A new California bill would let some of the state’s worst criminals, including murderers and serial rapists be released from prison despite sentences of death or life without parole. The bill was written by state Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San Jose) and co-authors, including San Francisco’s Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco).
The other co-authors of SB94 include California State Senators Josh Becker (D-San Mateo), Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), Assemblywoman Akilah Weber (D-San Diego), and Assemblywoman Corrie Jackson (D-Riverside).
According to the legislation, “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.” It goes on to read, “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.”
In a report from The California Globe: “The beneficiaries of this measure, if passed, will be criminals convicted of first-degree murder with special circumstances. These are murderers who killed multiple victims or killed in concert with a rape, robbery, kidnapping or torture.”
The California Senate Public Safety Committee will hear a legislative proposal Thursday.