Iowa House approved tougher domestic violence penalties

DES MOINES - The Iowa House approved legislation mandating minimum sentences and risk assessments for people convicted of certain domestic violence crimes.

Representatives voted 86-12 Tuesday for the stiffer penalties despite arguments that though well-intended, the legislation did not go far enough in addressing domestic violence.

In introducing the bill, Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Bondurant, cited the case of a woman who survived more than four hours of abuse 'at the hand of a man who said he loved her.” She was beaten, bitten and bludgeoned.

At his sentencing, she learned she was his fifth victim. After he served 10 months of a two-year sentence, the man attacked a six known victim, 'beating and biting her face so severely she now lives with permeant scars,” Nunn said.

HF 2399, Nunn said, would increase penalties and create mandatory minimum sentencing after conviction of a third domestic assault, require some offenders convicted of domestic violence to have electronic monitoring that would let their victims know their location and require a person convicted of domestic violence crimes to undergo mandatory risk assessment and complete the domestic abuse treatment program.

Representatives also amended the bill to address assaults that might not meet the definition of domestic abuse assault. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Chip Baltimore, R-Boone, said it is not always clear if a relationship has evolved to the point it is considered 'domestic.”

His amendment would allow a judge to sentence an offender to additional provisions if the court finds the defendant and victim had a romantic relationship based upon a number of factors.

House members also voted 96-1 to approve HF 2357 to allow the Natural Resources Commission to adopt rules establishing seasons and daily catch limits that restrict the non-commercial and commercial harvest of turtles in the state.

The bill will help protect turtles from overhunting, especially for commercial purposes, according to Rep. Scott Ourth, D-Ackworth. There are markets in Asia for both the meat and the turtle shell, which is used for medicinal purposes.

'It simply allows them to put the brakes on the unfettered harvest of these animals to make sure this resource remains into the future, for future generations,” Ourth said. The regulation is necessary to prevent turtles from the same fate as bison, passenger pigeons and prairies chickens that were nearly hunted to extinction.