On a brisk January morning, Jackie Olsen strode into her state representative's Sumter law office with a thick pile of papers under her arm. She hadn't told Rep. Murrell Smith why she had requested the appointment.

That became apparent quickly enough as Olsen handed him a stack of newspaper articles, arrest warrants and court documents detailing the gruesome slaying of her sister by a stalker in Charleston.

Smith was floored. "The more she explained, the more horrified I was that something like that could occur," he said.

Olsen wasn't looking for his sympathy. She wanted change to prevent such a tragedy from occurring again.

On Friday, she got her wish, standing alongside the Sumter Republican, other state lawmakers and family members as Gov. Mark Sanford held a ceremonial signing of Mary Lynn's Law, a tough new anti-stalking measure that bears her sister's name.The ceremony was held in the Charleston County Courthouse, a half-mile from where Mary Lynn Witherspoon was strangled in her Tradd Street home in November 2003. Edmonds Tennent Brown IV killed the 53-year-old French teacher just days after he was released from jail and ordered to get mental health treatment.

Brown had been arrested five months earlier after breaking into Witherspoon's laundry room and stealing her underwear. She apparently was unaware of his release before he showed up at her door and strangled her, leaving her body floating in a bathtub.

Among other things, Mary Lynn's Law bars those charged with or convicted of stalking from entering mental health court or other diversion programs, strengthens victim notification requirements and allows judges to order mental health evaluations before setting bail for alleged stalkers.

Olsen and her family were determined to see such protections become law. "There was no way I could let this end with her death. We had to do something to make a difference," Olsen said. "I was just driven by my love for Mary Lynn. I couldn't let her down."

After learning about Witherspoon's case, Smith readily agreed to help and drafted proposed legislation within a week.

Olsen knew little about the internal machinations of the legislature, so she depended on insiders such as Smith and Laura Hudson, public policy director for the South Carolina Victim Assistance Network, to point her in the right direction. She became a fixture in the House and Senate, showing up two or three days a week to keep track of the bill and companion legislation as they passed through the chambers.

"She spent more time in the Statehouse than probably most legislators this session," Smith said.

Another supporter, Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, recalled Olsen standing in the balcony and looking down on the chamber, watching to see who tried to derail the bill. He warned opponents that they would have to answer to her if they voted against the measure.

She and her family stayed strong, but it wasn't easy. Jane Whelchel, Witherspoon's daughter, said it was extremely difficult to share pain and grief with strangers and representatives from government agencies whose actions the family felt were partly responsible for her mother's death.

In the end, however, Witherspoon's relatives were pleased with the law that emerged, despite some compromises along the way.

Sanford said the law strengthens protections for victims and preserves their right to carry on with their lives without fear of some "strange nut walking around stalking them."

"Women, just as men, deserve that most fundamental of all human rights: the freedom to go where they want to go, when they want to go," he said.

Sanford later signed the law at a desk beside framed photographs of Witherspoon, including one taken at her daughter's wedding, the two of them smiling side by side. Whelchel, Olsen and Witherspoon's two other sisters, Kay Felks and Jenny Loftis, stood nearby, still having a hard time believing they had succeeded in making a change in just a matter of months.

"We were told it could take years," Whelchel said. "To have it pass so quickly is just a testament to (Witherspoon) and mirrors what a wonderful person she was."

MARY LYNN'S LAW

The law strengthens state anti-stalking laws. Among other things, it:

-- Bars people charged with or convicted of stalking, harassment or a violent offense from participating in mental health court, drug court or other diversion programs. The ban also applies to those under a restraining order.

-- Bars convicted stalkers from participating in work-release programs.

-- Lets judges require mental health evaluations of stalking suspects before setting bail.

-- Requires that bond hearing judges be provided with incident reports related to stalking and harassment offenses and criminal histories of the suspects.

-- Creates more defined charges and penalties for stalking and harassment.

-- Bolsters provisions to notify victims when defendants in stalking cases are released from treatment or jail.

-- Creates a task force to examine and design statewide standards for the operation of mental health courts.