(Newberry) Dec. 28, 2004 - The man authorities accuse of ambushing a Newberry County woman in her car is out of jail, even though he has been convicted of that type of crime before.

James Lamar Smith was convicted of criminal domestic violence for the first time in 1997, when according police reports he pushed and hit a woman, causing her ear to bleed and her eye to swell. Smith didn't serve any time.

In August of this year, Smith was arrested and convicted a second time. Reports say he hit the mother of his child in the face, her right eye swollen shut. He served two weeks.

Last week another woman said Smith hid in the trunk of her car, popping out and grabbing the steering wheel when she tried to drive away. She said she threw the car in park, got out and escaped.

Smith is still walking the streets. Chief Judge Mark English set Smith's bond, "I felt the bond was substantial at $50,000 and that's what the bond was set at."

English notes that making bond is not a determination of the case, "If that defendant makes that bond, he is, he or she has just been charged with an offense, they have not been found guilty."

Vicki Bouriss helps battered women. She says the law needs to be stronger, "There are so many cases where the woman ends up dead at the hands of the perp that's been arrested, rearrested, convicted and treated and arrested again."

Lawmakers are making a stand on the issue. Representative Gilda Cobb Hunter has prefiled a criminal domestic violence bill that among other things would require a person convicted of criminal domestic violence to serve a mandatory minimum of 30 days in jail after their second conviction.

Reported by Kara Gormley

Posted 6:30pm by Chantelle Janelle