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Web posted
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Jodi's law gets heard in Topeka
By FOSS FARRAR
Traveler Staff Writer
reporter@arkcity.net
Jodi Sanderholm's parents will appear at a legislative hearing Thursday in Topeka to testify for a tougher stalking law for the state.
The law is informally called "Jodi's law" in honor of Sanderholm, 19, a Cowley College student whose body was found Jan. 9, 2007 under debris in a wildlife area near the Oklahoma border. She had been missing for four days.
A suspect who faces murder charges stalked several victims including Sanderholm, law enforcement officials contend.
Among those officials is Arkansas City Police Chief Sean Wallace, who will also testify at Thursday's hearing in Topeka.
Wallace has been working with state Rep. Kasha Kelley for over a year to make changes in the law to make it easier to arrest and prosecute individuals who prey on women and terrify them by stalking, the chief said.
"The current law has vague language that prevents law enforcement officers and prosecutors from aggressively enforcing the law," he said. "The proposed changes remove that vagueness and give the law more weight and give more power to law enforcement and prosecutors to get dangerous individuals off the street."
A 23-year-old suspect, Justin Thurber, was arrested and charged with kidnapping, raping and murdering Sanderholm. Eleven women testified at a recent Cowley County District Court hearing that Thurber had stalked them or they had witnessed stalking behaviors by him.
Prosecutors in the case against Thurber contended he stalked Sanderholm before murdering her.
Her father, Brian Sanderholm, said today he is testifying in Topeka to prevent more stalking crimes. Statistics show that a high percentage of women will be stalked in their lifetimes, he said.
Brian Sanderholm also said he believes if Kansas had a tougher stalking law before his daughter's disappearance and murder, she would be alive today.
He also commended Kelley for championing for a tougher law. Kelley is the sponsor of a new law that will be the focus of Thursday's house judiciary committee hearing.
"The current law is very difficult to enforce because of the vagueness of some of the definitions," Kelley said today.
Since Sanderholm's death, Kelley has interviewed local law enforcement officers and prosecutors and they all agreed that under the current law successful prosecution of stalking is rare because they have to prove the suspect poses a "credible threat" to the victim.
The proposed new law would delete the words "credible threat." Instead, it describes as illegal specific courses of action with regard to stalkers, Kelley said.
The proposed law also sets tougher penalties than now exist for stalking, she said.
Kelley said if the House judiciary committee votes favorably for the proposed law, it will go before the full House for debate.
She said she expects the law will pass with few changes both in the House and the Kansas Senate.
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