney, said the consensus among her colleagues is strangulation is a “flavor-of-the-month” charge.

“When a new criminal code gets enacted, I think there’s some pressure to justify the enactment of that offense,” said Anstaett, who also said the charge was especially overused when the law first changed.

Another defense attorney, Michael Siewert, said men are getting accused of strangulation for as little as pushing against a female partner’s shoulders who is attacking them.

“It may be that law enforcement is probing in that area,” Siewert said. “They may be trying to elicit statements to establish a strangulation as opposed to the accuser’s just volunteering it.”

Assistant prosecutor Meyer denied the charge is being overused, saying strangulation “is not overcharged, it’s overcommitted," adding they just respond to cases presented to them.

Defense attorneys also said evidence is often lacking in these cases.

Asphyxiation can cause petechiae, or spots, to appear on the skin from blood vessels bursting. Siewert said he has about 30 strangulation cases, but he’s yet to see a medical examination that proves strangulation occurred.

Anstaett said officers are often taking photos of alleged victims’ injuries immediately after an altercation, but bruising can take hours to appear.

Jennifer Watson, a Columbus police spokesperson, said the division could not respond to allegations that the charge is overused.

Carney said Columbus police gather as much evidence as they can so prosecutors don’t have to rely solely on victim testimony. She said officers always encourage victims to follow up with a health care provider for medical help as well as evidence collection, but victims often don’t want to for various reasons.

Proponents say it will take time for the law to catch on

Ruden said some people also bristled in 1979 when Ohio made domestic violence a charge despite assault already being on the books.

“We highlighted the problem. People began to look at it as a problem,” Ruden said. "It takes years."

Ohio Sen. Stephanie Kunze (R-Dublin) introduced multiple bills in the Ohio General Assembly over the years to make strangulation a felony before this measure was rolled into another bill.

“Having this tool in the toolbox is definitely a good step, even if it’s not a silver bullet yet,” Kunze said.

Source: The Columbus Dispatch - Year later, Ohio law making strangulation a felony sees few convictions in Franklin County