Leo Terrell: California Democrats allowing criminals to get out of jail
Civil rights attorney Leo Terrell calls out Los Angeles County for pushing a new proposal to lower jail population.
A new California bill would let some of the state's worst criminals, murderers and serial rapists walk out of prison despite sentences of death or life without parole.
The bill was written by state Sen. Dave Cortese and co-authors, including San Francisco's Sen. Scott Wiener, who wrote a prior bill that decreased the punishment for knowingly infecting someone with HIV.
It would let some of the state's worst killers and rapists go free after serving 20 years, despite far longer sentences.
"This bill would authorize an individual sentenced to death or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for a conviction in which one or more special circumstances were found to be true to petition for recall and resentencing if the offense occurred before June 5, 1990, and the individual has served at least 20 years in custody," the legislation reads. "The bill would authorize the court to modify the petitioner’s sentence to impose a lesser sentence and apply any changes in law that reduce sentences or provide for judicial discretion, or to vacate the petitioner’s conviction and impose judgment on a lesser included offense."
CALIFORNIA MURDER VICTIM'S FAMILY APPALLED BY GASCON PUSH TO DROP KILLER'S DEATH SENTENCE
Lieutenant Sam Robinson, a public information officer at San Quentin State Prison, knocks on the door to the East Block for condemned prisoners during a media tour of California's death row in San Quentin, California, on Dec. 29, 2015. (REUTERS/Stephen Lam)
The bill was referred to the state Senate's Appropriations Committee on Tuesday.
"It is a slap in the face to victims, who were told that these people would go away for life without the possibility of parole," state Assemblyman James Gallagher, the body’s Republican leader, told Fox News Digital Wednesday.
It's part of an incremental push to empty the state's prisons, he said, which first began with opposition to the death penalty and has expanded over the past decade.
"And with California’s track record right now, these are people who are going to end up being released, who committed murders, rapes, unfathomable crimes against Californians," Gallagher added. "It’s a dangerous and completely unthinkable policy."
Lieutenant Sam Robinson, a public information officer at San Quentin State Prison, knocks on the door to the East Block for condemned prisoners during a media tour of California's Death Row in San Quentin, California December 29, 2015. America's most populous state, which has not carried out an execution in a decade, begins 2016 at a pivotal juncture, as legal developments hasten the march toward resuming executions, while opponents seek to end the death penalty at the ballot box. (REUTERS/Stephen Lam)
The bill has received criticism from prominent Democrats as well.
"The people supporting this should really be ashamed of themselves," said Jonathan Hatami, a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles who is running to replace the county's current DA, George Gascon. "I’m a Democrat, and I’m 100% against this. I'm also a dad and a caring human being."
The bill's primary impact would be beneficial to the worst of the worst, he said: murderers who were also convicted of additional special circumstance allegations, and serial rapists.
Read the bill text (Mobile users go here)
"SB 94 is another slap in the face to victims and their families," said Kathy Cady, a California lawyer and former prosecutor. She argued that the proposal would "violate the will of the People," and in particular, Marsy's Law, the Victims' Bill of Rights Act.
LOS ANGELES COUNTY JURY AWARDS $1.5M TO PROSECUTOR SUING DA GEORGE GASCON FOR RETALIATION
Robert Galvan, who is on death row for murder, speaks to members of the media at the Adjustment Center yard during a media tour of California's death row at San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin, California, on Dec. 29, 2015. Galvan, who was sentenced to death in 2000, would not be eligible for resentencing under the proposed new law, which would benefit prisoners sentenced prior to June 5, 1990. (REUTERS/Stephen Lam)
That law, which guarantees victims' rights, she explained, provides that: "Victims of crime are entitled to finality in their criminal cases. Lengthy appeals and other post-judgment proceedings that challenge criminal convictions, frequent and difficult parole hearings that threaten to release criminal offenders, and the ongoing threat that the sentences of criminal wrongdoers will be reduced, prolong the suffering of crime victims for many years after the crimes themselves have been perpetrated. This prolonged suffering of crime victims and their families must come to an end.’"
Cady said the new bill is both unconstitutional and a violation of victims' rights, which include a right to be heard at sentencing — especially if resentencing is done by stipulation or in secret.
Last year, Gascon's office pushed to transfer a convicted murderer named Scott Forrest Collins off of death row. He had kidnapped and murdered construction worker Fred Rose on his lunch break, stealing his car and $200. Collins' rap sheet already included throwing a Molotov cocktail, stabbing a man in the back and carjacking a woman, and he was out on parole for another robbery when he murdered Rose, a 41-year-old father of three.
Cady represented Rose's family, who opposed his removal from death row.
Left: Fred Rose and his family in an undated photo taken by his stepfather. Right: Convicted murderer and death row inmate Scott Forrest Collins in a 2007 prison photo. (Bob Baker, San Quentin State Prison)
Gascon's special adviser at the time, Alex Bastian, argued that the progressive prosecutor was not seeking Collins' release, just to have him resentenced to life without parole.
"We’re not asking for his release, we’re asking that his sentence be commuted to life without the possibility of parole," he told Fox News Digital. "That is something that is, I think, important to note. We are not asking that he be resentenced to something that would put him in front of a parole board."
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SB 94 would give a crack at freedom to both those on death row and serving life without parole. Collins, after being removed from death row, died in custody earlier this year.
In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered a moratorium on executions in California, but more than 600 inmates remain on death row.
Fox News' Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
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