Mom: Proposed Law 'Would Have Saved My Daughter's Life'
"Amanda's bill" would require domestic violence suspects to wear GPS trackers.
Jan. 11, 2010— -- At least a dozen states are now using GPS monitoring to try to keep those accused of domestic violence away from their victims, and Kentucky lawmakers might follow suit this week with a bill that hits very close to home. One of their former colleagues, Steve Nunn, was charged in the high-profile killing of ex-girlfriend Amanda Ross, for whom the bill is named.
Amanda Ross' mother said the law "would have saved my daughter's life if it would have been in place.
"She would not have stepped out her door that morning if she had had a GPS tracking device on her perpetrator," Diana Ross said today on "Good Morning America."
Steve Nunn, a former state legislator and son of the late Kentucky governor Louie Nunn, was deputy secretary of Kentucky's Health and Family Service agency last February when Ross reported him to the police on domestic violence charges.
A judge issued an order of protection against Nunn, 57, that ordered him to stay away from Ross, 29, and he lost his job. But Ross' family lost much more.
On Sept. 11, Ross was fatally shot as she walked to her car in downtown Lexington. Later that day, police found Nunn at his family's cemetery with his wrist slit, holding a gun. Nunn had just ordered a tombstone listing Sept. 11. as the date of his death. He said his injuries had been self-inflicted.
Nunn pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and violating a protection order, but could face the death penalty.
Meanwhile, Ross' family is looking for more than a conviction. It's now pushing for new state legislation that would protect victims of domestic violence.
Diana Ross played a central role in the creation of "Amanda's bill," new state legislation that would require those served with orders of protection to wear a tracking device so police -- and potential victims -- could keep tabs on their whereabouts.
According to the federal Electronic Monitoring Resource Center at Denver University, 12 states currently have laws allowing judges to order people to wear GPS monitors that send an alarm to victims and police if the perpetrator enters areas restricted by the order of protection.
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