COLUMBIA, S.C. - Lorie Boddie had been abused for more than seven years before she shot and killed her husband in 1992 when he came at her wielding a knife.

Back then, Boddie said, police officers in South Carolina had few guidelines for handling domestic violence cases. Laws put on the books in the past decade have slowly changed that and a new law signed by Gov. Mark Sanford on Tuesday continues the state's efforts to curb domestic violence, Boddie said.

The law stiffens penalties and fines for spouse batterers, requires judges to receive training on domestic violence and sets a five-year time frame for clearing a record of a criminal domestic violence conviction.

"We lead the nation in the perpetration of these types of crimes," Sanford said. This bill "is about changing that." South Carolina has one of the highest rates in the nation in the number of women killed by men.

"Nothing is more central to the quality of life than being safe in your own home and yet tragically, too many women in South Carolina haven't been able to enjoy that basic building block of freedom," Sanford said.

Boddie says the abuse began with a slap and got worse. Boddie said stronger laws 13 years ago may have prevented her husband's death.

"I think if there were some intervention such as this, it wouldn't have happened," she said. "I'm not sorry that I'm alive, but I am sorry that he's dead, that it ended this way."

Boddie pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and served seven years in prison before she was released on parole. Since then, she's earned a bachelor's degree in psychology and now works with other domestic violence victims.

With the new law, the minimum fine for a first conviction of domestic violence increases to $1,000 from $500, or 30 days in jail. But that can be suspended if the person completes a counseling program.

Penalties for second convictions increase to 30 days to one year in jail and up to $5,000 in fines. The current penalty is either 30 days in jail or a $500 fine.

The law takes effect January 1, 2006.

The domestic violence law was passed in the General Assembly after it was initially spiked by a House subcommittee. But the bill was quickly resuscitated and put on the fast track after public outcry about comments made by Rep. John Graham Altman, R-Charleston.

"I do not understand why women continue to go back around men who abuse them," Altman told a WIS-TV reporter as he explained why the bill needed to be tabled. "I've asked women that and they all tell me the same answer, 'John Graham, you don't understand.' And I say you're right, I don't understand."

Altman did not attend the signing on Tuesday. Sanford was surrounded by other co-sponsors of the bill, Reps. Bob Leach of Greer and Gloria Haskins of Greenville. Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, who wrote the original bill also attended and credited the WIS-TV report with helping revive the legislation.