Esperanza Shelter planning second 'strangulation exam room' in New Mexico

A Santa Fe domestic abuse treatment center could soon be the home of a forensic exam room specially set up to investigate strangulations — only the second of its kind in New Mexico.

During a Monday visit from U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, Esperanza Shelter CEO Jan McCray said the exam room, which is currently in the works pending funding, will be a place where victims can receive medical care and have their injuries documented for potential legal proceedings.

McCray called strangulation “the last warning shot prior to homicide.” Nonfatal strangulation by an intimate partner is a significant factor predicting homicide of women, studies have found.

Many victims of strangulation “sincerely believed they were going to die,” McCray said.

Leger Fernández said having a “dedicated place” to provide strangulation treatment is “so important.”

“The questions are: What can we do to keep you safe, and what can we do to help you build your case, if you choose to use it?” she said, as opposed to asking patients about their income or immigration status.

The strangulation exam will be free and provide confidential services, McCray said, and the shelter is still seeking funding to launch, including for medical equipment that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, she said.

The only strangulation exam room in the state right now is in Grants, McCray said.

“What I found out is these strangulation forensic exams are not really happening in New Mexico, and if a survivor does get the courage to go into the emergency room, they wait for hours,” McCray said.

“Our vision is to have free, confidential services right here at Esperanza,” she said, with transportation and child care.

Patients would be “primarily women but we would serve anyone” including children, she said.

Leger Fernández, meanwhile, also spoke Monday about about her federal legislative efforts to help abuse victims.

Leger Fernández along with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are co-sponsoring “Virginia’s Law,” named for Virginia Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein’s most prominent accusers, who died by suicide last year. Giuffre spent time at Zorro Ranch, Epstein’s New Mexico property near Stanley.

The proposal would eliminate the statute of limitations for federal lawsuits brought by survivors of trafficking and sexual exploitation, Leger Fernández said, to make it easier for victims to pursue justice.

The current statute of limitations is 10 years in federal court, she said.

“Justice should not have an end date, and the abuser should not be able to use time as one of his weapons,” she told reporters.

She said she is looking for Republican co-sponsors now.

“Virginia Giuffre is the one who said we need this. She said somebody who has been abused needs to be able to plead these cases at a time that makes sense for her,” Leger Fernández said.

Leger Fernández is also pushing the bipartisan Healing Partnerships for Survivors Act which would direct $30 million in grants to support sexual assault survivors nationally, including at domestic violence shelters.