LISA GREEN: PROP. 66 PRESERVES JUSTICE AND PUBLIC SAFETY

  

Lisa Green has been the Kern County District Attorney since 2010.

Prop. 66 preserves justice and public safety

By Lisa Green

Oct 7, 2016

The death penalty in California is broken. There is virtually nobody who disagrees with this statement.

There are currently 746 convicted murderers languishing on death row. Four people have been on death row since 1979. Four years ago the voters of California rejected a repeal of the death penalty with the fervent hope that lawmakers in Sacramento would fix it. The legislators resisted the attempt to amend the death penalty (and yes, there was such an attempt) and now the future of the death penalty in our state has been left to the voters. This time, voters have the opportunity to fix the death penalty with a yes vote on Proposition 66.

Much has been written about the death penalty as voters prepare to cast votes in favor of repeal (Prop. 62) or reform (Prop. 66). If both initiatives pass, the one with the greatest number of votes will become law. Some people argue the death penalty is a deterrent while others say it is not.

Some disagree with the United States Supreme Court and claim it is cruel and unusual punishment, even though it is not. Some say the risk of executing an innocent person is too high. However, the truth is there have been no innocent people executed in California, and according to Gov. Jerry Brown, no innocent people are on California’s death row. California has many safeguards in place, and will continue to have those safeguards if the reform initiative passes.

Prop. 66 reforms the death penalty by providing counsel to death row inmates in a timely manner and by housing them in prisons other than San Quentin Prison, which will result in huge savings.

Prisoners will now be required to work and pay restitution. The reform also decreases the number of post-conviction appeals that bring delay upon delay, causing victims’ family members to wonder if they will ever receive justice for the loss of their loved ones.

While there is much said by opponents of capital punishment, we do not hear very much from the families of victims who have endured unending years waiting for death sentences to be imposed. Over the course of the last few months I have had the opportunity to listen to and speak with victims’ family members from four different cases.

The loved ones killed were Ferrol Robin’s brother, Gwendolyn Turner’s husband, Mark Klaas’ 12-year-old daughter (Polly), and Kermit Alexander’s mother, sister, and two nephews (ages 8 and 13).

Ferroll Robins speaks of her brother who was murdered 15 years ago for no reason other than he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was murdered by a man who went on to murder two other innocent people. Ms. Robins speaks of her brother’s daughter, her niece, and how every happy occasion is also a time of sadness, as she reflects on the fact her brother cannot share in these moments.

Gwendolyn Turner met with me and described the heartache she felt sitting through the trial of her husband’s killer. She told me the killer didn’t seem to care. It was as if he knew even if he were convicted of two murders, he would never be executed. Mark Klaas speaks of Polly, who was abducted from her home and murdered by Richard Allen Davis, a man who had been recently paroled from prison. Kermit Alexander has waited 30 years for justice. He speaks eloquently about his loss although his voice is raw with emotion. His family was executed because the killer went to the wrong address.

Justice for these four individuals and their families is nothing less than death. If the death penalty is repealed, all death sentences will automatically be reduced to life without the possibility of parole. Justice for these murderers is not life without the possibility of parole. These murderers deserve execution. In each of these cases the trial judge who heard the evidence in the case had the opportunity to reduce the jury’s verdict but chose not to do so. Because of the brutality and wantonness of each of these crimes, none of the judges reduced the sentences.

Please help reform the death penalty in California in order to see that justice is provided to these family members. Preserve justice and public safety with a NO vote on Proposition 62 and a YES vote on Proposition 66.

Lisa Green has been the Kern County District Attorney since 2010.

INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.bakersfield.com/opinion/prop-preserves-justice-and-public-safety/article_84bb4e92-bc20-5ffb-a06a-81d7f7d0c799.html