Family Justice Center Alliance
Domestic Violence Strangulation Law Passed in California!
In 2011, the FJCA sponsored SB 430 in California, seeking to make California the 30th state with a specialized statute on strangulation. Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 430 (Strangulation) into law on July 26, 2011. SB 430, carried by Senator Christine Kehoe, amends Penal Code section 273.5 to add the specific act of cutting off a person’s airway or blood flow to the brain as a serious criminal offense in California. The law is named in honor of Diana Gonzalez, the San Diego City College student murdered by her abusive husband last October on the City College campus. Many San Diego survivors and domestic violence advocates from across California advocated for the law in collaboration with the National Family Justice Center Alliance. This amendment to 273.5 will provide clear direction to judges and juries as finders of fact in domestic violence cases when an abuser has strangled his partner. It will also lay the foundation for the creation of a special jury instruction to help guide juries in Gael and Cheryl Kozachenko celecases involving strangulation. Without this bill prosecutors, pobrating the passage of SB430 lice officers, and advocates have been left with only two charges for non-lethal strangulation cases with surviving victims – Penal Code Section 245(a)(1) which requires proof of intent to do great bodily injury and Penal Code 187/666 (Attempted Murder) which requires intent to kill. Neither charge fits a large percentage of cases where the offender is not trying to cause great bodily injury and is not trying to kill his partner. SB 430 goes into effect on January 1, 2012.