KWCH - Kansas News and Weather - Stalking Bill Results From Sanderholm Murder
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by Jim Grawe
Best case scenario...it's annoying. Worst case scenario...it's deadly.
Candace Jackson of Arkansas City says she was stalked by the same man charged with kidnapping, raping and murdering 19-year-old Jodi Sanderholm in January.
"It started with flowers and stuff and it got to feeling where I was seeing him everywhere I went," says Jackson. "I would just be driving and he would be right beside me, or I would be at work and he would be there. He's just really weird."
Weird perhaps, but not all that unusual.
The Department of Justice says eight to twelve percent of women will be stalked at some point in their lives.
"It is a growing problem in our nation, no doubt," says Rep. Kasha Kelley of Arkansas City.
Kelley introduced House Bill 2473, aimed at cracking down on stalkers.
She worked with law enforcement after Sanderholm's murder to try to prevent something similar from happening in another community.
"It seeks to bring a tighter definition to what stalking is," says Kelley.
The current law says stalking occurs when the situation poses a credible threat.
The proposed legislation says stalking occurs when a reasonable person fears for their safety or suffers emotional distress on as few as two occassions.
"The hope would be to offer not only victims, but also law enforcement a tool that they are able to step into a potential pattern of behavior that could become lethal, earlier," says Kelley.
Judiciary Committee hearings are the next step for the bill. Kelley is hopeful it will become law this session.
