COLUMBIA, S.C. - A bill that could strengthen anti-stalking laws in South Carolina has been approved in the House.

The bill was dubbed "Mary Lynn's Law" after a Charleston woman was strangled in her home in November 2003 by a man who had been sent to jail five months earlier for breaking in her laundry room.

Rep. Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, said the bill passed Wednesday closes loopholes that left victims vulnerable.

"Though we can't go back to make amends for that horrible crime, this bill will hopefully strengthen the system for everyone else," he said.

The bill would require police to give judges incident reports on stalking cases before bail is set. It also adds an aggravated stalking charge with a 10-year penalty, Smith said.

Amendments tacked onto the bill, including a proposed requirement that psychiatric evaluations be done on accused stalkers within 10 days of their arrest, have weakened it, Smith said. The bill now says that "every reasonable effort" must be made to meet that deadline, he said.

Also eliminated was a ban on automated systems notifying stalking victims of a suspect's release. The bill now requires law enforcement to make personal visits if those systems fail three times to reach a victim, Smith said.

The namesake of the bill, Mary Lynn Witherspoon, was killed just days after the man who had been stalking her was released from jail and ordered to get mental health treatment.