Nation

CA Democrats propose bill which could allow those on death row, life without parole to walk free

Published

6 months ago

April 12, 2023

California Senate Bill 94 benefits the most dangerous criminals, potentially allowing murderers and rapists sentenced to death row or life without parole to be released.

“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,” the legislation reads.

“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.”

Fox News reports that the authors of the bill are state Senators Dave Cortese and San Francisco’s Senator Scott Wiener, who wrote a prior bill that decreased the punishment for knowingly infecting someone with HIV.

The bill has received criticism from prominent California Democrats as well. “The people supporting this should really be ashamed of themselves,” tweeted Jonathan Hatami, a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles who is running to replace the county’s current DA, George Gascon. “I’m a Democrat, and I’m 100% against this. I’m also a dad and a caring human being.”

“SB 94 is another slap in the face to victims and their families,” said Kathy Cady, a California lawyer and former prosecutor. She argued that the proposal would “violate the will of the People,” and in particular, Marsy’s Law, the Victims’ Bill of Rights Act.

I’m a Democrat & I’m 100 percent against this bill. I’m also a dad & a caring human being.

People who brutally torture & murder children should not be released. Period. That’s inhumane to all the children who can’t fight for themselves. George Gascón and anyone else supporting… https://t.co/hJmUD4FSY2

— jonathanhatami (@jonathanhatami) April 12, 2023

education

Parents, advocates call on leaders to step down after ZERO children pass math at 13 Baltimore state schools

Published

13 hours ago

September 27, 2023

Sara Carter Staff

How long will leaders who let our children down blame Covid-19 for their failures? Anger swept across Baltimore, Maryland, after not a single student passed their state math exams, and almost 75 percent testing at the lowest possible score.

The Daily Mail reports “The poor performances came in the latest round of Maryland‘s state testing, where 13 high schools in the city – a staggering 40 percent – failed to produce a single student with a ‘proficient’ score in math.” Baltimore City Schools not only received $1.6 billion last year from taxpayers, but the school district also received $799 million in Covid relief funding from the federal government.

“So, it’s not a funding issue. We’re getting plenty of funding,” said Jason Rodriguez, deputy director of Baltimore-based nonprofit People Empowered by the Struggle, to Fox Baltimore. “I don’t think money is the issue. I think accountability is the issue…This is educational homicide, there is no excuse for the failure, which has come after years of warnings over the city’s poor education standards,” added Rodriguez.

A bombshell study published this month by the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) found that 16 million students were chronically absent during the pandemic. “The millions of students had missed more than 10 percent of schools days during the 2021-22 year, twice the number seen in previous years. More than eight in 10 public schools also reported stunted behavioral and social-emotional development in their students due to the pandemic, according to a May survey cited in the report.”

However, six years ago a similar report by Project Baltimore found that 13 schools in the city had zero students test ‘proficiently’ in math. An almost identical finding. “We’re still dealing with these same issues year after year,” Rodriguez continued. “It’s just scary to me and alarming to me because we know that what’s happening now, you know, it’s just opening up the floodgates to the school-to-prison pipeline. I’m beyond angry… This is why we’ve been calling for the resignation of the school CEO.”

Daily Mail notes that Rodriguez’s group has previously held rallies over the mounting educational crisis in the city, and in 2021 led calls for Baltimore City Schools CEO Dr. Sonja Santelises to resign over low test scores and falling graduation rates.