DATE: Tuesday, October 21, 1997             TAG: 9710170826

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: PUBLIC SAFETY

SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  123 lines

STRIKING BACK AT STALKINGA STATE LAW GIVES VICTIMS A TOOL FOR JUSTICE BUT THE CRIME IS OFTEN DIFFICULT TO PROVE.

The stalking might start with a single phone call.

Someone expressing undying love and need for another person - who may not want the attention.

But the attention escalates. Gifts may follow, along with more unwanted calls, notes, visits and then, more threats.

Stalking is an act of psychological terror, and law enforcement officials say victims of such assaults are often too scared, frustrated and confused to report the crime.

Since the General Assembly passed a law five years ago making stalking a criminal offense, records show 293 stalking charges and 45 convictions in South Hampton Roads. Only one of those was a felony stalking charge.

No records on stalking were available for Norfolk before mid-1995. Legislators say they hope stalking convictions will increase. But it remains a hard crime to prove - in part because it is sometimes difficult for prosecutors and victims to show that something like phone calls can be linked to a threat.

The Virginia State Code describes stalking as a case in which someone, on more than one occasion, causes a reasonable fear of death, sexual assault or bodily injury to the victim or a member of the victim's family or household.

Several cases this year in South Hampton Roads have heightened the public's awareness of stalking:

Tobin Jones, a Norfolk psychiatrist who faces a murder charge in the death of his wife in 1996, was convicted of stalking another Norfolk woman earlier this year. In that case, Jones placed night lights, wine glasses, music and a puzzle outside her door and, six days later, inside her home. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail.

In August, a Portsmouth judge found Kathleen Powell, 55, guilty of stalking. The case was a rarity in Hampton Roads - Powell is one of only five local women convicted since 1992. She was found guilty of stalking Kitty Sue Hannah, who testified that Powell followed her and made threatening phone calls. One witness testified that Powell talked about hiring a hit man to kill Hannah.

Stalking charges against a former Chesapeake police officer were dismissed in Norfolk in August after a woman failed to prove that he made threatening phone calls or followed her.

The court records date from January 1992 to June 30, 1997.

Of the 24 stalking charges from circuit courts, 15 resulted in guilty verdicts. Only one of those was a felony.

In general district courts, 269 charges resulted in 30 guilty verdicts.

Added together, the 45 convictions represent 15 percent of the stalking charges.

The number of charges against men far outdistances those against women, 256 to 33. In four cases, the sex of the defendant was unclear.

Eleven of the guilty verdicts occurred in 1996 and 1997, and most of the jail sentences were delivered this year. But in many of those, the sentences were suspended or partially suspended.

David Beatty, director of public policy at the National Victims Center in Arlington, said that stalkers are being prosecuted but are sometimes charged with other crimes, such as assault, trespassing or harassment.

Law enforcement officers ``are not comfortable with the specifics that the statute requires, and they tend to fall back on those charges,'' Beatty said.

State Del. Glenn Croshaw, who was chief sponsor of the stalking bill, said the law gives victims a powerful tool to get stalkers into court.

``By and large it has brought a little more common sense into the public safety arena by allowing individuals who face a serious threat to have a chance to cut off that conduct prior to something happening,'' said Croshaw, a lawyer in Virginia Beach.

Officials say the number of convictions may increase as police, prosecutors and victims recognize the difference between being stalked and being harassed. While harassment may amount to a few bothersome incidents - perhaps prank phone calls or an unexpected visit - stalking typically is a pattern of activity that carries a threat to harm the victim.

All 50 states have laws related to stalking.

California, whose residents pushed for the legislation after the much-publicized murder of TV actress Rebecca Schaeffer by a stalker in 1989, became the first state to enact a stalking law, in 1990. It was passed after a number of high-profile cases.

In recent years, celebrities such as David Letterman, Jodie Foster and Madonna have been targeted by stalkers.

The woman who stalked Letterman for five years claimed she was his wife. She was discovered on the talk-show host's property several times, has been arrested driving his car and has appeared at his home with her own child.

In these celebrity cases, many of the stalkers have never met the famous object of their affections.

However, in the vast majority of stalking cases, the stalker and the victim are acquainted, and often have had a personal or romantic relationship.

Most law enforcement agencies do not track stalking offenses in their reports. Officials do not know exactly how many people have been stalked, but according to estimates from the National Victim Center, as many as 200,000 Americans are being stalked and about 2 million have been in the past.

Stalking can be a hard crime to identify because of its context, Beatty said. With stalking, the threats often are subtle.

The intent to harm is difficult to prove.

In one case, a man who was stalking his ex-wife sent her a blouse on a hanger, Beatty said. The gesture might seem nonthreatening, perhaps even kind, to an outsider. But the hanger was the kind he once used to beat her.

``Unless you understand the mind-set and the history of the behavior, it's difficult,'' Beatty said.

To convict someone of stalking, a prosecutor may have to show why a victim fears for his or her life.

``It has to be an educational process,'' Beatty said. ``As time goes by and as we get more expert in determining what the practices and strategies are to prove and get convictions, we'll see the (numbers) go up.''

Police officers face a similar dilemma when they document the offense, Beatty said.

But ultimately, helping to increase stalking convictions starts with the victim. Keeping every scrap of evidence possible, making videotapes, saving answering machine tapes and keeping a journal can help establish a case, experts say. MEMO: Staff writer Naomi Aoki contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

SOURCE: The Virginian-Pilot analysis of Supreme Court data

STALKING DEFINED

PROTECTING YOURSELF

LOCAL CASES

[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]

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