Domestic violence network raises legal concern over 'knowingly and unlawfully' language in House Bill 47

Lisa DeGeeter, senior director of policy and prevention for the Ohio Domestic Violence Network, testified on Oct. 12 in opposition to two words in House Bill 47 she said are in the kidnapping section: "knowingly and unlawfully." DeGeeter told the House Judiciary Committee those words appear on page 5, line 107 and could be read to make otherwise prohibited behavior lawful in some circumstances.

"It is written in the conjunctive, knowingly and unlawfully," DeGeeter said. "...that is something that we found concerning." She said the rest of the bill "does a marvelous job" improving survivors' access to justice and matching penalties to harms, but urged the committee to remove or fix those two words in the kidnapping provision.

Representative Williams acknowledged the concern and said committee sponsors are working on revised language to better capture intent and to ensure that individuals acting with lawful authority — for example, a parent, guardian or teacher exercising a privilege — are not charged with kidnapping. Williams said the committee is considering phrasing such as "without privilege to do so" to make the exemption clearer.

DeGeeter said she was pleased the committee was treating the matter seriously and that her organization supports the bill "aside from those two terms." Committee staff converted testimony submitted by some scheduled witnesses to written-only after those witnesses were not present.

No committee vote was taken at the conclusion of the second hearing on House Bill 47.