Petito family lobbies for ‘lethality assessment’ law in Utah

By SAM METZ
Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The mother and father of a woman killed by her boyfriend in 2021 joined Utah lawmakers to lobby for the passage of a law to require police statewide screen for risks of intimate partner violence. Joe Petito and Nicole Schmidt joined state Sen. Todd Weiler and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson on Monday to support legislation that would create what’s called a “Lethality Assessment Protocol” to help gauge when people are in danger from their partners. The push comes less than two years after the body of Gabby Petito, who was then 22, was found strangled a month after a police officers observed clear signs of domestic violence during a Utah traffic stop.