This week the family of murder victim Melissa Cantin Charbonneau testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. John and Claire Cantin spoke out in support of HB 1634, a bill that would create a powerful tool for intervening in domestic violence situations by making strangulation a felony level offense.

Less than two days before Melissa Cantin Charbonneau was shot and killed by her husband, she suffered a brutal assault which ended with him strangling her to the point where she thought she was going to die. He was arrested and released from jail that same day for a mere $30 bail. Melissa's father who was shot trying to save his daughter's life said in his testimony, "If strangulation was a felony during this situation, I believe this shooting would never have had to happen. What happened to Melissa and me is because the laws are inadequate and failed to protect us. A class B felony would have provided this protection."

The committee recommended that the bill ought to pass by a vote of 5-0. It will now go to the Senate floor Wednesday April 7th for a vote.

Strangulation has only recently been identified as one of the most lethal forms of domestic violence. Historically, strangulation has been rarely prosecuted as a serious offense because victims minimize the level of violence they experience, and police or medical personnel fail to recognize its harm. “As awareness of strangulation has grown, we have observed a pattern in which strangulation is used by abusers as they escalate violence”, said Amanda Grady, Director of Public Policy for NHCADSV. “Strangulation is a strong indicator of a potentially deadly pattern of violence in an intimate relationship.”

Local programs that run domestic violence help lines, operate support groups, and provide shelter to victims in crisis increasingly tell us that strangulation is a serious problem—not just because of its consistent use by abusers but also because current law does not adequately address this crime. HB 1634 will give law enforcement better guidance to adequately handle the severity and danger of strangulation for victims.

Additional fact about Strangulation:

• “Strangulation” means the application of pressure to another person’s throat or neck, or the blocking of the person’s nose or mouth that causes the person to experience impeded breathing or blood circulation or a change in voice. Once blood flow is cut off, a victim will be unconscious in 10 seconds, and 50 seconds beyond that brain death becomes a near certainty.
• Non-lethal strangulation of intimate partners has substantial direct health effects and is associated with an increased risk of later lethal violence by a partner or ex-intimate partner but can be difficult to prosecute under felony assault statutes.
• Strangulation is one of the top risk factors for domestic violence homicide and accounts for 18% of all intimate partner deaths and 10% of all violent deaths in the United States. (Wilbur, L., Hugley, M., Harfield, J., Surprenant, Z., Taliaferro, E., Smith, J., & Paolo, A., (2001). Survey results of women who have been strangled while in an abusive relationship. Journal of Emergency medicine, 21(3), 297-302.)
,

Despite this highly dangerous behavior, NH’s criminal statutes fail to properly recognize the long term and fatal implications associated with strangulation, and limit penalties for strangulation to misdemeanors in most cases.

Related media:
Associated Press: Father Of NH Woman Killed By Husband Testifies
WMUR TV: Domestic Violence Victim's Parents Fight For Legislation
Concord monitor: Nonlethal strangulation may bump up to felony