Hundreds Rally with Attorney General Brown & Los Angeles County Sheriff Baca on National Day of Remembrance for Victims’ Ri...
September 26 2009 - 12:17AM
Business Wire
Today Attorney General Jerry Brown was joined by Los Angeles
County Sheriff Lee Baca, Broadcom founder and Marsy’s Law co-author
Dr. Henry T. Nicholas, III, Justice for Murdered Children President
Lawanda Hawkins and other speakers in urging all citizens to take
strong action to end the senseless violence that each year claims
thousands of innocent lives.
At the event emceed by Hawkins and Steve Ipsen, President of the
Los Angeles Association of Deputy District Attorneys, hundreds
rallied under a scorching midday sun to remember murdered loved
ones and pledge to work tirelessly to protect and expand the rights
of crime victims everywhere.
California’s Marsy’s Law was recognized as a seminal advance in
the cause of victims’ rights and held up as a model for a U.S.
Constitutional Amendment that would protect the rights of victims
nationwide. Marsy’s Law, named for Dr. Nicholas’ murdered sister,
was passed as a state constitutional amendment by California voters
last November and is the most comprehensive victim’s bill of rights
in the country.
“Our state took the lead in providing victims with enforceable,
constitutional rights,” Dr. Nicholas said. “Today under Marsy’s Law
I would have the absolute, unequivocal right to tell a judge before
any plea bargain or any sentence was handed down what I thought of
my sister’s murderer and the impact on me and my family.”
Dr. Nicholas also discussed how technology was instrumental in
the campaign to pass Marsy’s Law and now can empower victims’
rights organizations.
“We were the underdog yet we prevailed by taking advantage of
the technologies I had the honor of helping to develop in my
profession,” he said. “These technologies have the potential to
crate a unifying force among our geographic dispersed and economic
disadvantaged movement.”
The new marsyslawforall.org website was identified as the
test-bed for applying new technologies that can accelerate the
ability to communicate, reach out to new members and identify
influential individuals who can champion victims’ rights.
Attorney General Brown addressed the crowd, stating, “Today in
Los Angeles and in California there are too many people being
violated and the people here today need all the recognition and
support that we can give them. A national day of recognition is
more important than ever.”
“My commitment is to make sure laws are enforced, that our
prison system works that we protect the citizens and we help the
victims and we help stop the murders.”
Sheriff Baca, in his speech, implored, “This violence must end.
Any American, anywhere in this county could be the victim of a
violent crime. This is a terrible testimony to how much violence
there is in a nation that is supposed to be the most prosperous in
history.”
Friday’s event, held behind the Hall of Administration in
downtown Los Angeles, was the first of its kind in Southern
California. It was one of many taking place across the country as
part of the Third Annual National Day of Remembrance for Murder
Victims.
Surrounded by photographs of murder victims, rally organizer
Hawkins reminded other families of murder victims to recall the day
their lives changed forever.
Hawkins asked, “Do you remember that day they took your child’s
life and that your whole world just changed from that moment, and
how you can’t go back no matter what they do?”
For more information, go to www.marsyslawforall.org.
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