Utah News Dispatch
Advocates, police call on Utah lawmakers to restart funding for strangulation exams
A display of purple flags raises awareness for domestic violence outside the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
A protocol already in place can help bring more offenders to justice for a violent type of assault, police and advocates say. It just needs the Utah Legislature to help cover the cost once again.
To examine patients who report being strangled, specialized nurses use X-ray scans and photos. First, they look for potentially lethal injuries they need to treat. Second, they record evidence that can be used against a perpetrator in court.
The documentation is helping Salt Lake County prosecutors improve their chances of getting a guilty verdict, Unified Police Sgt. Kevin Mallory said Tuesday at an event hosted by the Utah Domestic Violence Coalition. He’s still analyzing data from 2025, but said it’s clear the exams correspond to “significantly better” results in court.
Mallory joined lawmakers and advocates at the Utah Capitol, urging the Legislature to fund the strangulation program and approve other measures to address domestic violence.
After multiple years of funding the program, lawmakers did not approve a budget request last year for $260,000 to keep it going. The Utah Domestic Violence Coalition scraped together grants, but they don’t cover the full cost, said Jennifer Campbell, executive director of the coalition. Campbell and other advocates believe the investment is crucial.
They note research has called attention to a link between perpetrators violently choking their intimate partners, then later killing them in domestic violence episodes. Utah tragedies have also included ties between strangulation and homicide:
- In 2021, Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie were stopped by Moab police. Her death weeks later was ruled a homicide by blunt force trauma and strangulation. Laundrie later died by suicide.
- Ricardo Trujillo Rojel pleaded guilty to assault after police said he strangled the mother of his children in 2021. He’s now charged with aggravated murder in her death.
- Ryan Michael Bate, accused of shooting and killing Tremonton police officers Lee Sorensen and Eric Estrada last year during a domestic violence call, had previously been charged with assaulting and grabbing a woman by the throat.
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In 2023, state lawmakers required police to start using a survey known as a lethality assessment when responding to domestic violence calls. As part of the protocol, officers must ask about any past choking by the perpetrator, and if the answer is yes, they’re required to involve a victim advocate who can help create a safety plan.
At the event Tuesday, Rep. Cheryl Acton, R-West Jordan, said she’s asking her colleagues to make room for the forensic exams in their budget once again and to keep the contribution going with $260,000 every year.
“This funding will prevent homicides,” Acton said. “It will get perpetrators the treatment that they need.”
Advocates also emphasized a need for sustained funding for shelters and other organizations providing direct help to survivors of domestic violence. They’re calling on lawmakers to extend current yearly funding of $886,000 for those programs in 2027.
Lindsey Boyer, executive director of South Valley Services, said the organization had to turn away 56 adults seeking shelter — including parents with kids in tow — from its Salt Lake County location in January. All were eligible to stay but the space was full every night of the month, Boyer said.
“This is about victims suffering,” Boyer said. When programs are underfunded or not accessible, they’re the ones hurt, she added.
The Utah Domestic Violence Coalition also called on lawmakers to take other steps this session, including passing a bill to help judges overseeing child custody cases to identify any patterns of abuse.
