A 47-year-old Akron man will spend at least 15 years in prison, and potentially as many as 17.5, after pleading guilty to a string of charges stemming from a brutal attack on his partner that included strangulation and an attempt to set her on fire with grain alcohol. Terrence Cooper admitted to holding the woman in their bedroom for several hours last October, beating her so severely that she needed surgery for multiple facial and orbital fractures, according to prosecutors.
Cooper pleaded guilty in August to one count of kidnapping, two counts of felonious assault, one count of strangulation, one count of domestic violence, and one count of intimidation of an attorney, victim or witness in a criminal case, as reported by Cleveland.com. Prosecutors say Cooper attacked his partner and prevented her from leaving their bedroom, then threatened her afterward to keep her from testifying against him. He now faces a minimum of 15 years behind bars, with a potential maximum of 17.5 years.
That range is not arbitrary. Under Ohio's Reagan Tokes Law, trial judges handling qualifying non-life first- and second-degree felony offenses committed on or after March 22, 2019, must impose an indefinite sentence made up of a minimum prison term and an automatic maximum that, for a single qualifying offense, is the minimum term plus 50 percent; multiple qualifying offenses, including consecutive sentences, are calculated differently, according to the Supreme Court of Ohio. The framework, enacted in 2019, lets prison officials keep dangerous inmates locked up beyond their minimum term if they engage in institutional misconduct behind bars.
A Felony Charge That Didn't Exist Three Years Ago
Cooper's strangulation charge itself reflects a relatively recent shift in Ohio law. The state enacted Senate Bill 288 in April 2023, establishing non-fatal strangulation as a standalone felony under Ohio Revised Code Section 2903.18 and making Ohio the last state in the country to elevate the offense out of misdemeanor territory, per Forensic Magazine. Before that law took effect, strangulation in Ohio was typically prosecuted as misdemeanor domestic violence or simple assault.
The change came amid mounting evidence about how dangerous strangulation really is. Research cited in municipal and state criminal justice records shows that victims of non-fatal intimate-partner strangulation are seven times more likely to eventually be killed by their abuser than victims of other forms of domestic abuse, according to the City of Columbus. That lethality risk has driven state and local prosecutors to treat strangulation cases with heightened urgency.
Prosecutor Praises Survivor's Bravery
Summit County Prosecutor Elliot Kolkovich said he has no tolerance for domestic violence or attempts to silence victims, and that he was grateful for the survivor's bravery in reporting the attack. The case also highlights the importance of support for survivors of domestic violence.
Kolkovich has pointed out that domestic violence cases are uniquely difficult to prosecute because victim cooperation often fluctuates due to fear and emotional trauma, forcing prosecutors to lean heavily on physical, medical and 911 evidence to build their cases, Signal Akron reported in June. Cooper's guilty plea to intimidating a victim or witness underscores that dynamic directly — he is accused of threatening his partner specifically to keep her from testifying.
Part of a Troubling Local Surge
Cooper's case lands amid a sharp escalation in domestic violence fatalities across Summit County. Fatal domestic violence cases in the county quadrupled from two in 2024 to eight in 2025, while local advocacy organization Hope & Healing reported a 15 percent increase in total survivors served, according to Signal Akron. The outlet also noted that local emergency response teams saw a 23 percent increase in hospital-based victim advocacy calls tied to violent domestic incidents.
The trend is not confined to Summit County. A statewide annual report from the Ohio Domestic Violence Network found domestic violence fatalities across Ohio rose 37 percent between July 2024 and June 2025, totaling 157 deaths across 108 cases in 36 counties, as reported by WSYX. That report also found that 35 percent of fatal cases involved relationships that had recently ended or were in the process of ending.
Summit County has not been passive in the face of these numbers. Kolkovich's office announced a 16-to-20-year prison sentence in March for another repeat violent domestic abuser, 32-year-old Akron resident Anthony McDonald Jr., who was convicted by a jury of felonious assault, strangulation and domestic violence. In that case, the victim was evaluated at a hospital after relatives received photos of her injuries and alerted police, according to the Summit County Prosecutor's Office.
Akron's Long History With Specialized Dockets
Akron has institutional infrastructure built specifically for cases like Cooper's. Summit County Common Pleas Court opened Ohio's first specialized intimate partner felony domestic violence court back in October 2011, created through a multi-agency partnership between county prosecutors and local shelters to give high-risk felony cases dedicated judicial oversight, according to Legal News.
Survivors in the area also have access to Hope & Healing Survivor Resource Center, formed through the merger of Akron's Battered Women's Shelter and Rape Crisis Center. The center operates an emergency domestic violence shelter serving Summit and Medina counties and providing round-the-clock shelter and crisis hotlines, according to the Stark Community Foundation.
Cooper's conviction is another domestic violence case in the Akron area.
