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March 12, 2010

Senate committee changes improve ‘Amanda’s Law’

Anonymous The Daily Independent Fri Mar 12, 2010, 05:20 PM EST

Amendments approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee to Amanda’s Bill improve the bill by making it less costly to local governments, limiting its scope and effectively addressing issues that have raised legitimate questions about the constitutionality of the measure. In short, it makes a good bill even better.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, is the primary sponsor of Amanda’s Bill, which he designated as House Bill 1, indicating that it is the number one legislative priority of House Democrats. The bill is named in honor of Amanda Ross, who died after allegedly being shot by her former fiancé and one-time lawmaker Steve Nunn. Nunn has been charged with her murder and is being held in the Fayette County jail while awaiting trial.

The House-approved bill would allow judges to require those accused of domestic abuse to wear electronic monitoring devices which could alert authorities or the alleged abuse victim if the wearer came within a proscribed distance. While the bill easily passed the House with little discussion, it subsequently prompted concerns about the cost of the devices to counties, whether the system would be uniformly administered across different jurisdictions and its constitutionality.

Under the leadership of the able Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the bill was amended in several sound ways. One change would require that the abuser had previously violated a domestic violence order before a judge could order him or her to wear an electronic monitoring device.

Jensen said the amendment makes the procedure conform to “more of a criminal process” which increases the standard of proof and does more to protect constitutional guarantees. Under the Senate change, judges rather than law enforcement would assess the likelihood of violence and local prosecutors would have to attend any domestic violence hearings to advise the accuser of her options, including filing assault charges against the alleged abuser. That, Jensen said, would allow the judge to order the monitoring device to be worn in lieu of jail while awaiting trial as part of pre-trial release.

Ernie Lewis of the Kentucky Criminal Defense Lawyers Association praised the Senate’s changes.

The amended bill also will restrict areas from which the accused is barred to the alleged victim’s residence, place of employment or school. That’s a much more reasonable restriction. Particularly in a small community, an accused abuser could unintentionally come into close proximity of his alleged victim simply by going through his normal activities.

By forcing those who have previously violated domestic violence orders to wear GPS monitors that will sound an alarm when they are near their alleged victim, the amended law still will give victims of domestic violence added protection without unreasonably limiting where an alleged abuser can go.

Stumbo said the Senate committee’s action on his bill was “a positive sign” and it’s possible the House might concur with the changes and avoid having to go to conference on the bill. That’s what it should do. The Senate has strengthened the bill.

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Senate committee changes improve ‘Amanda’s Law’

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