SECTION 17-501.4 DOMESTIC VIOLENCE BY STRANGULATION.
A. For purpose of Title 5, Chapter 4, Domestic Violence Court, it shall be unlawful for any person to willfully cause domestic violence by strangulation or attempting to cause strangulation upon a Domestic or Dating Partner.
B. For all other purposes, it shall be unlawful for any person to willfully cause domestic violence by strangulation or attempting to cause strangulation upon a Domestic or Dating Partner, a present spouse of a former spouse, parents, a foster parent, a child, a person otherwise related by blood or marriage, a person who formerly lived in the same household as the defendant, a person living in the same household as the defendant, a current intimate partner or former intimate partner, or any combination of such persons. (PR38-024, 5/24/2021)
C. For purposes of this section, “strangulation” means any form of asphyxia, including but not limited to, asphyxia characterized by the closure of the blood vessels or air passages of the neck as a result of external pressure on the neck however slight or the closure of the nostrils or mouth as a result of external pressure on the head.
D. A Domestic or Dating Partner shall mean the same as within Section 17-501.3.
E. Domestic Violence by Strangulation shall be punishable by a fine not less than one
thousand dollars ($1,000) nor more than fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000), or by imprisonment for a mandatory period not less than sixty (60) days nor more than three (3) years, or by both.
F. In addition to any other penalty specified by this Section, the Court may require a defendant to participate and complete a batterer’s intervention program or similar program.
(PR38-006, 12/18/2020; PR38-019, 04/16/2021)