Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 21, 1994 TAG: 9403210066
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Janice Curtis is afraid that someday he will, and that no court of law can stop him.
Curtis says King has been stalking her for years, refusing to let go of a relationship that ended - at least on paper - with a divorce in 1989.
She had him charged under Virginia's new stalking law in 1992. Even though she had more success with the law than many people, obtaining a conviction and a maximum six-month sentence, King was right back in her shadow after serving his time.
"It was just a matter of days or hours, and there he was again . . . just like he was possessed, in a sense," Curtis said.
Prosecutors say the case illustrates the shortcomings of the stalking statute, even when it works in court. The very person for whom the law was designed - a fixated, abusive ex-husband or boyfriend - is often the least affected by it.
"If a person is really dedicated to seeking somebody out, the courts can't stop him," said Dennis Nagel, the Roanoke assistant commonwealth's attorney who is prosecuting King.
The best that prosecutors can do is try to keep King, 28, locked up for as long as possible.
Nagel has filed a motion asking that King get more jail time for violating his probation, based on his alleged threats in court March 8. King's comments were loud enough for everyone in the courtroom to hear them, Nagel said.
King was sent back to prison March 8 because he made threatening phone calls to Curtis' family. The judge reinstated three of nine years that were suspended for an earlier robbery conviction, for which King served one year in prison.
Even though Curtis is in hiding - King doesn't know her new address or unlisted telephone number - she doesn't feel safe unless he is in jail.
Since 1989, King has been convicted of trespassing at Curtis' old home, assaulting her and her new husband, stalking her and threatening her relatives.
Last year, he was convicted of robbery by violence when he stripped an engagement ring from Curtis' finger during a scuffle outside her home.
Court records show that as soon as King was released from jail on one conviction, he would be charged with another offense.
"The more I go to court, the more it's like the tables are turning, and they're protecting him, and I'm the victim now," Curtis said.
"I think he's using the system to his advantage. He knows what he can and cannot do . . . I feel that one day he's going to decide, `I'm going to finish this off, and I'm going to kill her.' "
by CNB