After Gabby Petito's Death, Ohio Rep Wants Domestic Violence Law

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH — Shortly after a coroner revealed that Gabby Petito was strangled to death, an Ohio politician began calling for her state to pass sweeping domestic violence laws.

State Rep. Janine Boyd, a Democrat from Cleveland Heights, wants legislators to pass Aisha's Law — which would change how law enforcement is required to respond to domestic violence cases and provide protections for possible domestic violence victims.

“The Gabby Petito case exemplifies the need for the long overdue passage of Aisha’s law, which would provide funding for greater police training around identifying the signs of high-risk and lethal domestic violence. Many survivors of domestic violence will resonate with at least some of the insights we have come to see and learn over the past weeks," Boyd said in a statement.

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Ohio is the only state in the U.S. that does not consider strangulation a felony, Boyd noted, calling the state's lack of legislative updates on that issue "shameful."

"The newly released autopsy report ruled Petito’s death a homicide by strangulation. We know what the act of strangulation means. According to research by Dr. Jacquelyn Campbell, author of the Danger Assessment, 43 percent of homicide victims had experienced non-fatal strangulation previously," Boyd said.

Aisha's Law is named for Aisha Fraser, a Shaker Heights teacher who was killed by her ex-husband in 2018. Boyd has lobbied for legislation protecting domestic violence victims for years following Fraser's death.

“When we make the responsible decision to equip members of law enforcement with the tools and skills to ask the right questions and help them identify the signs of domestic violence, officers will be more likely to make informed decisions and intervene before a high-risk situation ends in tragedy," Boyd said.

Here's what the legislation would do:

• Expand the definition of domestic violence to include strangulation.
• Create a new temporary protection order a person can request outside of a court's normal business hours.
• Require police departments to adopt rules and procedures for screening victims of domestic violence using an evidence-based lethality assessment tool to determine if the case should be referred to local or regional domestic violence advocacy services.
• Require the Ohio Attorney General to adopt rules requiring every peace officer and troop who handles domestic violence complaints to complete biennial professional training that includes the referral of high risk victims to a local or regional domestic violence advocacy service.
• Require law enforcement to inform victims of an alleged strangulation of the medical dangers and urge them to seek medical attention.
• Increase domestic violence circumstances to the offense of aggravated murder.
• Ask the Ohio Supreme Court to review the Ohio Rules of Evidence to consider how they may better help victims of domestic violence without diminishing the fundamental fairness to alleged perpetrators of domestic violence.
• Create the Domestic Violence Drop Policy Study Committee to examine policies to protect domestic violence victims throughout the judicial process.
• Allocate $150,000 to the Police Officers' Training Academy Fee for the purpose of training police officers on how to respond to domestic violence calls.