Half a dozen prosecutors and former commonwealth’s attorneys grappled with the language in Del. Ben Cline’s bill intended to make the law tougher on men who strangle their wives or partners, rendering them unconscious.
The act deserves a prison sentence, members of the House Courts of Justice Committee decided. Strangulation is the third-leading method used in violent deaths, after guns and knives.
Gov. Bob McDonnell included the bill in his legislative package.
The legislators turned to Mike Doucette, Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney, to craft a legal way of saying shutting off someone’s airway is a felony, not a misdemeanor assault and battery.
Doucette, working on behalf of the Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorneys Association, came up with this:
“A person is guilty of strangulation when he impedes the blood circulation or respiration of a person by unlawfully, knowingly, intentionally and without consent applies pressure to the neck of such person, resulting in wounding or bodily injury.”
Strangulation would be a class 6 felony, punishable by one to five years in prison.
The language removes any question about the perpetrator’s intent — including whether he intends to kill the victim.
Melissa Harper, a forensic nurse at Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, told the committee a tough law is needed. Women who have been strangled once have a 40 percent chance of being killed later by their attacker.
Doucette’s draft language was approved this week by Courts Committee members in both the House of Delegates and state Senate. The bills, HB 752 and SB 224, will come up later in the full House and Senate.
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