DENHAM SPRINGS — Brandon Chenevert, the man accused of hitting and killing 20-year-old Jody Mann in a hit-and-run crash on Reinninger Road, was back in court for a preliminary examination on Tuesday.

The hearing was continued to August after Chenevert's lawyer was unable to attend. His bond had been revoked in February.

Mann's family and friends were outside the courtroom that morning holding signs demanding justice for her.

Mann was walking along Reinninger Road on March 29 around 9 p.m. when she was struck by a vehicle. She died April 16 in the hospital after fighting for weeks to survive.

Troopers say she was struck by Chenevert, who was arrested days later after two anonymous tips reportedly identified him as the driver. He was booked on charges including felony hit and run, negligent injuring and obstruction of justice.

For three weeks, Mann was in and out of surgeries until she suffered a stroke and was declared brain dead.

Her mother, Holly Crow, has been fighting for change since her daughter's death. She worked with State Rep. Vanessa Lafleur earlier this year to push a bill through the Louisiana legislature.

"This bill, 806, is intended to strengthen Louisiana's hit-and-run statute. We're hoping to get it through the process and it will become Jody's Law," Lafleur said during a committee meeting in April.

Gov. Jeff Landry signed the bill into law and Jody's Law goes into effect Aug. 1. It creates an alert system that shares information like the description of the vehicle, injuries and the direction the car took off in with all law enforcement agencies in the state after a hit-and-run occurs. That system will be managed by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections along with State Police.

"That essentially gets the information out quicker, so the people can be found quicker. It gives them less time to destroy evidence or hide or anything else they might do," Crow said.

The law also requires the accused to go before a judge before getting bail.

"With Jody's case, the person was arrested and was out by the time we were even notified that they had been arrested," Crow said.

Crow says she plans to continue working on more legislation related to hit-and-run laws in the next legislative session.

"We will be there at every court date. We're not letting this go; we're not backing down on it. My daughter deserved way better than she got and I will fight for that," Crow said.