Anti-Stalking Reform Law Gets Tough on Bail

Gov. Gray Davis on Thursday signed a tough anti-stalking law that sponsors say might have saved the life of a Ventura woman terrorized and then murdered last fall by her estranged boyfriend.

The law, backed by Ventura County prosecutors and Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), allows authorities to jail suspected stalkers without bail if they violate a restraining order.

The reform was sparked by the December slaying of 37-year-old east Ventura hair stylist Vicki Shade, who was stabbed to death by ex-boyfriend Roland Sheehan, who was killed by police during the attack. Although charged with felony stalking and 15 violations of a restraining order, Sheehan had been released on $20,000 bail.

“If this bill had been in effect, [Sheehan] would have been in jail and not able to murder her,” Jackson said. “I used the situation of Vicki Shade as a model of how things really are.

“The time between arrest and trial in a stalking case is the most volatile,” said Jackson, a family law attorney. “It’s a time of tremendous danger, and that’s where this bill connects with Vicki Shade. It’s too late for her, but it will protect others.”

In California, nearly one-third of all female murder victims are killed by their husbands or boyfriends, Jackson said, citing law enforcement statistics.

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Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Lela Henke-Dobroth said the stalking law provides an array of new protections.

“Before, a stalker would be arrested and come right back out,’ she said. “It was like a revolving door.”

Other provisions of the bill would stiffen the law by expanding the categories of victims allowed to face their tormentors in court before the defendants can be released on bail.

It would also add two offenses that often occur in domestic violence cases--making threats and witness intimidation--to the list of felonies that would prompt extra victim protections.

Among those protections is a mandatory bail hearing when accused stalkers request a bail below the county’s standard for domestic violence. Prosecutors also would be required to notify the stalking victim of the hearing, and the victim would be allowed to testify.

A third protection is a requirement that the county Sheriff’s Department notify prosecutors before accused stalkers are released on bail.

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Following the wording of existing laws on domestic violence, Jackson’s bill does not require a bail hearing in every stalking case. A judge may release the defendant without a formal hearing if the recommended bail follows county guidelines.

But as a practical matter, prosecutors almost always request a bail hearing in stalking and felony domestic violence cases, prosecutors say.

Two weeks after Shade’s death, Ventura County judges increased the recommended bail for felony stalking from $20,000 to $100,000. The new law generally leaves bail amounts in the hands of judges.

Ventura County Dist. Atty. Michael Bradbury’s office wrote the proposed legislation and Henke-Dobroth traveled to Sacramento to testify in its behalf.