Senator Schauer asked and was granted unanimous consent to make a statement and moved that the statement be printed in the Journal.
The motion prevailed.
Senator Schauer's statement is as follows:
This amendment is something of a proposal or a concept that I worked out with the bill sponsor, RepresentativeWenke from my area. This bill was specifically introduced as a result of a very violent, domestic violence murder which was graphically described by our prosecuting attorney during the Judiciary Committee. We worked with the Legislative Service Bureau to come up with an enacting section only for that part of the law. My understanding is that the chairman is not supportive. I wish we could work this out. We were merely attempting to name this enacting section after Deborah Moore-Foster. So what I'll do is I will withdraw the amendment, but I'll use this moment to tell you about the situation, and maybe in some small way, it will make a difference to you and impact you.
Debra Moore-Foster was a constituent in my district in Battle Creek. She was a woman who was married and in the process of ending her marriage against a very violent and abusive individual. According to our prosecutor, she did everything right. She had a personal protection order against her estranged husband. Unfortunately, he went into her home and violently murdered her--stabbed her to death. In fact, my whole community knows about this situation. Ironically, she was murdered and she resided at the time right next door to our domestic violence shelter. She literally died attempting to crawl to the shelter.
I think it would be fitting to remember her and to name this enacting section, which importantly adds aggravated stalking as justification for felony murder. Unfortunately, we were unable to work this out, but that was my effort, and I at least wanted to share that story and what precipitated this legislation.
I will withdraw the amendment, and I do ask for your "yes" vote on Representative Wenke's bill.