Web posted
Friday, February 29, 2008
Stalking law glides past state House
By JOHN HANNA
Associated Press Writer
TOPEKA -- The House passes a bill designed to strengthen the state's anti-stalking law.
The 123-0 vote Friday sent the bill to the Senate.
The anti-stalking law requires repeated, intentional and malicious harassment. Also, the alleged stalker must make a credible threat creating reasonable fear in another person.
Critics say the law is difficult to enforce.
The measure would redefine stalking as intentional or reckless behavior that causes a reasonable person to fear for his safety or the safety of a family member. The bill, backed by victims' rights groups and law enforcement officials, is partly a response to Jodi Sanderholm's murder last year.
''This is an issue that arose out of a tragedy,'' Rep. Kasha Kelley, an Arkansas City Republican, said Thursday.
Jodi's father, Brian Sanderholm, said today he received word of the preliminary House vote from Rep. Kasha Kelley, R-Arkansas City, the bill's sponsor.
"It's pretty great," Sanderholm said. "That's what it's all about -- to get the law changed to protect people."
Sanderholm added that he would continue to support the proposed stalking bill as it is considered moves through the Legislature. If the bill becomes law, it would be one good thing that has resulted from his daughter's death.
The House also advanced a bill Thursday limiting district judges' discretion to make prison sentences for some offenders shorter than those typically outlined in state law. Another measure gaining first-round approval would increase penalties for stealing prison guards' uniforms or badges.
Legislators were trying to beat Saturday's ''turnaround'' deadline, when most bills must clear the chamber in which they were introduced to stay alive.
Groups that deal with domestic violence have complained about the anti-stalking law for years, and some prosecutors and law officers agree that it's difficult to enforce.
Legislators felt greater urgency to rewrite it this year because of the case of Jodi Sanderholm. The 19-year-old Arkansas City woman's battered and strangled body was found in January 2007 in a wooded area, four days after she disappeared.
Justin Thurber, 24, is charged with capital murder, rape, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated sodomy in Sanderholm's death. His trial is scheduled to begin June 24, and the state is seeking the death penalty.
Prosecutors allege that Thurber stalked young women for years before Sanderholm's death.
The anti-stalking law requires repeated, intentional and malicious harassment. Also, the alleged stalker must make a ''credible'' threat creating ''reasonable fear'' in another person.
The bill would redefine stalking as intentional or reckless behavior that causes a reasonable person to fear for his safety or the safety of a family member.
The measure dealing with judges' discretion in sentencing arises from a high-profile case in Shawnee County. The bill's leading sponsor is Rep. Joe Patton, a Topeka Republican.
In May, District Judge Matthew Dowd sentenced a 38-year-old man to three years of intensive probation after a jury convicted him of repeatedly raping and sodomizing a 14-year-old girl. The judge could have sentenced him to 13 years in prison but noted he suffered from depression at the time of the crimes.
Under the bill, only five factors would allow a judge to impose a lesser sentence for serious felonies against persons than those called for by the law.
Those factors would be whether the victim was the aggressor in criminal conduct, the defendant played a passive role or was under duress in a crime, the defendant or his children suffered physical or sexual abuse, the defendant had a physical or mental impairment affecting his judgment or the harm from a crime was less than typical.
The third bill would make it a felony for an employee or volunteer to steal a Department of Corrections uniform, badge or ID card if it compromised prison security. Because such property is worth far less than $1,000, the theft of those items is now a misdemeanor.
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Anti-stalking bill is HB 2850. Other bills are HBs 2732 and 2845.
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