New Ohio law gives teens right to protection orders

By MARC KOVAC

news@vindy.com

COLUMBUS

Gov. Ted Strickland signed a new state law Wednesday allowing teens to obtain protection orders against other teens.

The Shynerra Grant Law, which will take effect in 90 days, was named after a young woman from Toledo who was shot in the head and killed by a former boyfriend.

“There [were] so many things that could have been done, and [with] this bill, it can be done,” said Cheryl Rucker, Grant’s mother, who joined representatives from domestic-violence advocacy groups for the bill signing at the Statehouse. “Now, this is another piece of my life that I can have closure with and rest upon that if another young lady gets into a situation like my daughter... [she] has some ways of protection, has a process that they can follow.”

The law will enable teens to pursue protection orders through the juvenile courts in the same way that adults do in common pleas courts. The law includes procedures in state law for individuals seeking protection orders in instances where suspected perpetrators have assaulted, menaced, stalked or committed other specified crimes.

Juvenile judges will be able to require electronic monitoring of teens covered by protection orders. And court records in the cases can be sealed or expunged, once the perpetrators reach adulthood, though victims will have a chance to voice their disapproval before such a move.