City Attorney Zach Klein announced Wednesday that Columbus has been awarded a grant to help continue the implementation of programming to prevent domestic violence and strangulation cases amid an uptick in fatalities in 2023.
The $800,000 U.S. Department of Justice grant will create a multiagency strangulation task force to help handle cases. Klein said the money will allow the city attorney’s office to hire an additional advocate to help victims through the arraignment process and provide additional training on how to identify strangulation cases.
Columbus police, the city attorney and county prosecutor offices and community partners will work together. The partnership comes about six months after the implementation of a state law that makes strangulation a felony in Ohio.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Columbus had reported 22 homicides related to domestic violence, a more than 200% increase from the seven domestic violence-related homicides for all of 2022.
A person choked during an instance of domestic violence is 10 times more likely to die, according to information from the Ohio Domestic Violence Network. Strangulation victims are 750% more likely to be killed within the following 12 months.
Assistant Columbus Police Chief LaShanna Potts said CPD has handled 126 strangulation cases since Ohio’s law went into effect in April. In addition, 21 officers have been certified in training specific to strangulation cases and another 35 officers are scheduled to be certified in November.
Klein also encouraged people close to those who may be victims of domestic violence to speak up on their loved one’s behalf.
“The reality is that out of the 22 homicides this year for domestic violence, the abusers had very little involvement in the criminal justice system or any evidence of prior domestic abuse,” Klein said. “That’s 22 deaths with little indication of domestic abuse. Friends and family know.”
The city attorney’s office enacted a policy earlier this year of requesting a $500,000 bond for all domestic violence cases in which a suspect is accused of causing serious bodily harm, or there’s an accusation of a gun being involved. Klein said only one judge, Municipal Court Judge Andrea Peeples, has consistently set those bonds. The county prosecutor’s office also began requesting a minimum of $400,000 bond in other cases involving firearms.
The reasons why domestic violence may be on the rise are still being worked through, Klein said, but could be possibly linked to the “unfettered access to firearms” allowed in Ohio, and more awareness about what constitutes a domestic violence homicide.
If you or someone you know is looking for resources for domestic violence survivors in Franklin County, contact the CHOICES crisis hotline 24 hours a day at 614-224-4663 or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233.
The Ohio Domestic Violence Network also offers online resources, including a web-based chat service to connect survivors with resources at www.odvn.org. The Network can also be reached at 800-934-9840
bbruner@dispatch.com
@bethany_bruner
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