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Getty Images
A young child stops to look at a makeshift
memorial and a missing person's banner offering a half-million dollar reward
for the safe return of Laci Peterson at the East La Loma Park January 4, 2003
in Modesto, California.
[PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.abc10.com/mb/news/politics/elections/laci-petersons-family-takes-stake-in-californias-death-penalty-debate/343882753]
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INTERNET SOURCE: http://fox40.com/2016/10/27/victims-families-have-different-opinions-on-california-death-penalty/
Victims’ Families Have Different Opinions on California Death Penalty
MODESTO
-- Laci Peterson’s mother spoke in favor of
Proposition 66 in Modesto on Thursday.
She,
along with district attorneys, sheriffs and other law enforcement leaders in
the Central Valley rallied in support of the proposition that would amend
the state’s death penalty system by shortening the time of legal challenges.
However,
those who oppose argue, a "yes" vote would create trouble for
taxpayers and more heartbreak for victims' families.
Senseless
killings claimed the lives of both Beth Webb’s and Sharon Rocha’s loved ones.
Webb’s
sister, Laura Webb, was one of eight people gunned down in Southern California
in 2011. Her killer, Scott Dekraii, pleaded guilty to the killings two years
ago but has not been sentenced.
While
Rocha’s daughter, Laci Peterson, was murdered by her own husband, Scott
Peterson, in 2002. He, too, has been convicted and is now sitting on death row.
But both
women, while hurt by tragedy, have different views on Proposition 66.
"I
don’t think we should do away with the death penalty. I think it needs to be
changed, which is what 66 is all about,” Rocha
said.
"We
are in a process that is decades away from being finalized and Prop 66 cannot
solve that,” Webb said.
In a
press conference on Thursday, Rocha, with law enforcement leaders, praised Prop
66 and claimed it would be the answer to delays and inefficiencies with the
state’s current system.
"No.
1 it will expedite the process,” Rocha
said.
Prop 66
would speed up the legal process and appoint attorneys to those convicted when
they’re sentenced.
"No.
2, they will be able to have their appeals lawyers much earlier as opposed to
seven, 10 years down the road,”
Rocha said.
But Webb,
who spoke to us via Skype, believes California cannot handle these potential
changes.
"It’s
not going to happen. We don’t have the drugs, they don’t have the lawyers,” she
said.
Webb also
believes ending a life is not the answer. She believes a convicted killer
should spend their life behind bars, without the possibility of parole.
"We
are not willing to kill one innocent person in a flawed death penalty system,”
Webb said.
While
both women are pulling voters in different directions, they’re united that
through some way they can do right by Laci and by Laura.
"I
miss her with every fiber of being. And I’m not going to do her the disservice
of letting … his hatred swallow us up,” Webb said.
"It’s
something everybody needs to think about seriously,” Rocha said.
Webb’s
sister’s killer will be in court on Friday in Orange County.
If
passed, Prop 66 would also allow California to house death penalty inmates in
other prisons outside of San Quentin.
INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.abc10.com/mb/news/politics/elections/laci-petersons-family-takes-stake-in-californias-death-penalty-debate/343882753
Laci Peterson's family takes stake in
California's death penalty debate
Sami Gallegos, KXTV
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Sharon Rocha, the
mother of Laci Peterson, spoke out Thursday in Modesto, Calif., on the state
death penalty propositions – 62 and 66. Laci Peterson, and her unborn son,
Conner, were killed by Scott Peterson, who sits on San Quentin's Death Row.
Rocha, Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson and Laura Krieg, Tuolumne
County District Attorney, urged voters to vote No on 62 and Yes on 66.
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Whether or not you're in favor of capital
punishment, both sides of the debate say the system is flawed.
Two competing ballot measures going before voters
this year offer distinct solutions -- repeal the death penalty, or approve an
attempt to shorten the process. The latter measure, Prop. 66, speeds up the
process by amending statues that allow for legal challenges, which cause
California's backlog of death row executions.
The nonpartisan Legislative Analysts Office found
that accelerating the process with Prop. 66 would hit state courts with tens of
millions of dollars in yearly costs, but it might also save the state prisons
tens of millions of dollars each year.
Death penalty
sentences can be challenged either by a direct appeal or a habeas corpus
petition.
Since the
death penalty became California law in 1978, 930 people have received the
sentence, 15 have been executed and 103 have died while behind bars. Courts
have reduced 64 sentences.
- Require habeas corpus petitions first be heard in the trial courts
- Place time limits on legal challenges to death sentences
- Change the process for appointing attorneys to represent condemned inmates
- Make various other changes.
Modesto murderer Scott Peterson
is one of the 748 death row inmates currently in state prison. In 2002,
Peterson was convicted in 2004 for the murder of his wife, Laci, and their
unborn son, Conner.
"Scott Peterson
murdered my daughter and his unborn child," Laci's mom Sharon
Rocha said during a Thursday press conference urging the public to pass
Prop. 66.
Rocha and members of law
enforcement were also pushing for a 'No' vote on the measure to repeal the
death penalty, Prop. 62. Rocha said there is a possibility Peterson could be
released on parole if 62 passes and his sentence is reverted to a life in
prison.
"He is there for a
reason," Rocha said.
Stanislaus County
Sheriff Adam Christianson took a strong stand against the repeal
measure, saying it would deny victims' families justice.
"Why are we
allowing the killers to continue to live their life -- all be it in prison --
or, as was previously mentioned, even the remote possibility of getting out
because the proponents want to repeal the death penalty," Christianson said. "It's
time for California and its citizens to stand up for justice. Justice for our
victims."
If voters approve both measures,
the initiative with the most votes becomes law.
A statewide poll conducted
by the
CALSPEAKS Opinion Research Center at Sacramento State found Prop. 62 was
the only measure on the ballot a majority of people did not support. It fell
into the survey's margin of error, while 'Yes' on Prop. 66 was up 51-20.
Copyright 2016 KXTV
October 27,
2016 4:42 PM
Scott Peterson
deserves death for ’02 double murder, mother-in-law says
By Garth Stapley
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Tuolumne County
Sheriff Jim Mele speaks as local law enforcement officials gathered to
encourage people to vote for Prop 66 in Modesto, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 27,
2016. Andy Alfaro aalfaro@modbee.com
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With misty eyes and firm resolve,
Laci Peterson’s mother stood before news cameras in Modesto once again to
remind people what it means to lose loved ones at the hands of a killer.
“I support the death
penalty because some crimes just warrant the death penalty,” Sharon Rocha said Thursday, less than two weeks
before a statewide election that could decide whether capital punishment is
abolished or expedited in California. She and a roomful of authorities hope
voters reject Proposition 62 and embrace Proposition 66.
Scott Peterson murdered my daughter
and his unborn child. He is (on death row) for a reason.
Sharon Rocha, Laci Peterson’s
mother
“Scott Peterson
murdered my daughter and his unborn child,” Rocha, 64, said of her son-in-law, who’s on death row. “He is there for a reason.”
Three days before Thursday’s
press conference, Scott Peterson turned 44. He arrived at San Quentin 11 years
ago, after a blockbuster trial that convinced jurors he killed his pregnant
wife just before Christmas 2002 and dumped her in San Francisco Bay, where the
bodies of mother and fetus washed up four months later.
As with all of California’s 749 death row inmates, Peterson has appealed and awaits his turn before the state Supreme
Court. But challenges of lethal-injection protocol have stalled executions in
this state, where no inmate has been put to death since 2006.
The ineffectiveness has polarized
opinions and prompted the rival initiatives. Proposition 62 supporters say commuting death sentences to
life in prison is more humane, less costly and eliminates the risk of executing
innocent people accused in error, while Proposition 66 advocates say the death penalty is a
deterrent and faster executions would save taxpayer money.
If both pass, the one with more
votes will prevail.
We need to amend, not end, the death penalty.
Laura Krieg,
Tuolumne County district attorney
The latest Field Poll suggests both are struggling to capture majority
support among likely voters. With only days left to sway large numbers of
undecideds, both sides are pouring big money into ad campaigns.
Proposition 66 supporters on
Thursday brought out Rocha as well as Laci Peterson’s close friend, Stacey
Boyers, flanked by sheriffs and district attorneys from four counties –
Stanislaus, Merced, San Joaquin and Tuolumne.
“We will always stand
with victims of crime,”
Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson said. “It’s
time to stand up for justice.”
Birgit Fladager led the team that
prosecuted Scott Peterson before being elected Stanislaus County’s district
attorney in 2006. Since then, her office three times has secured life-sentence
pleas, without going through costly trials: Columbus Allen Jr. II, who murdered
California Highway Patrol Officer Earl Scott in 2006; Jesse Frost, who knifed
to death his mother, sister and brother-in-law in Riverbank in 2009; and
Cameron Terhune, who shot his parents in Del Rio in 2010. None would have
bargained, Fladager said, without the threat of a possible death penalty
hanging over their heads.
In 1999, Jim Mele – now Tuolumne
County sheriff – helped investigate the slayings of three Yosemite sightseers
in another crime that captured headlines across the United States and beyond,
ending with a death sentence for Cary Stayner.
“We’re talking about a
man who is evil, who needs to be put to death,” Mele said.
Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke
urged voters to “have faith that what we’re talking about is the right thing to
do.”
Of anywhere in California,
support for Proposition 66 is strongest in the conservative-leaning Central
Valley, said the mid-September Field Poll conducted by Field Research Corp. and the
Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley. And nowhere was there less
support for Proposition 62 than here, the poll found.
But the reverse was true for
voters throughout all of California, where the poll found only 35 percent
inclined to vote for Proposition 66 compared to 48 percent who liked
Proposition 62.
Latest disclosures show $5
million raised in support of Proposition 66, and $7.3 million for Proposition
62, according to The Sacramento Bee. Opponents of the measures had collected
$1.5 million to fight Proposition 66, and $13.7 million to oppose Proposition
62.
Four years ago, California voters
narrowly rejected a similar drive to abolish the death penalty, but polls
suggest support has eroded in recent years.
It’s about justice, a local jury saying, ‘This is appropriate for this
person.’
Mike Harden, former
Modesto police chief
“It’s about justice, a local jury
saying, ‘This is appropriate for this person,’ ” said Mike Harden, former
police chief in Modesto and Oakdale.
In the first few years after her
daughter’s murder, Rocha
advocated for victims’ rights and stiff penalties for killers, and was an
invited guest when President George W. Bush signed related legislation in 2004.
With the passage of time, she’s still willing to make appearances for the right
cause, but it can be difficult, she said after cameras were turned off
Thursday.
“Going back to 2002, to
bring it all up again, is not an easy thing to do,” Rocha said.
“Before all of this, I
never spoke in public,” she
continued. “Laci probably would be saying, ‘My mother
is doing what?’ It makes a difference when you have a purpose.”
Garth Stapley: 209-578-2390
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