Youngstown Daily Legal News

Bill crafted to protect disabled Ohioans from ethnic intimidation

TIFFANY L. PARKS
Special to the Legal News
Published: July 25, 2014

Sen. Eric Kearney, D-Cincinnati, is pushing for Ohio to expand its perimeters for a criminal charge of ethnic intimidation.

Senate Bill 307, which was filed into the legislature in late March, would amend state law to include crimes that are committed by reason of the disability of the victim in the offense of ethnic intimidation.

“The bill simply adds disability to the other classes, such as race, color, religion and national origin,” said Kearney, adding that the bill includes physical, sensory, cognitive and mental disorders as disabilities.

Kearney previously introduced the proposed legislation in 2008 in response to an attack on a mentally-disabled Talawanda High School senior.

“In February of 2008, two teenagers from Cincinnati were accused of beating Ashley Clark. Investigators reported that a teenage boy and girl tied up the 18-year-old woman, clubbed her, kicked her, shaved her head and soaked her with water before making her walk barefoot outside in the snow,” he said.

Kearney said charges in the case included aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, felonious assault and vandalism.

“The victim of this attack was targeted for no other reason than that she was disabled,” he said. “Had she been attacked because of her race, the color of her skin, or her religion, it is likely that the charge of ethnic intimidation would have accompanied these charges.”

Kearney said the proposed changes in SB 307 are necessary to make a statement to society regarding Ohio’s intolerance of crimes which are motivated by an individual’s inclusion in classes that have historically been subject to intimidation.

“If the bill is passed, it would put disability in the same category as race, color, religion and national origin. This will put people on notice that the state of Ohio views these actions with the same severity as they do crimes against any other group,” he said.

Kearney urged lawmakers to back the bill so that “these horrible crimes are punishable in the future.”

SB 307 is before the Senate Criminal Justice committee.

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