April 29, a legislative bill originating from the teamwork of Boothbay Harbor Police Chief Doug Snyder and Rep. Holly Stover was amended and unanimously passed in a Judiciary Committee work session. If approved by the legislature, the amended bill will require a review and analysis of the Maine Criminal Code for domestic violence offenses involving nonfatal strangulation and suffocation, including domestic violence aggravated assault.

As originally written, LD 1572 called for elevating domestic violence aggravated assault by means of nonfatal strangulation or suffocation to a class A crime from its current class B status. It also called for mandatory training of law enforcement, judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys, prohibiting those previously convicted of a domestic violence assault charge from entering into plea agreements, prohibiting unnecessary delays in prosecution and not requiring the victim to be present in court during the trial.

The bill was assigned to the legislature's Judiciary Committee April 10. Four days later, sponsor Stover introduced the bill at its public hearing, explaining, "Right now, nonfatal strangulation is typically charged as Class B aggravated assault. While serious, this charge does not reflect the high lethality risk or the psychological terror it inflicts. Victims often report they feared they were going to die during the attack. Elevating the charge to Class A aligns the legal consequences with the life-threatening nature of the crime. It is," she explained, "a lifesaving intervention ... Strangulation and suffocation are not just violent assaults they are often pre-lethal acts."

Pairing law enforcement with law creation, Snyder and Stover's collaboration worked because both have experience with cases of this type. 

"Survivors are terrified of being put on the stand and testifying in front of the accused about what was done to them," Snyder said. When he attended an advanced course on nonfatal strangulation, "The discussions were around the laws — what keeps the cases from being prosecuted," he explained. As Snyder has seen, survivors of this type of domestic violence do not want to appear in court. 

Snyder said when he reached out to Stover about the issue, she said, " 'Let's do something,' so I spoke with New Hope and started writing." The two worked on the bill together, with Snyder creating the draft and Stover working with her legislative aide to put it into statutory language. It was assigned to the Judiciary Committee because, as she explained, "It is asking to change the law."

Stover, who was director of the Office of Violence Prevention in Maine Department of Health and Human Services for 23 years and for more than a decade as a member of the Maine Domestic Abuse Homicide Review Panel, brought her many years of experience to the bill. 

Her testimony explained to committee members that, "For more than 10 years every report of the panel showed that strangulation is one of the most lethal forms of domestic violence ... The 2022 Biennial Report said that 'Strangulation is a significant risk factor for future lethal violence and must be treated with the seriousness it warrants.' "

Stover also cited a study published in the Journal of Emergency Medicine which said, "Victims of nonfatal strangulation are seven times more likely to be murdered by their intimate partner."

Many groups testified at the April 14 public hearing, most voicing concerns about conflicts with other laws. As a result, Stover introduced amendments resulting from working with various advocacy groups. Those amendments deleted some of the earlier provisions that presented constitutional and procedural concerns but kept what she called, "the crux of the bill," elevating the crime and penalty to class A under Maine law. It also clarified definitions of strangulation and suffocation. 

 LD 1572, with certain earlier sections deleted, was discussed April 29 in a Judiciary Committee work session during which questions were raised about specific language and definitions of strangulation and suffocation because these touched on other Maine laws. 

The committee felt the bill needed further review by a more expansive group and amended LD 1572 to a resolve which directs the Maine Criminal Law Advisory Commission (CLAC) to analyze Maine's criminal code for domestic violence offenses involving nonfatal strangulation and suffocation. CLAC is required to include other stakeholders in gathering this information. 

The CLAC report and any recommendations are to be submitted to the Committee by Dec. 15. 

The bill was Snyder's first. "It was interesting to watch how everyone discusses it," he said about the process. "There's so much to it." Asked if he would propose more legislation, he answered: "Yes."