AND CHOKED HER UNTIL SHE COULDN’T BREATHE
After the New York Family Court found Keith had committed the offenses of “harassment in the second degree, aggravated harassment in the second degree, criminal obstruction of breathing or circulation, and menacing in the second degree,” it issued a 1-year order of protection directing him to stay away from Nadine, her home, and her place of employment.
On appeal, the Appellate Division, First Department, thought the outcome was supported by a “fair preponderance of the evidence.” Among other things, since Keith allegedly “grabbed [Nadine] by the neck, choked her, and threatened to kill her” on three occasions over a 2-year period, the AD1 thought that conduct buttressed the “harassment in the second degree” offense.
As for obstruction of breathing, Nadine testified “that in July 2020, [Keith] told her that he wanted to kill her, then grabbed her by neck and choked her until she could not breathe.” And during that same incident, Nadine reportedly injured her right hand as to tried to resist the strangulation, and that was found to constitute “the family offense of aggravated harassment in the second degree.”
Finally, since Nadine testified that in May of 2020, Keith “showed her a gun, loaded the weapon, and threatened to ‘blow her brains out,’” that was enough to justify the “family offense of menacing in the second degree.”
Given that extremely messy backdrop, the AD1 concluded that the 1-year stay-away order which issued in this case was “appropriate.”
And away we go ….
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DECISION