TBA Law Blog

TBA Law Blog

Bills Aim to Protect Domestic Violence Victims from Defendants on Bail

Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Mar 21, 2022

Two new bills pending before the Tennessee General Assembly aim to protect domestic violence victims while their attacker is awaiting a court date, the Tennessean reports. One would require defendants accused of committing lethal acts of domestic violence to wear a GPS monitoring device as a condition of bail. The other would raise the bail amount in these cases, making it more costly to secure pretrial release. The bills are supported by Alex Youn, who has become a victim advocate after his sister, Marie Varsos, and mother, Debbie Sisco, were killed last April by Varsos’ husband, who was on bail from previously attacking Varsos. Youn testified before the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee and Senate Judiciary Committee last week. Both bills passed the House subcommittee and now are headed to the full Criminal Justice Committee. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to consider the bills this week.

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