TESTIMONY OF TODD SCHROEDER, PUTNAM COUNTY PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE,
ON H.B. 362
BEFORE THE OHIO HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
Chairman Butler, Vice Chair Manning, Ranking Member Stinziano, and esteemed members of the
Committee, thank you for allowing me to speak today.
My name is Todd Schroeder. I am an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for Putnam County, Ohio, and
I am in charge of all of our adult misdemeanor and felony prosecutions. In addition I am the creator
and editor of Ohio’s Sexual Assault Case Law Review, which summarizes important rulings from
sexual assault cases and is distributed state wide to Ohio prosecutors, judges, and other justice
professions. I have also been a college law instructor since 2010. As chief assistant prosecutor for
Putnam County I review and prosecute all allegations of Domestic Violence, as well as Felonious
Assault, both of which are the most common charges currently used to prosecute allegations of
strangulation. Recently I had the pleasure of presenting on Ohio’s criminal justice response to
allegations of strangulation at the Statehouse on behalf of ACTION Ohio Coalition for Battered
Woman, and was also certified by the Ohio Peace Officer Training Association to provide CPT
hours to law enforcement on the topic of strangulation.
We know that strangulation is a predictor of homicide. Statistically, we know victims of a prior
strangulation event are seven (7) times more likely of becoming a homicide victim. In addition
strangulation is an important social predictor of ongoing physical abuse. When strangulation occurs
it places the life of the victim directly into the hands of the abuser. It sends a clear message to the
victim that the abuser is in control of her life, that he has the ability to quickly end her life, and thus
she may become more submissive.
Strangulation can result in serious harm with very little effort by the abuser. Alarmingly,
unconsciousness can occur within 10 seconds if 4.4 pounds of pressure is applied to jugular veins,
or within 10 seconds if 11 pounds of pressure applied to carotid arteries. To put that into
perspective, it takes 5.5 pounds of pressure to pull a glock trigger, and 22 pounds of pressure to
open a can of pop.
The largest strangulation study conducted to date is from San Diego, California where 300 cases
were studied. (Taliaferro, 2009) Of those 300 cases, 85% of victims had either no visible injury or
had injuries too minor to document. No witnesses were present in 85% of those cases. Also, 89% of
the victims had a long history of prior and documented domestic violence.
Currently there are two main vehicles to prosecute a strangulation event. The first is Domestic
Violence, in violation of Ohio Revised Code section 2919.25, a misdemeanor of the first degree.
That offense requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt that an offender caused or attempted to cause
physical harm. The second is Felonious Assault, a felony of the second degree, in violation of Ohio
Revised Code section 2903.11, and requires proof beyond a reasonable that the offender caused
serious physical harm.
The focus of both of these offenses is the element of physical harm, or serious physical harm. As a
result law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges have been trained to (or naturally) look for
Testimony of T. Schroeder, H.B. 362, House Judiciary Comm. 12/1/15
evidence of physical harm, and further correlate the seriousness of the conduct with the physical
harm observed. For example, redness to the face would indicate a victim was slapped; abrasions to
the back may indicate a victim was pushed down; a black eye would indicate a victim was punched.
However, strangulation is different and does not fit neatly into any other crime. You can strangle
someone to death, or nearly to death, with no visible injury.
In order to sufficiently respond to what we know is an important indicator of future homicide and
important indicator of ongoing physical abuse there must be a shift away from highlighting the
“visible injury” normally associated with an assault, and instead focus on the physical dangers of
impeding blood flow/airflow, and the psychological and social dangers of strangulation.
Charging a strangulation event as a misdemeanor Domestic Violence offense carries with it the risk
of acquittal or dismissal due to the expectation of observable physical harm by law enforcement,
prosecutors, judges, or juries, or the defense argument that an accused was trying to scare and
intimidate and not cause physical harm. Additionally, for all the reasons mentioned above, charging
strangulation as a misdemeanor demeans the seriousness of the offense.
Conversely, charging strangulation as a Felonious Assault offense carries with it the risk of acquittal
or dismissal due to a finding that the element of actually causing serious physical harm cannot be
met. “Serious physical harm” is defined, in relevant part, as follows: “[a]ny physical harm that
carries a substantial risk of death” or “[a]ny physical harm that involves some permanent incapacity,
whether partial or total, or that involves some temporary, substantial incapacity.” An expert witness
will likely be required to educate a judge or jury on such issues as pressure, neck anatomy, why the
abuser picked it, how quickly you lose consciousness, brain death, why the brain is so important and
why it needs blood. This in turn requires each county to invest the resources to pay for such an
expert. In response to my survey of other prosecutors, one responded that he pays an expert $1000
each time he seeks to prove that strangulation carries with it a substantial risk of death.
If a prosecutor seeks to establish that strangulation resulted in substantial, temporary incapacity,
then he or she must first have a fact pattern in which strangulation resulted in unconsciousness, then
must produce evidence of actual unconsciousness, then must rely on all twelve (12) members of the
jury to conclude that unconsciousness for whatever duration equals a substantial, temporary
incapacity. Thus, while Felonious Assault does not demean the seriousness of the offense, it
certainly creates substantial hurdles to achieving a conviction.
When strangulation laws are passed, it sends a strong message to the professionals handling such
incidents that strangulation cases should be treated as serious cases and either generally requires
them or gives them an incentive to receive training, develop policies and improve their practice of
handling lethal domestic violence cases. Effective intervention in non-homicide strangulation cases
will increase victim safety, hold offenders accountable for the crimes they commit and prevent
future homicides.
Strangulation violence is a felony crime in thirty-eight (38) states. While the Felonious Assault
statute can provide a basis to prosecute strangulation as a felony, it carries with it the obstacles and
hurdles discussed above. Conversely, the strangulation statute will provide clear elements that
recognize the evidentiary realities of proving very serious conduct involving lethal force.
Testimony of T. Schroeder, H.B. 362, House Judiciary Comm. 12/1/15