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Bill Toughens Penalties For Violent Attacks Against Children

An Ohio lawmaker is sponsoring a bill created in response to an attack on a baby girl.The assailant is about to be freed after serving less than 10 years in prison. The mother of the girl named Destiny says that’s not right. Ohio Public Radio's Andy Chow reports.

The story of Destiny’s Law starts eight years ago when the 16-month-old girl was rushed to the hospital with shaken baby syndrome and brain trauma.

Shepherd: “I have never felt that kind of hurt, pain and anger until I saw Destiny this way.”

That’s Destiny’s mother, Randi Shepherd, who says the doctors didn’t think Destiny would survive the next 48 hours… but she did. Not only did she survive but she came out of her coma and made great strides. While her recovery has been impressive, Destiny still suffers from long-term developmental damage.

The man responsible for Destiny’s injuries is Terrance King, Shepherd’s boyfriend at the time. He received the maximum sentence for this assault, eight years, but Shepherd says that’s not enough for what he did to her daughter.

Republican Representative Bob Hackett of London wants to change Ohio law, allowing a tougher sentence on violent attacks that result in permanent and substantial injury. Andy Wilson is the Clark County prosecutor who worked on Destiny’s case.

Wilson: “I’ve seen too many times victims who are going to have to live the rest of the life as a result for what the defendant did to them when the defendant will not be incarcerated for a sufficient amount of time to bring justice to that victim.”

So if a jury or judge decides that a permanent and substantial injury occurred then, with this bill, the minimum sentence would be five years with a maximum of ten years. In Destiny’s case, her attacker could’ve spent 18 years in behind bars, instead of his sentence of 8 years.

Shepherd: “Eight years doesn’t justify anything. You change a child forever and they’ll never be the same and you get eight years and when that eight years is up you get to live life and do whatever you want to do while the person you hurt has a disability.”

Representative Hackett says this measure shouldn’t hurt the work Ohio General Assembly has done on sentencing reform.

Hackett: “We want people in prison that should be in prison so the changes we made to have less people in prison was on the soft elements these are people that need to be in prison and the judge—in some cases—their hands are really tied.”

This is the third time an Ohio legislator has tried to pass Destiny’s Law. Hackett and Wilson say things should be different this time because the bill is not excluded to just assault on children.

Wilson: “This measure will protect the 19-year-old domestic violence victim who gets hit so hard in the face that she is permanently blinded. It’ll protect the citizen who—in a robbery attempt—is stabbed and loses partial function of their arm to the extent that it affects her ability to engage in normal life function.”

Hackett does not know yet how his bill compares to similar laws in other states.

Jim has been with WCBE since 1996. Before that he worked as a reporter at another Columbus radio station, and for three newspapers in Southwest Florida.