OHIO MARRIAGE AMENDMENT USED IN DEFENSE AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CHARGES: From the Associated Press

Some attorneys are attempting to use Ohio's new gay marriage amendment to defend unmarried clients against domestic violence charges.

The constitutional amendment, which took effect on Dec. 1, denies legal status to unmarried couples.

In at least two cases last week, the Cuyahoga County public defender's office has asked a judge to dismiss domestic-violence charges against unmarried defendants, arguing that the charges violate the amendment by affording marriage-like legal status to unmarried victims who live with the people accused of attacking them. ...

The state law on domestic violence applies to a "person living as a spouse."

Therefore, motions by the public defender's office argue that domestic violence charges against their clients violate the new amendment, which forbids any state or local law that would "create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design . . . of marriage."

"The thing is, you can only get a domestic-violence charge now if you are a wife beater, not a girlfriend beater," said Jeff Lazarus, a law clerk for public defender Robert Tobik who helped draft the motions to dismiss.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason called the motions "ridiculous."

Assistant Prosecutor Lisa Reitz Williamson said the domestic-violence law describes the type of relationships to which it applies without creating any special legal status for unmarried couples. ...

Some legal scholars argue that if a judge were to agree with the public defender's ruling, a court could declare the amendment in violation of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law.

[argh, I can't find a link for the AP story, and there's a similar story here but I can't read past the headline. Will update this post when I have better links. --Eve]
posted by Eve at 4:58 PM | link

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