Monday, April 26, 2021

MASS MURDERER CARL REIMANN PAROLED FROM PRISON

On this date, April 26, 2018, Carl Reimann was released after serving more than 45 years for the murders of David Gardner, Bob Loftus, John Wilson, Catherine Rekate and George Pashade. The now-77-year-old was convicted for their 1972 deaths after police said Reimann walked into an Illinois restaurant and shot them during a robbery AKA the Yorkville’s Pine Village Massacre.

We, the members of Unit 1012, are truly well aware that once the death penalty is abolished, the Marxist-ACLU Demons will want to end LWOP.

We, DO NOT TRUST them at all and we know that they are nothing but liars who value the lives of murderers and evildoers, with the plan on putting innocent people’s lives at risk of getting murdered.

If they can release Carl Reimann, Ray Larsen (served ‘100 to 300’ years) and Chester Weger who both had served more than 40 years in prison, claiming that they would never be released. Do not be surprise, that in the future, more elderly inmates might be paroled.

Beware of elderly inmates who might kill again, here are two examples:

On this date, January 9, 2013, 70-year-old Dennis Stanworth phoned the Police to confess that he had murdered his own mother. Keep in mind; he had murdered two teenage girls in 1966. Those murders had all happened in the State of California. The SAFE California and the A.C.L.U are as usual keeping quiet about it. Dennis Stanworth’s case is similar to the one of Robert Lee Massie who had his death sentence overturned, only to be paroled to kill again in California. [http://soldierexecutionerprolifer2008.blogspot.com/2014/01/dennis-stanworth-released-killer.html]

On this date, August 9, 2019, Albert Flick, a 77-year-old man previously deemed "too old to be a threat" was sentenced to life in prison on Friday for fatally stabbing a woman in front of her children, four decades after he was convicted of a nearly identical crime. This is another great example of why Prisoner Rights Activists will remain silent as it is too extremely embarrassing for them to talk about recidivist killers. [https://soldierexecutionerprolifer2008.blogspot.com/2019/08/77-year-old-albert-flick-murdered-again.html]

As the saying goes, “A Dead Murderer is a good murderer.” Charles Silagy, 69, whose death sentence was commuted in 2003 by then-Gov. George Ryan has died from medical issues while in prison. Silagy had been in prison since 1980 — spending about 23 of those years on death row — for the murder of his girlfriend and her sister. He will never be paroled or kill again. https://soldierexecutionerprolifer2008.blogspot.com/2019/07/former-illinois-death-row-inmate.html]

Carl Reimann, 77, was released from prison on parole after serving more than 45 years for murdering five people

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5679845/Paroled-murderer-killed-five-moves-street-elementary-school.html]

Yorkville's 'Pine Village massacre' shooter, convicted of killing 5, granted parole

By Sarah Freishtat, Linda Girardi and Hannah Leone

The Beacon-News

Apr 26, 2018 9:55 PM

Bruce Rekate was only 8 years old when police came to his house to tell them his 16-year-old sister Catherine was among the five murdered in a 1972 massacre at a restaurant near Yorkville where she worked trying to save money for college.

He remembers watching his mother cry at the front door. Catherine's death destroyed the family, he said.

On Thursday, more than 45 years after the crime, he couldn't understand why Catherine's killer, Carl Reimann, had been granted parole.

"He should have sat in the electric chair as far as I'm concerned," said Rekate, now 53. "It just floors me that they let this man walk... I don't care if he's 90 years old, he did the crime, he should pay the time."

Former Kendall County Sheriff and Yorkville Police Chief Richard Randall was one of the first officers on the scene the night Catherine Rekate, customers David Gardner and Bob Loftus, bartender John Wilson, and cook George Pashade were killed at the Pine Village restaurant.

"You don't think of something like this happening in a small town," Randall said of the Yorkville area in the early '70s.

He still describes the scene as traumatic even after decades in law enforcement and is shocked by the parole board's decision.

"I thought of how justice is blind," Randall said. "Today, justice was blind in not seeing the entire picture of five innocent people who were viciously murdered."

The prisoner review board deemed Reimann, 77, of Sandwich, "a good risk for parole" in an eight-to-four vote Thursday morning, said Jason Sweat, the board's chief legal counsel. It was Reimann's 20th parole hearing.

Ken Berry, a paralegal with the law firm Winston and Strawn who spoke in favor of parole at the hearing, said Reimann had showed remorse and a desire to give back to the community.

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"We don't believe that he is the same person who committed those horrible crimes 46 years ago," Berry said.

On Dec. 29, 1972, Reimann and his girlfriend Betty Piche went into the Pine Village restaurant intending to rob it. Police reports and transcripts of the trial showed he pulled a .32 caliber semiautomatic handgun on the other patrons, and Piche took about $640, Weis said. Reimann shot customers David Gardner and Bob Loftus; bartender John Wilson; 16-year-old employee Catherine Rekate; and cook George Pashade, according to Beacon-News archives.

Reimann shot the five people they had rounded up, as Piche reportedly yelled, "kill them all, kill them all," according to the newspaper archives. Kendall County State's Attorney Eric Weis, however, said his review of the police reports say that Piche was outside when the shooting happened.

Reimann and Piche were stopped shortly afterward by police in Morris. Reimann was sentenced to 50 to 150 years for each murder, plus additional time for armed robbery, to be served concurrently. Piche was also convicted, and was paroled in 1983.

Randall still recalls getting a description of the killer, a person in a blonde wig and their car from Catherine Rekate's father, who had been sitting in his truck outside the restaurant waiting for his daughter to leave work.

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William Dunn, then Kendall County deputy coroner, described the shooting as "a bloody massacre" and believes Thursday's parole board decision would open wounds.

"This man doesn't realize the things he's done, not just to my family, but I can only imagine the other families," Bruce Rekate said.

Weis said he urged against parole at the request of family members of those killed, some of whom were at the hearing Thursday. In what was a small community at the time, the shooting still resonates decades later, he said.

"Given the brutal, gruesome nature of a five-cold-blooded murder, I thought it was appropriate that this individual not be granted parole," he said.

Today, conviction for two or more murders would lead to an automatic life sentence with no possibility of parole, Weis said.

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The prisoner review board has denied Reimann parole 19 previous times. At his last hearing last year, the vote was tied seven to seven, Sweat said.

In granting Reimann parole this time, the board weighed many factors including three required by state law, Sweat said: members must not find that releasing Reimann would lessen the seriousness of his offense or promote disrespect for the law; releasing him must not have a negative effect on institutional discipline; and he must be able to conform with the conditions of his release.

Board members also raised an "apparently sincere" religious conversion Reimann had in the mid-1980s, and his remorse since then, Sweat said. One board member cited Reimann's decades of work in hospice care at Dixon Correctional Center.

Weis said he understood the prisoner review board's role, but thought the decision sent a bad message.

"If this person can be granted parole based on the crime itself of killing five, then you kind of have to ask yourself why are some of the other people still in custody," he said.

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Though parole has been granted, Reimann is not likely to leave prison for at least several weeks, possibly months, Sweat said. Board members must set conditions of his parole, and Reimann must agree to comply with them.

Sweat declined to specify where Reimann is seeking to be released to, citing state law, but he said that there was no indication Reimann planned to return to Yorkville or Kendall County.

Berry said the law firm Winston and Strawn, which took on Reimann's case about a year ago pro bono, tries to continue working with prisoners after their release.

"We're happy for him," Berry said. "But at the same time, we believe in staying in touch with our clients that are the long-term prisoners to help them with any social things they need to ensure that they are successful upon release."

Randall said he kept in touch with Catherine Rekate's father over the years concerning the case.

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"He was fearful that the man might one day be released. Up until he died, he was fearful that he would get out," Randall said.

Sarah Freishtat is Beacon-News reporter. Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for the Beacon-News. Hannah Leone is a Chicago Tribune reporter.

INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/ct-abn-yorkville-pine-village-parole-st-0427-story.html

Carl Reimann

(Photo courtesy of Kendall County Sheriff's Office)

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.wspynews.com/news/local/carl-reimann-officer-first-on-scene-recalls-night-when-were/article_a5d15cf0-47dc-11e8-a605-3b253ca4bdcc.html]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5679845/Paroled-murderer-killed-five-moves-street-elementary-school.html

https://www.change.org/p/urgent-revoke-parole-for-mass-murderer-carl-allan-reimann-c01252

https://www.wspynews.com/news/local/carl-reimann-officer-first-on-scene-recalls-night-when-were/article_a5d15cf0-47dc-11e8-a605-3b253ca4bdcc.html

Parole Watch {Illinois} <2020 Event>:

Illinois has paroled double ax-murderer, other heinous killers, offering Gangster Disciples boss hope

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=132911448924853&id=101692122046786

https://vk.com/wall-184585082_275

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/7/24/21336624/illinois-prisoner-review-board-parole-larry-hoover-gangster-disciples-otis-williams-hatchet-murderer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_Weger

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest_prison_sentences_served

http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2021/03/illinois-state-fit-for-murderers.html

http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2021/03/illinois-murderers-dream-state.html

https://www.illinoisprisonproject.org/

OTHER LINKS:

Life without parole is ‘silent execution’

https://www.workers.org/2021/06/57080/

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=130089482540383&id=101692122046786

Life Without Parole Isn’t Making Us Any Safer’ [VIDEO SHARED]

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=130090139206984&id=101692122046786

https://www.wral.com/life-without-parole-isn-t-making-us-any-safer/19728754/

New law clears way for 114 Washington inmates seeking early release

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1996704410480920&id=1299628893521812

https://mynorthwest.com/2951643/law-114-washington-inmates-early-release/

How Mass Incarceration Makes Us All Sick

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=130167939199204&id=101692122046786

https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20210526.678786/full/

The racist roots of mass incarceration in the US

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=133395212209810&id=101692122046786

https://www.ncronline.org/news/justice/racist-roots-mass-incarceration-us

MASS CLEMENCY IS A NECESSARY RESPONSE TO MASS INCARCERATION

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=134562138759784&id=101692122046786

https://theappeal.org/the-point/mass-clemency-is-a-necessary-response-to-mass-incarceration/

Killed at 16, no longer LWOP

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=130943105788354&id=101692122046786

https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2021/06/flint-man-who-killed-twin-at-age-16-will-no-longer-serve-life-in-prison.html

Sunday, April 25, 2021

NORTHERN CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION TO BE CLOSED

We, the members of Unit 1012, are truly well aware that once the death penalty is abolished, the Marxist-ACLU Demons will want to end LWOP.

Northern Correctional Institution (NCI) is a high-security state prison in Somers, in the northern part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The prison houses the state's male convicts serving long sentences for violent crimes and it housed the death row for inmates before the abolition of the death penalty in Connecticut.

We will post some news sources before giving our comments.

Northern Correctional Institution in Somers.

Connecticut Prisoner Rights Advocates Push For Closure Of 'Supermax' Prison

By Davis Dunavin • Jan 19, 2021

Lawmakers and advocates want the state of Connecticut to close its only super-maximum-security "Supermax" prison.

Northern Correctional Institution has been criticized for its use of solitary confinement, including by a U.N. torture expert. The prison served as an isolation unit for inmates with COVID-19 from March to September of last year.

Barbara Fair is with Stop Solitary CT.

“Northern is a place primarily filled with young men of color. They’re sent there to break their spirit, to shatter their minds and to reduce them to broken men who face a lifetime of scars from that torture,” Fair said.

State Senator Gary Winfield of New Haven is the co-chair of the State Judiciary Committee.

“If we have chosen to create a system in which we break people, when those people come back out of the system, we should be doing something about the fact that those are the choices we’ve made, and never make those choices again,” Winfield said.

Northern costs the state about $19 million a year to operate. Advocates say they’d like to see that money go to programs and services that support the health, shelter, and reentry of formerly incarcerated people.

About 81 people are incarcerated at Northern Correctional Institution.

INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.wshu.org/post/connecticut-prisoner-rights-advocates-push-closure-supermax-prison#stream/0

Sister Helen Prejean

Life without parole should not be a default in this process. All other less punitive sentencing options should be thoroughly explored. A blanket move from death to life without parole would ignore the facts of each case and the redemption that each person is capable of achieving.

2:12 PM · Jan 13, 2021·Twitter for iPhone

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://twitter.com/helenprejean/status/1349237867478859783]

http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2021/01/helen-prejean-finally-admits-she-is.html

Connecticut Legislators Announce Bill To Close 'Supermax' Prison

By Davis Dunavin • Feb 1, 2021

A group of Connecticut lawmakers are again trying to close a controversial Supermax prison and put other criminal justice reform measures in place.

The bill would shut down and demolish Northern Correctional Institute by the end of the year.

Northern has been criticized for its use of solitary confinement, including by a U.N. torture expert. The prison served as an isolation unit for inmates with COVID-19 from March to September of last year.

State Senator Gary Winfield is the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“We don’t want to put people into these conditions of isolation and segregation without having rules in place. Are we doing what we should be doing when we take on the responsibility of incarcerating people?” Winfield said.

State Representative Steve Stafstrom, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, agreed.

“Northern is basically the antithesis of all the progress we’ve made in this state over the past decade or so. It’s past time to close it,” Stafstrom said.

Winfield and other lawmakers pushed the bill unsuccessfully last year — even as Winfield’s police accountability bill passed amid protests around the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The bill would also establish an independent oversight committee for the Department of Corrections. Lawmakers are working on the bill with Stop Solitary CT, a criminal justice reform advocacy group.

INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.wshu.org/post/connecticut-legislators-announce-bill-close-supermax-prison#stream/0

State to close only ‘supermax’ prison, Northern Correctional Institution

Justice

by Kelan Lyons

February 8, 2021

View as "Clean Read"

Northern Correctional Institution, the state’s controversial “supermax” prison located in Somers, will close by July 1, the Department of Correction announced to its staff on Monday.

The closure is the first since Enfield Correctional Institution was shuttered on Jan. 23, 2018.

There are 5,000 fewer people in state correctional facilities since then. The most precipitous decline has been since the onset of the pandemic; there are 3,377 fewer people in prison or jail today than on March 1.

“I have been transparent about my intentions to close facilities, ever since [Gov. Ned] Lamont announced that I was his choice to be the next commissioner,” Commissioner Designate Angel Quiros told DOC employees in a memo Monday. “The decision to close Northern can be largely attributed to the significant drop in the incarcerated population, as well as my obligation to the tax payers of Connecticut to identify cost savings measures. The operational costs associated with Northern Correctional exceed most other locations, and the overall census has not surpassed one hundred inmates in the last six months.”

Closing the Somers prison will save the state approximately $12.6 million in annual operating costs. At his COVID-19 press briefing Monday afternoon, Lamont said the savings will go toward closing Connecticut’s deficit.

“Look, I’m gonna make sure the T.R.U.E. unit at Cheshire and other rehabilitative services are there,” Lamont said. “But this money is going to go to fix our deficit.”

In a statement, Lamont said in a statement prison admissions have declined significantly over the past 10 years. The incarcerated population is the lowest it has been in 32 years.

“This is even as violent, high-risk inmates are serving more of their original sentences than ever before,” Lamont said. “Spending millions of dollars annually to operate facilities for a population that continues to get smaller and smaller is not a good use of resources, especially as we work to reduce the cost structure of state government.”

“New prison admissions in Connecticut have declined significantly over the last decade, and the incarcerated population is currently at a 32-year low. This is even as violent, high-risk inmates are serving more of their original sentences than ever before,” Lamont said in a statement. “Spending millions of dollars annually to operate facilities for a population that continues to get smaller and smaller is not a good use of resources, especially as we work to reduce the cost structure of state government.

Northern was opened in 1995, when the state’s prison population was much greater and officials were having a hard time managing behavioral infractions occurring throughout the prison system.

Advocates have called for its closure for years, citing its declining population and status as a relic of a bygone tough-on-crime era. There were only 55 people incarcerated at Northern as of Feb. 1, 40 of whom were Black and 11 of whom were Hispanic. The facility was built to hold at least 500 prisoners.

“Northern is a monument to cruelty and systemic racism. In sum, it is a symbol of everything that is wrong with incarceration,” said David McGuire, executive director of the ACLU of Connecticut. “It is critical that the state close Northern in a way that ensures it will never be opened again, and that the money saved from its closure goes toward programs and services to help people most harmed by mass incarceration.”

Northern was the subject of a lawsuit filed last week aimed at preventing prisoners with mental illnesses from being sent there. The lawsuit alleges inmates with mental illnesses were shackled and isolated in cold concrete cells, forced to eat food off the floor, for exhibiting behavior consistent with psychiatric symptoms — symptoms exacerbated by the loneliness and isolation that is a function of life at Northern. One man was given a disciplinary ticket for attempting to commit suicide. Another violated DOC policy by putting his hand through the trap of his cell door, desperate for human interaction.

In a previous interview, Quiros, who served as warden at Northern from 2009 to 2011, said the prison had “served its purpose. With the criminal justice reform that’s going on, the agency will have to take a look at what additional changes we need to make, as far as the programs that are housed at Northern, and then we’re still keeping staff safety, and offender safety, in mind.”

Quiros said during his confirmation hearing that he anticipated closing two correctional facilities due to declining prison and jail populations during the pandemic. Northern is the first; he said that the only facilities not on the table for closure were the city jails — located in Hartford, Bridgeport and New Haven — and York Correctional Institution, the state’s sole prison for women.

Approximately 175 corrections staff work at Northern. They will not be laid off as a result of the closure. The DOC will work with the employees and their unions to send them to other correctional facilities, helping reduce overtime expenses and mitigate the need to hire new staff to take the place of retirees.

At least one corrections union was displeased with the news. AFSCME Local 391 President Collin Provost said in a statement that, “Front-line corrections staff are concerned that closing state prisons will prove to be penny-wise and pound-foolish. Shoe-horning inmates into other facilities will undermine safety and security in the prisons and create more difficult conditions for offenders and staff. We’re concerned that closing Northern will cause overcrowding, lead to more positives test results and limit the Agency’s ability to quarantine. The State and the DOC should think about repurposing Northern instead of shuttering it.”

In his internal memo, Quiros pledged that the “challenging populations” at Northern will be safely transferred to other correctional facilities.

“These populations have been managed at other locations in years past, and I am confident we can do so now,” Quiros told DOC employees. “As always, safety and security will remain a top priority as we navigate through this process.”

CT Mirror reporter Dave Altimari contributed to this story.

INTERNET SOURCE: https://ctmirror.org/2021/02/08/state-to-close-only-supermax-prison-northern-correctional-institution/

The same ideology that was responsible for the Armenian Genocide now continues through the Neo-Ottoman leadership of Aliyev and Erdogan. Now more than ever, it is important for us to remember the victims of the Armenian Genocide and demand justice.

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/ancaustralia/photos/a.176603202393861/3792634487457363/]

Ilham Heydar oglu Aliyev (Azerbaijani: İlham Heydər oğlu Əliyev, [ilham hejˈdæɾ oɣˈɫu æˈlijɪf]; born 24 December 1961) is the fourth and current president of Azerbaijan, serving in the post since 31 October 2003.

The son and second child of former Azeri leader Heydar Aliyev, Ilham Aliyev was elected president of Azerbaijan in 2003 following his father's death, in an election considered fraudulent and unfair by foreign outlets. Azerbaijani foreign relations under Aliyev included strengthened cooperation with the European Union (EU), using caviar diplomacy, with Russia, with NATO via the NATO–Azerbaijan Individual Partnership Action Plan, and with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The New York Times described Aliyev's foreign policy as being pro-Western, selling oil and gas to Europe and Israel, promoting a moderate form of Islam, and hosting "lavish international events".^[8]

During Aliyev's presidency, news have surfaced of various human rights violations in Azerbaijan, which included torture, arbitrary arrests, as well as harassment of journalists and non-governmental organizations. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict continued sporadically during Aliyev's presidency, culminating into a full-scale war in 2020, which ended with a ceasefire agreement, by which most of the territory lost during the First Nagorno-Karabakh war were returned to Azerbaijan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilham_Aliyev

https://shoebat.com/2015/04/10/the-antichrist-who-is-threatening-christian-armenia-with-complete-annihilation/

https://www.facebook.com/Samurai-Police-1109-101692122046786/photos/a.117592403790091/117592343790097

OUR STATEMENT:

As friends and family members of murder victims, we are disappointed by the decision to shut down Northern Correctional Institution (NCI). We have always warned the public that the moment capital punishment gets abolished, the abolitionists will target LWOP and prison sentences too.

If you notice that the same arguments, they have used to abolish capital punishment are the same ones, they are now using to end prison sentences too. They broke their promises to replace the death penalty with LWOP, by shutting down the NCI this coming July. As usual, their excuses are prisons are expensive, racist and cruel and unusual as well.

We notice, that not a single criminal rights activist showed their outrage by protesting the shutting down of the prison, they remain silent.

See this article from Shari Silberstein: Ending the Death Penalty Is One Step Toward Ending Mass Incarceration

To be clear, I’m not talking about merely replacing the death penalty with life without parole sentences, which fail on nearly the same scale. Like executions, they also target the most vulnerable (a full two-thirds of people currently serving life without parole are people of color) without delivering public safety gains. There is mounting evidence that people age out of crime, leaving life-without-parole sentences without any purpose other than to inflict suffering until death.

Whenever an Anti-Death Penalty campaigner claim that capital punishment is more expensive than LWOP, please keep in mind, they are the reason why the death penalty system is expensive. If they claim that the money saved can be used for victims’ services, why not help fight for the end of the inhumane parole. Truth is ‘expensive’ is a word use to manipulate the public in order to leave criminals unpunished. Do not be surprise, as they are also complaining that mass incarceration and victims’ rights services are also expensive and need to be abolished too. The coming of the July 2021 shutting down of NCI proves what we mean.

RELATED LINKS:

6 infamous convicted killers who served time at CT's soon-to-be-closed supermax prison

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=117155480500450&id=101692122046786

https://www.facebook.com/ctpost/posts/10158637038849702

https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/6-infamous-convicted-killers-who-served-time-at-16086179.php

Drug dealer jailed for 60 years for his role in the killing of an 8-year-old murder trial witness and the boy's mother in 1999 could be free next year if he wins appeal to reduce sentence after serving just 25 years

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9134889/Prosecutors-fight-sentence-reduction-murder-convict.html

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157339117066537&id=65972021536

OTHER LINKS:

Solitary confinement is torture. It should never be used to treat a medical condition.

https://www.facebook.com/aclu/posts/10157422142781813

https://prospect.org/justice/prisons-coronavirus-pandemic-response-solitary-confinement/

Friday, April 23, 2021

2021 NATIONAL CRIME VICTIMS’ RIGHT WEEK IN CALIFORNIA

“Victims have discovered that they are treated as appendages of a system appallingly out of balance. They have learned that somewhere along the way, the system has lost track of the simple truth that it is supposed to be fair and to protect those who obey the law while punishing those who break it. Somewhere along the way, the system began to serve lawyers and judges and defendants, treating the victim with institutionalized disinterest.” – PRESIDENT REAGAN’S TASK FORCE ON VICTIMS OF CRIME (DECEMBER 1982)

For this year’s 2021 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, let us remember the victims and support them.

'Criminal Justice Reform Needed,' Victims,' Families Say At Rally

Surviving family members of those killed by Daniel Wozniak & Kenneth Rasmusson spoke at the annual victim's rights rally sponsored by OCDA.

Ashley Ludwig, Patch Staff

Posted Mon, Apr 19, 2021 at 5:32 pm PT

LOS ALAMITOS, CA — The parents of Orange County murder victims joined prosecutors and crime victims Monday calling for criminal justice reform during a rally for victims of violent crime. The crowd gathered at the annual victim's rights rally sponsored by the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

Steve Herr, the father of Sam Herr, whose killer, Daniel Wozniak, was sentenced to death, said he felt relief after jurors reached verdicts 6 1/2 years after his son's murder. That relief was shortlived after Gov. Gavin Newsom halted the death penalty in California.

At the time of that decision, Newsom "was not pursuing the will of the people," Herr said. "He was defecating on the rights of victims. What Gov. Newsom told victims and their families was 'screw you."'

Without naming former state and federal prosecutor Peter Hardin, who is running to unseat Spitzer, Herr also took swipes at the Democratic candidate who said he opposes the death penalty because he believes it is impractical, puts victims through years of appeals and won't be carried out anyway.

Herr objected to Hardin, saying he opposed the death penalty in part to spare victims more pain.

"He has for all intents and purposes spat on victims and their families," Herr said.

Mother Connie Vargo, whose 6-year-old son, Jeffrey Vargo of Anaheim Hills, died at the hands of Kenneth Rasmuson in July 1981, said that she "wasn't here to talk about politics, I'm here to talk about victims' rights." Still, she criticized Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon and Gov. Gavin Newsom for their opposition to the death penalty.

Vargo recalled how Gascon's office was moving to remove special circumstances allegations in the case against Rasmuson that would have allowed the defendant to not only avoid the ultimate punishment but life without the possibility of parole if convicted at trial. She praised Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer for stepping in and attempting to wrest the case away from Gascon's office.

"We were so moved by that," Vargo said. "Thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Vargo credited Spitzer's intervention with Rasmuson pleading guilty to killing her son and another 6-year-old boy, Miguel Antero, saying the resolution of the case is "a huge burden lifted from me."

Vargo said if Gascon's office had prosecuted the case, then Rasmuson, 59, would have been eligible for release from prison in "less than 20 years." He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 27 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

"There's no doubt in my mind if he could get out, he would do it again," she said.

Vargo also objected to the governor placing a moratorium on the death penalty, saying, "Don't we get to vote on these things?"

Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami, who has clashed publicly with Gascon, also addressed the group. Noting that at one point during the morning gathering,, he had been mistakenly referred to as an Orange County deputy district attorney, Hatami said, "I love Orange County, and your DA Spitzer is the best, but I am a proud L.A. County prosecutor. There may be one who wants me to go, but I'm not leaving voluntarily."

Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes, who could not attend the rally, made a pre-recorded video criticizing efforts to reduce overcrowded prisons. Barnes said he favors programs that help ex-cons return to society upon their release, but he said the criminal justice reform laws "enable bad behavior."

Patricia Wenskunas, the founder and CEO of Crime Survivors, said in the 19 years since she herself was a crime victim, "we're still losing the battle" for victims' rights. Though Wenskunas said she was "very excited" that the county has approved a crime victims monument to be placed in a courtyard between the offices of prosecutors and sheriff's employees, justice matters more to the families of victims of violent crimes than a monument.

"Victims have a right to justice," she said. "They have a right to be heard... It's worse than ever."

City News Service, Patch Editor Ashley Ludwig contributed to this report.

INTERNET SOURCE: https://patch.com/california/losalamitos/criminal-justice-reform-needed-victims-families-say-rally

National Crime Victims' Rights Week: Emotions run high at rally in downtown LA

By Carlos Granda

Wednesday, April 21, 2021 10:28PM

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Tensions flared Wednesday at a rally in downtown Los Angeles marking National Crime Victims' Rights Week, as deputies were met by protesters who criticized L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who was in attendance, and his department.

Thirteen-year-old Natalia Jackson broke down in tears when she spoke about her father who was murdered at his store in 2013.

"Not only was my father taken suddenly from us, his safety and security and love that he gave us every day was horribly interrupted in one single moment," Natalia said.

Natalia and others took part in the rally to support those who have lost loved ones.

Participants at the event criticized Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon. They said Gascon's office is doing more to protect criminals than victims. Jon Hatami, a deputy district attorney who served as prosecutor in the Gabriel Fernandez case, has been critical of his boss.

"George Gascon does not care about this community, he does not care about people of color in this community, he is lying," Hatami said.

There were tense moments as Black Lives Matter activists came to the rally to protest. They tried to get into the event but were held back by sheriff's deputies. They said they support the victims and were there to protest against the Sheriffs Department.

"They should be standing with us, not standing on the most corrupt and violent sheriff in the history of Los Angeles County -- and that's saying something," said Melina Abdullah, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter.

Addressing the crowd, Sheriff Alex Villanueva said: "I know there's an element out there -- in fact, even right in the street, right now, chanting -- because they want to drown out the voices of victory. They want to drown out law abiding citizens."

Villanueva expressed his concern about budget cuts to the department, estimated at $77 million for next year as crime is going up. He said it sends the wrong message.

INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1946127805538581&id=1299628893521812

https://abc7.com/10534141/

RELATED LINKS:

A mother's voice needs to be heard in regards to the lack of support via the parole board hearings. Her son was killed in a hate crime. Why didn't the federal government step in. He was murdered by a group of Hispanic and one of the youngest one of the group was granted parole under Gascon new policies. Where is her justice at? This put a lot on a mom who hurt want what is right in honor of her child. Jeseca Luvslife Corde

https://www.facebook.com/lashawn.thomas.79/videos/3720104458084878

https://www.facebook.com/groups/3350621811720081/permalink/3792139387568319

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/196987878/marquis-tivae-leblanc

https://news.yahoo.com/blm-leader-gasc-n-back-100106436.html

https://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2021/04/fight-like-mom-recall-george-gascon.html

OTHER LINKS:

https://recallgeorgegascon.com/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/recallgeorgegascon

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/families-of-crime-victims-recall-la-da-gascon-policies-face

https://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2013/04/national-crime-victims-rights-week-2005.html

https://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2015/04/ronald-reagan-cared-for-victims-and.html