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Placer County District Attorney Brad R. Fenocchio, left, and former Rep. Doug Ose turned nearly 22,000 signatures over to the Placer County Clerk-Recorder-Elections office in Auburn on Monday. Photo by Don Chaddock.
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Nearly 22,000 signatures were turned in Monday to the county Clerk-Recorder’s office in Auburn as part of a campaign to get a comprehensive crime victims’ bill of rights on the November ballot.
Placer County District Attorney Brad Fenocchio and former Rep. Doug Ose were on hand to turn the boxes of signatures over as part of a statewide effort to get the measure, known as “Marsy’s Law: Crime Victims’ Bill of Rights Act of 2008,” before the voters.
More than 1.2 million signatures were submitted statewide, according to local Marsy’s Law campaign director Mitch Zak.
Marsy’s Law would give a voice to the victim or family of the victim, the same rights defendants currently enjoy, according to Ose.
“This is a great step forward for protecting the rights of victims and families,” Ose said. “This is one of the most serious things a public official must face, providing an adequate level of public safety.”
The measure seeks to provide for the safety of victims and their families as well as keep them informed during the entire process from arrest to parole.
“This law would keep victims and their families informed and present at all stages during the justice process,” Fenocchio said.
Some of the victims’ rights include protection from a defendant; to have the safety of the victim and the victim’s family considered in fixing the amount of bail and release conditions; to refuse an interview, deposition, or discovery request by the defendant; notice of all public proceedings and to be present at all such proceedings; to be treated with fairness and respect for privacy and dignity and to be free from intimidation, harassment, and abuse, throughout the criminal or justice process; and to be informed, upon request, of the conviction, sentence, place and time of incarceration, or other disposition of the defendant, the scheduled release date of the defendant, and the release of or the escape by the defendant from custody.
The measure also seeks to reform the parole system by removing the current practice of allowing prisoners with life sentences to have parole hearings every year.
“Defendants get a chance to speak,” Fenocchio said. “But, many times, the victims don’t get a chance to try to influence the court (by) telling them how their lives have been affected.”
To qualify for the November ballot, the measure needs 768,000 verified signatures. A simple majority of votes in November is all that’s needed for passage, according to Zak.
The measure is named after 21-year-old college student Marsy Leach who was brutally murdered in southern California in 1983 by her ex-boyfriend.
Two weeks after her murder, the victim’s mother, Marcella, walked into a grocery store and bumped into the suspect, who had been released on bail. The family had not been notified of his release.
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