Amy's Law (Ohio)

Amy's Law is an Ohio law inspired by the crimes against Amy Rezos. It requires all violent offenders to appear before a judge before being released on bail/bond. Amy Jones and Christopher Rezos dated eight years beginning in high school, and married in 1995. Together the couple had two boys named Michael and David, who were three and seven years old respectively. Amy claims that Christopher never struck her before, however he was very controlling of the way she went about things in her daily life. It was not until 2004, that Amy and Christopher separated. After disputing custody of the children, Christopher attacked Amy with a flashlight, repeatedly hitting her on the head. She reports that the next thing she remembers was being dragged to the bathroom, at the hotel Christopher was staying at, to be drowned. Security from the Hotel caught Christopher in the act, and Amy was saved. She suffered from skull fractures, that took over one hundred staples to fix, and a broken vertebra. Officer Paul Lovett arrived at the scene, where Christopher claimed that a robbery had taken place, where the supposed robber beat his wife. The unconvinced officer went to the near-unconscious, severely beaten Amy, and asked her if her husband had done this to her, telling her to blink once for no, and twice for yes. She blinked twice, and later Christopher was arrested on the Friday night. It was a shock to everyone that Christopher was released the very next day on a $2,000 bond. When Christopher Rezos was arraigned he was released again on a $100,000 bond, due to the judge’s lack of knowledge on this case. Amy was encouraged to change the locks by the police. A restraining order was set to prevent Christopher from disturbing her again. Several weeks later, Christopher showed up once again. Christopher was hiding in the back of Amy’s van in an attempt to kill her once again. While Amy pulled out of her driveway, Christopher aimed a gun at her and told her to turn right. Amy screamed, which caused Christopher to shoot her in the head two times. Her foot remained on the accelerator, resulting in a car crash. Amy was taken into the hospital, and Christopher was arrested. Doctors agreed that Amy was not likely to live from the injuries, however, four days later she woke up. Christopher pleaded not guilty in court, and formed yet another plan to kill his wife while he was imprisoned. He paid someone $10,000 dollars to murder Amy, her brother, and her mother as well. Before any assassination took place, Christopher was caught on tape. After his third attempt at murder, he finally agreed to plead guilty, and was sentenced thirty years in prison without parole. Since the three murder attempts Amy Rezos has spoken out about how it was wrong that Christopher was given the opportunity to kill her three times. House Bill 29 in Ohio was passed after these events, which forces individuals suspected of Domestic Abuse to stand before a judge prior to decisions on bail. Amy continues to push for tougher penalties for first-time abusers. The Cincinnati Post featured the article “Man Who Tried 3 Times To Kill Wife Sentenced” on March 17, 2005, giving a brief summary of the details of the case, and confirming that Christopher Rezos is not eligible for early release or parole, but must wait out his thirty-year sentence.