State v. Linner

Timothy S. Black, Judge.

This criminal case came on for trial to the court on January 17, 1996 upon the state’s charge that defendant Bernice Linner committed the crime of domestic violence in derogation of R.C. 2919.25(A) when she allegedly assaulted her live-in girlfriend, Vickie Birch, on December 24,1995.

At trial, Birch identified the defendant as her lover, with whom she had been living together for thirteen months in an intimate, lesbian relationship. Per Birch’s testimony, the defendant had asked Birch to marry her in March 1995, and they had three children between them, albeit patently…