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Top court to rule on domestic-violence law
Saturday, December 09, 2006
LEBANON — The Ohio Supreme Court will consider the contention of a South Lebanon man charged with assaulting his live-in girlfriend that a domestic-violence law doesn't apply to unmarried couples.
The court agreed Friday to hear the case of Michael Carswell, 29, Tuesday. He was charged with felony domestic violence in February 2005.
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Judge Neal Bronson of Warren County Common Pleas Court amended the charge to misdemeanor assault after Carswell's attorney argued an amendment to the state constitution in 2004 rendered the 1979 domestic violence law unconstitutional in cases involving unmarried couples.
The Ohio 12th District Court of Appeals reversed Bronson, saying Ohio's Defense of Marriage amendment banning gay marriage and the domestic violence laws were "reconcilable.'' The 2nd District appeals court said the amendment runs afoul of the domestic violence law.
