STEPHANIE SCHMIDT: KANSAS

Stephanie's Law, named for 20 year old Stephanie Schmidt of Kansas, is a sexual predator law that allows the state to keep those convicted of sex crimes confined after they have completed their sentences, if in the judgment of professionals they should not be released.  The Kansas Supreme Court struck down the law, but the US Supreme Court upheld it.  Stephanie was killed the night of June 30, 1993, three days before her 21st birthday, after accepting a ride home from a co-worker.  She and Donald Ray Gideon had worked together briefly at a Pittsburg restaurant.  Gideon had been paroled less than a year earlier after serving 10 years for a rape and sodomy conviction.  He pleaded guilty to first degree murder, rape, kidnapping and sodomy charges in Schmidt's slaying and was sentenced to nearly 100 years behind bars.