LANSING - According to a ruling by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Monday, convicted stalkers will not succeed in efforts to appeal their sentences.
The ruling is consistent with state laws that took effect in 1993, which the court found constitutional.
The appeals court overturned U.S. District Court Judge Richard Enslen’s decision that declared the laws too vague and thus unconstitutional.
Michigan Attorney General Jennifer Granholm filed the appeal in the case of convicted stalker Jerry Lee Staley. She announced the ruling at a press conference Monday in Lansing.
“This is a big victory for domestic violence victims in Michigan,” Granholm said.
State Sen. Dianne Byrum, D-Onondaga, drafted two bills of the four-bill anti-stalking package when she served as a state representative.
“(A) great amount of effort was made to make sure these laws were constitutionally legal,” Byrum said Monday.
Byrum said she filed a legal brief to shed light on the intentions of the bill’s author. When the brief was filed in August 2000, 126 people were in prison, convicted under these laws.
Byrum was pleased with the ruling.
“Michigan stalking laws were touted as the strongest and best in the nation when they went into effect in the early 1990s,” she said.
State Sen. William Van Regenmorter, R-Georgetown Township, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he wasn’t surprised the law was upheld.
“We knew in committee that it was a well-crafted bill and should survive constitutional challenge, as it has,” he said.
Van Regenmorter said he was initially concerned when the laws were overturned by the district court in July 2000.
“The lower court had essentially invalidated the felony stalking law, a decision that put a number of Michigan stalking victims at risk,” he said.
Upholding the laws allow authorities to continue to use them to prosecute cases.
“It is obviously a tool that we have to assist victims that are being stalked or harassed,” East Lansing police Capt. Juli Liebler said.
Before the laws were enacted, Liebler said there was a hole in the system when it came to stalking.
“In fact, prior to that law being implemented, we had a problem dealing with those types of issues. It was difficult when someone was being stalked or harassed to take action,” she said.
The court’s decision was praised by those who assist victims of stalking.
“I was hoping they would uphold the statute, because stalking is a problem that affects more people than you would want to believe,” said Diane Windischman, coordinator of the sexual assault, crisis and safety education program at MSU.
Windischman said previous laws did not offer enough protection.
“The stalking behavior is subtler than other crimes, you need a broader scope to address it,” she said.
