Read more here:

https://norcalpublicmedia.org/2024032594965/news-feed/ca-is-clearing-criminal-records-including-violent-crimes-to-offer-second-chances

SACRAMENTO–Yesterday, AB 256, the California Racial Justice Act for All, was signed by Governor Newsom. AB 256 will allow persons with convictions or judgements prior to January 1, 2021 to petition the court and seek relief if racial bias was proven to be present in their case. AB 256 builds upon landmark legislation in 2020, the California Racial Justice Act, AB 2542 (Kalra, Chapter 317, Statutes of 2020), which allowed individuals to challenge racial bias in criminal charges, convictions, and sentences but was limited to cases after January 1, 2021.

“When we passed the Racial Justice Act, we did so with a promise to not leave behind those with past criminal convictions and sentences that were tainted by systemic racial bias, both explicit and implicit, in our courts. There is still much work to be done, but now AB 256 will provide a valuable tool to meaningfully address the stark racial disparities in our sentencing history,” said Assemblymember Kalra.

Prior to the Racial Justice Act, proving racial bias was nearly impossible because of the 30-year legal precedent set by McCleskey v Kemp. With this decision, the U.S. Supreme Court required California defendants in criminal cases to prove intentional discrimination when challenging racial bias in their case. The original Racial Justice Act finally began to address this issue, but unfortunately the bill was narrowed to prospective cases only, excluding those who had already been harmed by the racial bias and discrimination that permeates our criminal legal system.

With the signage of AB 256, those with past judgements, sentences and convictions prior to January 1, 2021 can petition the court for retroactive relief based on the following phased-in timeline:

• January 1, 2023: individuals facing deportation or sentenced to death
• January 1, 2024: individuals incarcerated for a felony
• January 1, 2025: others with a felony conviction entered after 2015
• January 1, 2026: all others with a felony conviction

Since enactment, the original Racial Justice Act has demonstrated its impact with successful uses, and notably, a recent article in the Los Angeles Times highlights the need to make the law retroactive. The Times had previously exposed the racist comments of a Los Angeles police detective and based on this officer’s conduct, one individual has already made a successful Racial Justice Act challenge leading to the dismissal of the special circumstance allegations in their case. The Times recently reported, “By August 2021, prosecutors concluded they needed to notify defendants of the detective’s comments in more than 200 past cases in which [the officer] had been listed as a potential witness.” AB 256 will now make the Racial Justice Act applicable in those cases, providing people an opportunity to address the harm caused by the officer’s blatant racism.

Read more: https://a27.asmdc.org/press-releases/20220930-california-racial-justice-act-all-signed-law

AB 1506 would establish a unit in the AG’s office to investigate police misconduct when requested by a law enforcement agency. We need to push the Senate Public Safety Committee to amend 1506 to drop that requirement and to strengthen the independence of the investigative commission within DOJ. Some of the members are leaning our way, but we need as many emails and calls to members of the Committee as we can get by tomorrow afternoon when the bill is heard. Let them know you support independent oversight of law enforcement, but oppose this bill in its present form because it is not strong enough and won’t be effective.

Contact Senate Public Safety Members

Phone Numbers
Senator Nancy Skinner (Chair) - (916) 651-4009
Senator John M. W. Moorlach (Vice Chair) - (916) 651-4037
Senator Steven Bradford - (916) 651-4035
Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson - (916) 651-4019
Senator Holly J. Mitchell - (916) 651-4030
Senator Mike Morrell - (916) 651-4023
Senator Scott D. Wiener - (916) 651-4011

Websites
Senator Nancy Skinner (Chair)
Senator John M. W. Moorlach (Vice Chair)
Senator Steven Bradford
Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson
Senator Holly J. Mitchell
Senator Mike Morrell
Senator Scott D. Wiener

Today the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice (CACJ), the preeminent statewide association of criminal defense attorneys in private practice and working in public defender offices has announced a package of legislative proposals to address ongoing racial bias in law enforcement and the judicial system. Sacramento-based CACJ, which was founded more than 45 years ago, aims to increase oversight of law enforcement practices and to establish stronger accountability when there are allegations of police abuse. The proposals also include a measure to prevent the unfair exclusion of people of color from jury service.

“Our criminal justice system is plagued with racial bias, from disproportionate traffic stops and arrests of people of color, to juries lacking diversity, and police abuse going unpunished” stated Eric Schweitzer President of CACJ and an attorney in Fresno, California.

CACJ’s proposed California Law Enforcement Accountability and Community Justice Act of 2020 is designed to address many of the racially-based flaws in our criminal justice system that result in the over-incarceration of people of color.

“When our cops and our courts get it wrong we end up with a system the community can’t trust and overrepresentation of people of color in jail, for too long and often for things they didn’t do” added Allison Zuvela, Vice-President of CACJ and Chief Deputy Public Defender of Yolo County in Northern California.

Read the Press Release here

Several years ago, the ACLU filed lawsuits against Fresno County challenging the quality of indigent criminal defense in Fresno County and the rest of the State of California.

Those cases have resolved.

Here is a paragraph from the ACLU press release: "Under the settlement, Gov. Gavin Newsom has included $4 million dollars in his annual proposed budget for 2020-21 and $3.5 million annually thereafter to expand the mission of the Office of the State Public Defender (OSPD),which currently handles only death penalty appeals.This represents an increase of approximately 28 percent over the agency’s current budget with the goal of promoting more effective representation statewide.The proposed expansion would include broad new authorization for OSPD to provide support, including training and technical assistance for California counties’ provision of trial-level indigent criminal defense in non-capital cases.The proposal also includes $10 million for the Board of State and Community Corrections, in consultation with OSPD, to administer a program to provide grant funding to local public defense systems. This funding will also support the completion of an evaluation to determine the effectiveness of these grants."

Here are some links related that case, its settlement, and the changes to the State Public Defender Office to help county public defender offices:

ACLU Press Release

Fresno County Press Release re Settlement

Governor’s proposed Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Budget, increasing funding and responsibilities of State Public Defender in response to ACLU lawsuit, p. 144

Settlement Agreement between State of California and ACLU

Settlement Agreement between Fresno County and ACLU

California is first state in country to provide housing for exonerated individuals. 

Today, on National Wrongful Conviction Awareness Day,  Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 701 which is Co-Sponsored by CACJ and Exonerated Nation.   When a wrongfully convicted individual is exonerated and released from prison, the bill requires the State of California to cover the cost of the exonoree’s housing for up to 4 years.  California becomes the first state in the country with this requirement. 

“There is nothing more tragic than when our criminal justice system breaks down and wrongfully convicts someone of a crime they did not commit.  The least the State of California should do is help exonorees transition to a place to live after spending years or decades in prison.  CACJ is proud to co-sponsor this legislation and is grateful for Governor Newsom’s commitment to helping exonorees”

Jacqueline Goodman, President CACJ. 

CACJ has had great success with legislation in the last few years. There have been several bills which address or provide redress for wrongful convictions.  CACJ also sponsored legislation to require the court to report prosecutors to the State Bar of California for Brady violations. (Penal Code §1424.5.) California also has the only felony offense in the nation to punish prosecutors guilty of intentionally withholding exculpatory evidence, thanks to our efforts.  (Penal Code §141(c))

• Insight With Beth Ruyak is a daily, in-depth interview program providing context and background to the issues that face our region.
• Visit here to listen to the recording

CACJ's co-sponsored bill to create a special master to handle exoneree compensation claims was approved by the Senate Public Safety Committee. S.B. 321 by Senator Bill Monning, will be heard next in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Sponsored bill S.B. No. 395 (Lara), gives a juvenile access to an attorney before an interrogation or waiver of Miranda rights, passed the Senate hearing today as well.

The bill is expected to be voted on in the Assembly in the coming days, and will then need approval by the Senate as well as the Governor Brown before it becomes law.

Read More Here

CACJ’s Co-Sponsored SB-1052 Custodial interrogation: juveniles, by Senators Lara and Mitchell, was recently featured in the Chronicle of Social Change. SB 1052 adds section 625.6 to the Welfare and Institutions Code to require that juveniles have access to legal counsel before waiving their Miranda rights during a custodial interrogation. “You don’t let a 10-year-old make any legal decision, let alone one with potentially enormous consequences in waiving a constitutional right,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of the UC Irvine School of Law, regarding the Joseph H. case that sparked the need for this legislation. Justice Goodwin Liu, in his dissenting opinion stated that the case, “raises an important legal issue that likely affects hundreds of children each year: whether and, if so, how the concept of a voluntary, knowing, and intelligent Miranda waiver can be meaningfully applied to a child as young as 10 years old.” He also wrote that the “Legislature may wish to take up this issue in light of this court’s decision not to do so here.”

Read more here.

Read more here.

Over three decades ago, Gov. Brown approved determinate sentences, which he acknowledged has led to state prison overcrowding with long-stay offenders. The system which once was seen as arbitrary and harsh on racial minorities, has disadvantaged the entire system. "Instead of disadvantaging a small minority, we now cover the whole system.... In this process we have 5,000 criminal provisions and there are 400 enhancements."

Read more from the LA Times

AB 256, another CACJ sponsored bill, passed unanimously from the Senate floor. The bill returns to the Assembly for a concurrence vote, before heading to the Governor's office for final consideration.

“The public has a right to record the police and we need to send a clear message that any law enforcement official who tries to destroy this evidence will be punished” said Jeff Thoma, president of the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice regarding AB 256.

• The LA Times highlighted the passage of our bill in an article today.

By Maria Dinzeo

"Ignacio Hernandez, a lobbyist for California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, said he just doesn't see a reason for the bill."

"This is the most recent in many failed attempts to do this. We did not receive any convincing evidence that there was a need to reduce the number of peremptory challenges in California," he said, adding that he also hasn't seen any evidence that the bill could actually save money."

"We are always disturbed when you have a group of judges arguing under the banner of court efficiency, their idea to roll back what is a core protection for those accused of crimes," he said. "Even if this were to generate $1 million in savings, it should be the last place we look to cut. Why start there for such a small savings that's even questionable is beyond us."

• Read more from Courthouse News Services

"SB 411 clarifies individuals’ First Amendment right to record police officers by stating that a civilian recording while an officer is in a public place, or the person recording is in a place he or she has the right to be, is not violating the law. Additionally, it makes clear that recording does not constitute reasonable suspicion to detain a person or probable cause to arrest. This bill also protects police by ensuring that these provisions do not allow a civilian to obstruct an officer."

"Following various high profile incidents across the country, it is essential for the community to hold the police accountable without fear of being intimidated or arrested," said Dennis Garcia, spokesman for California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, which co-sponsored the legislation, in a statement."

• Read more from Long Beach Post

By Cruz Reynoso and Harry Snyder |

In his long and multifaceted career in public service, Gov. Jerry Brown has made a name for himself as someone who cares about criminal justice, whether during his days as attorney general of California, or as a tough-on-crime mayor of Oakland in the early 2000s. He also governs a state that has more people die at the hands of police — more than 100 so far in 2015 — than any other state in the country.

Read rest of the article here

As shown by today’s article in the Sacramento Bee lowering the capacity of criminal litigants to select a fair and representative jury is both unnecessary and inimical to the very fiber of justice as we know it in California. The bill that the article considers was pulled by its author yesterday, and will not recur until, possibly, next year. for the time being, 10 peremptories in misdemeanor trial cases will remain the law.

Special thanks to Ignacio Hernandez and the hard working members of his staff for their tireless stalwart and effective efforts to once again, defeat this ever-recurring piece of bad legislation. For various reasons, this year, it was very, very close.

Your CACJ Legislative Committee worked hard on this, and preparations are being made along with other allied forces for the inevitable permutations of this troublesome bill that will occur in years to come.

Our CACJ sponsored AB 730 was signed by the Governor. This bill is an extension of past efforts by CACJ to clarify and restrict certain narcotics offenses, including H & S 11360, 11379.5 and 11391. This is the first of several CACJ sponsored bills that have been or will be received by the Governor this year. More bills to preserve and to improve justice are winding their way to the Governor’s desk. With your ongoing support, it can and will happen.

ERIC H. SCHWEITZER
CACJ LEG. COM. CO-CHAIR

The right to an impartial jury is the linchpin of our justice system. Now, that fundamental protection is in jeopardy for millions of Californians.

Senate Bill 213, which comes before the Assembly Committee on Public Safety on Tuesday, would slash the number of peremptory challenges for misdemeanor criminal cases from 10 to six. A peremptory challenge is used to dismiss a juror whom a prosecutor or defense attorney suspects, but cannot prove, is biased.

That’s why prosecutors and defense attorneys alike – including Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey, the California Public Defenders Association and California Attorneys for Criminal Justice – all oppose SB 213.

• Read more here from the Sacramento Bee.

“It’s really about looking at each case individually and deciding what punishment fits the crime,” Ignacio Hernandez told CBS 13. “The way the law’s drafted now, it captures the most egregious cases and the least serious cases and treats them the same. We assumed that at some point the courts would find that unconstitutional.”

Read more from the article here.

CACJ President Jeff Thoma participated in a panel discussion regarding the use of body cameras by law enforcement. The legislative informational hearing was convened by the Assembly Public Safety Committee chaired by Assemblyman Bill Quirk. The hearing consisted of testimony by a number of experts from law enforcement and civil rights organizations. Jeff Thoma addressed a number of key legal issues involved in the potential use of body cameras.

"Amazingly, the fact that it's 364 means it's not an aggravated felony under federal law," said Steven Rease, a criminal defense attorney in Monterey County. "It's a very small change in terms of 365, 364, but it's going to make all the difference in the world to a legal immigrant...whose chances of deportation are greatly reduced."

Rease is co-chairman of the legislative committee of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, which represents defense attorneys and sought the change in state law."

• See more from the article here.