GREENSBORO, N.C. — A new bill in the General Assembly could change the way victims of domestic violence testify in court.
Supporters said this could reduce the anxiety of victims.
Yet, it could also encourage them to come forward without fear of confronting the person responsible.
Right now, victims who choose to testify against someone in a domestic violence case must do it in person.
This means the victim would have to potentially recount the traumatic actions they endured while having to be in the same room with the person responsible.
Senate Bill 51, known as "Kayla's Act," was presented in the State Senate after 31-year-old Kayla Hammonds was killed in Lumberton, NC last year.
She was stabbed outside a grocery store by her ex-boyfriend.
Although she had filed multiple reports against the man in the past, she was too frightened to testify against him.
If this bill were to become law, victims of domestic violence could testify by video.
Without being in the courtroom, just feet from their alleged abuser.
"One of the things survivors talk about is how intimidating it is having to face their abuser, how intimidating it is to have to sit in a courtroom where you're on the left and they're on the right waiting on your matter to be heard," said Catherine Johnson with the Family Justice Center in Greensboro.
Latia Boney is one of those survivors.
She and her mother were abused by her former stepfather more than 10 years ago.
"Even though the bailiff was there, even if the judge was there, even though my attorneys were there, even though I had multiple witnesses sitting behind me, there was so much resurfaced trauma that came simply from being in the same room with him," said Boney.
Boney says this bill would not only reduce the anxiety of speaking out against an abuser.
But it could also encourage more people to seek help without fear of having to eventually confront that person in a courtroom, face-to-face.
Kayla's Act has received bipartisan support in the State Senate.
Senators Gladys Robinson(D-Guilford) and Joyce Krawiec(R-Forsyth) co-sponsored the bill.