Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 21, 1994 TAG: 9403210006
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Two years ago this month, fear stalked a Southwest Roanoke neighborhood.
A convicted child molester, known by most people only as "the Raleigh Court stalker," showed up in the area and began to follow children as they walked to and from school.
It was frightening, infuriating and perfectly legal.
Community outrage over the incident - combined with other well-publicized cases of stalking in Virginia - prompted lawmakers to pass an emergency clause that made a new stalking law effective April 15, 1992.
Without the controversy, the law would have gone into effect in July.
The law made it illegal "on more than one occasion, to engage in conduct with the intent to cause emotional distress to another person by placing that person in reasonable fear of death or bodily injury." First-time offenders faced up to six months in jail.
Two years later, the stalking law is not working as some had expected.
Court records in Roanoke show that the statute is being used sparingly, and that convictions are even more rare.
Of 23 cases prosecuted last year in Roanoke General District Court, there were only four convictions.
The rest were either dismissed by judges or dropped by prosecutors, often at the request of the victims, according to Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell.
One reason is that, unlike the Raleigh Court case, most stalking charges involve domestic disputes in which a man seeks out an estranged wife or girlfriend.
And like many other domestic disputes that wind up in court, stalking charges are often dropped at the request of the complaining witness.
"By the time they come to court, they've often patched up their differences and don't want to proceed," Caldwell said.
And when a case is tried, lawyers say, it's difficult to prove a stalker's intent to cause emotional distress.
Salem lawyer John Gregory represented a woman who had her ex-husband charged with stalking. The case was dismissed after the defendant told a judge he was only trying to ask his wife about the custody and support arrangements of their divorce.
"It's a statute that is subject to a lot of reasonable explanations," Gregory said. "Usually there's a good reason why husband wants to talk to wife, especially when they're separated."
The law seems to work only in the most aggravated cases. If the law had been on the books two years ago, Caldwell said, it most likely could have been used effectively against the Raleigh Court stalker.
Others were not so sure.
"I have children and live in the Raleigh Court area, and I was just as upset as the other parents," Roanoke lawyer Ray Ferris said. "But as a defense attorney, I don't know how they could ever have made stalking stick in that case.
"There was just no evidence that he was intentionally placing fear in someone's mind."
The stalker always stayed on public streets or sidewalks, never said anything to the children, and always kept his distance, police said at the time.
"The law treads very closely to being unconstitutional, and the judges don't like it," Ferris said. "People have a right of association; you can come and go as you please."
Although the stalker was watched closely by police, he was never charged. By the time the stalking law went into effect, he had stopped loitering in the Raleigh Court area.
Ferris said many of his clients in domestic disputes want to use the law, but he usually advises against it. "It's an extremely difficult statute to enforce," he said.
Other jurisdictions have had no more success with the stalking law than Roanoke.
In 1993, a Richmond General District judge said the law was unconstitutional, dismissing charges against a man who attended a college student's church and attempted to get a job where she worked.
The judge said the law was too broad and gave police latitude to charge citizens exercising their constitutional rights. The ruling did not have a widespread effect on stalking cases, however.
Virginia was the second state in the nation to pass a stalking law, after California. Since then, more than 30 states have passed similar statutes.
Other laws are more narrow than Virginia's. In New York, for example, someone must have a prior conviction of domestic violence to be convicted of stalking.
Court records show that when there was a conviction for stalking in Roanoke, it often resulted in a substantial jail sentence - an indication that it took an especially aggravated case to get a conviction.
A first-time offender faces a maximum sentence of six months. If he was the subject of a protective order at the time of the offense, the maximum sentence is 12 months.
Second offenses carry a maximum 12-month jail sentence; a third conviction within five years becomes a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.
Caldwell believes the potential punishments should be increased.
"The stalking law is a good statute, and it has a lot of potential to be even better," Caldwell said. "But there are no miracle cures."
The Associated Press contributed some information to this story.
by CNB