New non-fatal strangulation law to target domestic abusers

By BBC Abusers who use non-fatal strangulation will face up to five years in jail under a new law planned by the government. Campaigners have  Continue Reading »

By BBC

Abusers who use non-fatal strangulation will face up to five years in jail under a new law planned by the government.

Campaigners have been calling for the change, arguing that perpetrators are often only charged with common assault, meaning up to six months in jail.

The government had initially said it had no plans to change the law.

But now, ministers plan to make non-fatal strangulation a specific criminal offence in the Domestic Abuse Bill.

The Domestic Abuse Bill – which largely applies to only England and Wales – is currently being considered by the House of Lords.

Until now, politicians and campaigners have so far tried and failed to have a new offence of non-fatal strangulation introduced in the bill.

Campaigners say it is a terrifying crime and is used by domestic abusers to control their partners.

And because it may not leave any marks on the victim, prosecutors do not bring more serious charges, they say.

Now, the government plans to make it a specific offence to intentionally strangle another person or do any other act that affects their ability to breathe. It will also cover suffocation.

The legislation will be introduced as an amendment to the bill, the government said on Monday.

For the five years they were together, Jenny’s abusive partner used non-fatal strangulation as a means of control.

“It was like his favourite thing to do,” said Jenny, who asked the BBC not to use her real name.

“That sounds really awful and trivial but that is how it becomes as an abuse victim. You learn to accept that is part of your life. It was like something I had to manage.”

“We would wake up in the morning and he would be in one of those moods, and I would see it in his eyes and I would think today’s the day I’m going to get it.

“It could be something as simple as: ‘I don’t like what you have got on’ – that would end in strangulation.”

Despite the pandemic, Jenny says that having finally escaped her abuser: “2020 was one of the best years of my life.”

Legislation will also be strengthened around controlling or coercive behaviour to no longer make it a requirement for abusers and victims to live together.

Laws to target so-called “revenge porn” will also be expanded to include threats to disclose intimate images with the intention to cause distress.

The domestic abuse commissioner for England and Wales, Nicole Jacobs, called the changes a “huge win”.

“I am delighted that the government has listened and acted,” she said.

“Nevertheless, the government must still go further to make this bill genuinely ‘landmark’, by increasing the provision of services in the community and ensuring protections are extended to all victims and survivors, regardless of their immigration status.”

The government previously said it had no plans to change the law, arguing that non-fatal strangulation is already covered by existing legislation such as common assault and attempted murder.

But peers in the House of Lords – led by Conservative Baroness Newlove – argued it should be included as an amendment in the current Domestic Abuse Bill.

The government then changed tack, with Justice Secretary Robert Buckland saying he hoped to make it a specific offence and too many violent offenders were not getting tough enough sentences.

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‘Aisha’s Law’ for domestic violence protections returns to Ohio legislature

By Susan Tebben Expansions to domestic violence protections have once again returned to the Ohio Statehouse, after passing the House last year but failing to  Continue Reading »

By Susan Tebben

Expansions to domestic violence protections have once again returned to the Ohio Statehouse, after passing the House last year but failing to see daylight in the Senate.

State Rep. Janine Boyd, D-Cleveland Heights, said in Thursday’s House Criminal Justice Committee that this was the 14th version of the bill attempting to enhance punishments for certain domestic violence crimes and tools for law enforcement to help prevent escalation of already high-risk situations.

The bill is nicknamed Aisha’s Law, after Aisha Fraser, a Shaker Heights teacher and mother killed by her ex-husband, former judge and state legislator, Lance Mason, during what was supposed to be a supervised exchange of their children.

Mason had previously served prison time on a previous domestic violence charge, leveled after another attack on Fraser.

“He abused her, brutally, and most of us in the world who knew them did not know,” Boyd said Thursday.

After that attack, Mason was sentenced to two years and six months, but was released after nine months. After murdering Fraser, Mason was sentenced to life in prison.

The bipartisan-sponsored bill has many of the same provisions seen in the measure that passed the House last May.

One of the most important provisions to Boyd is expanding the legal definition of domestic violence to include strangulation, something Ohio is behind most of the country in doing.

“Strangulation is often used by a perpetrator to accomplish a rape or demonstrate how far they are willing to go to establish control in a relationship,” Boyd said.

If made law, if a person has been previously convicted of a domestic violence offense “resulting in serious physical harm,” that person can be charged with aggravated murder “if they purposely cause the death of another when the victim was a family or household member of the offender,” the Bill states.

With an appropriation of $150,000 to the Ohio Police Officers Training Academy( OPOTA), curriculum and training would be developed to implement parts of the legislation.

That training would be part of what Boyd calls a “continuum of strengthened protections” for survivors of domestic violence.

From the point of contact with law enforcement, tools would be in place to notify the survivor of their rights, and to give police a “lethality screening” on which to base their next steps.

“There is no mandate (for survivors to participate), but showing a survivor that there is a process in place, that they might be able to stand under and walk out under goes leagues beyond where we have been,” Boyd said.

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72 arrests made in warrant sweep, including one of Officer Johnson’s final cases

By WSAZ News Staff and Brendan Tierney CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – The Charleston Police Department made 72 arrests in a three-day warrant sweep. Chief Tyke  Continue Reading »

By WSAZ News Staff and Brendan Tierney

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – The Charleston Police Department made 72 arrests in a three-day warrant sweep. Chief Tyke Hunt said it was the department’s most successful warrant sweep in more than 20 years.

The effort, called Operation Delta 146, looked to honor fallen Patrolman Cassie Johnson. She was shot and killed in the line of duty in December.

Hunt said one of the arrests was Jonson’s final case. Johnson worked to obtained a warrant for Terrance Ramsey to be charged with distribution of fentanyl by taking evidence to the U.S. Attorney. He was the first person arrested in the sweep and will be Johnson’s final case in the federal court system.

“She was able to get enough in the case to get the indictment that lead to the arrest warrant, but the person was not apprehended yet,” Hunt said. “The US Marshal’s Office, DEA, ATF, all of our federal partners here today made that arrest a priority. That arrest was the first arrest of the three day warrant sweep that we did. It was a very meaningful arrest to know we can further her work, even though she is gone.”

US Marshal Michael Baylous approached Hunt with the idea for the operation the week after Johnson’s funeral. He said it would be a way to honor her while cleaning up the streets she grew up on and worked to protect. Johnson worked on Delta shift and her unit number was 146, which gave the operation its name.

“It made the hair stand up on the back of my neck,” Hunt said. “I was very excited to see the way we continue to honor our fallen hero.”

In addition to the 72 arrests, police seized 38 guns and eight pounds of drugs, including six pounds of fentanyl and two pounds of marjiuana. A significant amount of money was also seized. Hunt said they took some extremely dangerous people off the streets, including a murder suspect.

“This operation will be long since felt after today,” Hunt said. “And to know that this type of success, that the efforts of everyone banding together in Cassie’s name, and to know that it will be felt throughout Charleston means so much to me and all of the officers here at the Charleston Police Department.”

Other agencies involved include police departments from Princeton, Ironton, Barboursville, Ravenswood and Beckley. Sheriff’s deputies from Cabell, Kanawha, Putnam, Roane, Jackson, Mercer, Wyoming and Raleigh counties also helped. The WVDRC Parole, West Virginia State Police, AFT and DEA also offered support as well.

Seventy-two arrests were made, and 29 of those were federal warrants while 43 were state/local warrants. Not all arrest information could be released, due to ongoing investigations, but the following people have been taken into custody as part of Operation Delta 146:

Robert Brown (prohibited person from possession a firearm), Christopher Dowling (strangulation), Edsel Garretson (strangulation, domestic battery), Mauricio Govea (possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance), Matthew Greene (possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance), Danny Greene (possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance), Clarence Haley (first-degree murder), William Hammonds (child neglect causing injury), Dewayne Hess (burglary), Antonio Jacobs (malicious wounding), Brandon Kessell (malicious wounding), James Bradley Cory McConihay (possession with intent to deliver meth, prohibited person in possession of a firearm), Gregory Mitchell (first-degree robbery), Charles Moore (possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance), Chidi Anthony Oakafor (third-degree sexual assault), Christopher Parson (burglary), Adrian Patterson (possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance), Jameson Payne (burglary, wanton endangerment), Douglas Reeves (strangulation), Gabriel Tackett (burglary), Anthony Michael Thorne (possession with intent fentanyl), Michelle White (persons prohibited from possession firearms), Bobby Ray Williams (possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance), Anthony Thorne (possession with intent fentanayl), Jameson Payne (nurglary, wanton endangerment).

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NOPD to Add Firearm Possession Question to Domestic Violence Reports

By Jenn Bentley The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD), in partnership with the New Orleans Department’s Domestic Violence Program, will now ask domestic violence victims  Continue Reading »

By Jenn Bentley

The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD), in partnership with the New Orleans Department’s Domestic Violence Program, will now ask domestic violence victims about the presence of firearms at every domestic violence incident. This measure is intended to provide additional risk assessment that could allow judges to make better decisions about an offender’s risk of reoffending.

“The addition of the fifth risk assessment question regarding the presence of firearms during the initial stages of an investigation into alleged incidents of domestic violence provides an additional option to proactively address the potential escalation of violence by an accused perpetrator,” said NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson. “If weapons can be removed, the potential for a fatal escalation is reduced and lives can be saved.”

Graphic from New Orleans Domestic Violence Fatality Survey 2020, conducted by the New Orleans Health Dept and The New Orleans Blueprint for Safety

According to the 2020 New Orleans Domestic Violence Fatality Summary, domestic homicides accounted for 8.4 percent of murders from 2012-2018. Of those, nearly 75 percent were considered to be intimate partner homicides. More concerning, 75 percent of intimate partner homicides occurred in cases where there was a history of domestic violence between the perpetrator, victim, or both. In 56 percent of cases, charges included Domestic Abuse Battery, Domestic Abuse Battery (Strangling), Acts of Domestic Violence, Criminal Property Damage (Domestic), Criminal Trespassing (Domestic), Stalking, Violation of Protection Order, Aggravated Assault, and Simple Battery.

“The ability to add this risk assessment question is a direct result of collaboration between advocates and criminal justice partners,” said Dr. Jennifer Avegno, Director of New Orleans Health Department. “Transferring firearms away from prohibited possessors is an important part of keeping families safe.”

Under Louisiana state law, anyone who has been convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor is not allowed to possess a firearm for 10 years after their conviction. Anyone who is the subject of a domestic violence protective order is not allowed to possess firearms for the duration of the order. However, last summer, Court Watch NOLA, a New Orleans-based nonprofit that objectively monitors Orleans Parish Criminal Courts raised the issue of judicial noncompliance with this law. Court Watch NOLA then brought together a working group that included the NOPD, the NOPD Consent Decree Monitor, the New Orleans Health Department, and the Family Justice Center, as well as other community leaders, to discuss changes to NOPD protocol.

“Court Watch NOLA is proud to partner with the New Orleans Health Department and the NOPD to ensure that domestic violence survivors are heard by the criminal courts,” said Court Watch NOLA Executive Director Simone Levine. “We will continue to track the Orleans Parish Magistrate Court’s compliance with this law and any other law designed to ensure the safety of crime survivors. Hopefully, with added input from survivors, judges will be able to more comprehensively comply with the law.”

Unfortunately, this largely only makes a difference in cases where domestic violence is prosecuted in court. According to a report from the New Orleans City Council Criminal Justice Committee, a majority – 90.7 percent – of domestic violence cases were being dismissed in Municipal Court, and only 6.6 percent of cases were resulting in a conviction as of December 2019. The Municipal Court handles nearly 3,000 domestic abuse misdemeanor cases each year.

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Chad Wheeler Pleads Not Guilty To Charges Of Domestic Violence Against Girlfriend

By Veronica Wells Chad Wheeler, the former NFL player, who was arrested after an alleged choking incident involving his girlfriend Alleah, pleaded not guilty to  Continue Reading »

By Veronica Wells

Chad Wheeler, the former NFL player, who was arrested after an alleged choking incident involving his girlfriend Alleah, pleaded not guilty to charges of domestic violence.

Still, police accounts of the scene they found when they came to arrest Wheeler tell a different story. Not only was Alleah’s bruised body there, police describe their own struggle in an attempt to get Wheeler out of the home.

According to TMZ, as several officers fought to detain him, they recognized how strong he was.

“As the three of us (with a combined weight of about 700 pounds) were on top of Chad, I could feel him lifting his body up like he was pushing up to get away,” one officer said.

“Chad, whose massive size took up the whole length and width of the bathroom floor, was able to lift his body about three to six inches temporarily with what appeared to be little effort from him.”

The officers used a taser to get him to stop moving but all to no avail. The officers said it had “little to no effect.”

Wheeler was eventually arrested and charged with three criminal charges including first-degree domestic violence assault, unlawful imprisonment and a misdemeanor for resisting arrest. He was eventually released on $400k bail.

Yesterday, when he appeared in court, he pled “not guilty.”

Alleah was present in the courtroom and advocated that Wheeler be returned to jail for her safety.

He is allowed to leave jail and live in King’s County where his movements are being monitored by an ankle bracelet on home detention.

Wheeler’s next court date is February 11.

As we reported earlier, Wheeler allegedly choked his Black girlfriend after she refused to bow to him. According to accounts from his girlfriend, he only got off of her because he believed she was dead. Wheeler has since apologized for the incident, claiming he was suffering from a maniac episode at the time of the incident. He’s since been dismissed from the Seattle Seahawks and has vowed to receive treatment for his condition.

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