Local nurse testifies in favor of domestic violence bill

COLUMBUS — Sandy Parker kept hearing about Monica’s Law, but didn’t quite know what it was.

About a year ago, though, the Wayne County nurse, who also works as a sexual assault nurse examiner, began to research the case of Monica Jeter.

Jeter lived in North College Hill, near Cincinnati, with her husband and five children. Jeter’s husband in 2014 strangled her and served 11 days in jail for domestic violence. About nine months later, Jeter’s husband stabbed her multiple times, and she later died of her injuries.

Jeter’s story resonated with Parker, who regularly sees domestic violence patients who have been strangled. Parker said she conducts classes in the community — including at the counseling center and with local law enforcement — on the hidden dangers of strangulation. And last week, Parker traveled to Columbus to testify in favor of Monica’s law, which would amend state law to make strangulation a more serious felony, falling under felonious assault.

Parker testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of Senate Bill 207, also known as Monica’s Law. Parker, in her testimony, said the revised law would send a clear message about the severity of strangulation cases.

“This revision of Ohio’s domestic violence law is greatly needed,” Parker said. “Offenders who commit this violent act, rendering victims helpless and sometimes near death, are often charged with a misdemeanor and receive minimal punishment. The message needs to be sent to law enforcement, court officials, health-care providers and victims that strangulation and suffocation are serious crimes worthy of serious punishment.

“... This amendment to the domestic violence law will save lives and send a clear message to offenders that they will not get away with the violent act of strangling or suffocating someone,” Parker said.

Parker, who testified along with her friend Shannon Conrad Wokojance, a domestic violence victim advocate from Summit County, said she was compelled to testify because most people don’t understand the severity of strangulation.

“There’s research that shows that offenders who strangle their partners, those partners are seven times more likely to die at the hands of that offender,” Parker said in an interview. “So there’s research out there that shows that people who strangle their partner are likely to kill their partner, and it’s usually not by strangulation. They usually die by a gun.”

And, Parker said, even most victims don’t know how dangerous strangulation can be.

“I don’t think it gets the attention that it needs, because there are a lot of hidden dangers with strangulation,” Parker said. “Most patients who come to us and have been strangled have no visible external injuries. But they can have pretty significant internal injuries.”

Unprotected arteries and veins in the neck can only withstand a little bit of pressure before becoming damaged, Parker said. And if those veins and arteries are damaged, patients can experience issues such as stroke and neurological deficits, Parker said.

So, when Parker found out that Sen. Stephanie Kunze, R-Hilliard, was sponsoring the bill in the Senate, she contacted Kunze’s office to find out when the Senate would vote on the bill. That’s when one of Kunze’s staffers asked if Parker would be interested in testifying in favor of the bill.

Parker said she has testified before in criminal cases in the Wayne County Court of Common Pleas, “nothing on that (statewide) level.” But Parker’s experience as a sexual assault nurse examiner, where about 35 percent of the cases involve strangulation, led her to fight for the bill, she said.

“I really believe that the change in the law is necessary to send a clear message to offenders that are doing this that there’s severe penalties for it,” Parker said. “Strangulation is a power and control issue. Offenders who strangle people aren’t always trying to kill them, they’re just trying to show that, ‘I could do this at any time to you if I wanted to.’ It scares the people who this is happening to.

“So I would just say that this law is so important because there needs to be more awareness of the fact that this is happening and that offenders are getting away with it. And secondly, it’s life-threatening, so the law needs to reflect that. It needs to be a felony. There needs to be more jail time if you strangle someone, because it’s so concerning and life-threatening.”

Reporter Jack Rooney can be reached at 330-287-1645 or jrooney@the-daily-record.com. He is on Twitter at twitter.com/?RooneyReports.

CREDIT: JACK ROONEY