Prayers Needed-Update for Monday, April 25
Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2016 5:07 pmAs many of you know, my son Joshua was murdered in 1995. There were 3 murderers and the one who actually put the loaded, cocked gun to my son's head and pulled the trigger was given a life without parole (LWOP) sentence. However in 2012, the Supreme Court ruled in a case that anyone who was under 18 when they committed their crime could not automatically receive an LWOP. This means they are reviewing all cases that fit those parameters for re-sentencing to a possible lesser sentence meaning he could come up for parole in the very near future.
Joshua's murderer was 17 yrs. 2 mo. old and not a naïve school boy. He was a criminal, gang member and a thug. We have been anticipating a re-sentencing hearing since last summer. In the last few months we've been preparing for the hearing scheduled for tomorrow, March 14. The DA representing the State is useless and a moron all but conceding the murderer will get a lesser sentence. My daughter is an attorney, but does corporate rather than criminal law. She has stepped up and been a wonderful help in dealing with this DA. In fact she has basically done his job for him. We just learned on Wednesday afternoon that we were supposed to have been notified that we are entitled to representation at the hearing - meaning we can have our own attorney. Of course the people who were supposed to notify us of this are trying to cover their tracks. My daughter got the name of a very distinguished attorney in the victims' rights area. At 12-years-old she testified in front of Pres. Reagan's Task Force on Victims after her older sister's murder. She wrote the Amber Alert program in 2002 for California that has returned over 200 children since its inception. She also was leading the effort to get Prop. 9 passed in CA in 2008 which states victims' rights and is known as Marsy's Law. We have retained her and my daughter said on the phone she sounded like a "pit bull." While her picture doesn't show that, it's what we need. Because of learning about our right to representation so late and time needed for our attorney to come up to speed, we've notified the court that we want a continuance of the hearing.
So I'd like to request your prayers that the judge will grant the continuance tomorrow and that she will eventually sentence this guy to LWOP. If she doesn't approve the continuance, the hearing will go forward. This means I will have to make an impact statement and I'm petrified. I have to do it for my son, but would really like more time to try and get comfortable with its delivery. Also if she denies the continuance, we won't have the opportunity to have this attorney help us in keeping this guy in prison without the possibility of parole.
Sorry this is so long, but it's a long, sad story. Thank you for your prayers.
Sandi
Joshua's murderer was 17 yrs. 2 mo. old and not a naïve school boy. He was a criminal, gang member and a thug. We have been anticipating a re-sentencing hearing since last summer. In the last few months we've been preparing for the hearing scheduled for tomorrow, March 14. The DA representing the State is useless and a moron all but conceding the murderer will get a lesser sentence. My daughter is an attorney, but does corporate rather than criminal law. She has stepped up and been a wonderful help in dealing with this DA. In fact she has basically done his job for him. We just learned on Wednesday afternoon that we were supposed to have been notified that we are entitled to representation at the hearing - meaning we can have our own attorney. Of course the people who were supposed to notify us of this are trying to cover their tracks. My daughter got the name of a very distinguished attorney in the victims' rights area. At 12-years-old she testified in front of Pres. Reagan's Task Force on Victims after her older sister's murder. She wrote the Amber Alert program in 2002 for California that has returned over 200 children since its inception. She also was leading the effort to get Prop. 9 passed in CA in 2008 which states victims' rights and is known as Marsy's Law. We have retained her and my daughter said on the phone she sounded like a "pit bull." While her picture doesn't show that, it's what we need. Because of learning about our right to representation so late and time needed for our attorney to come up to speed, we've notified the court that we want a continuance of the hearing.
So I'd like to request your prayers that the judge will grant the continuance tomorrow and that she will eventually sentence this guy to LWOP. If she doesn't approve the continuance, the hearing will go forward. This means I will have to make an impact statement and I'm petrified. I have to do it for my son, but would really like more time to try and get comfortable with its delivery. Also if she denies the continuance, we won't have the opportunity to have this attorney help us in keeping this guy in prison without the possibility of parole.
Sorry this is so long, but it's a long, sad story. Thank you for your prayers.
Sandi