GREENVILLE – Marsy’s Law for Ohio is officially underway.
If voters approve the proposal bringing equal rights to crime victims this fall, Marsy’s Law for Ohio will grant a series of constitutional protections to crime victims and their immediate families.
Marsy’s Law was named after Dr. Nicholas’ sister, Marsalee (Marsy) Nicholas, a University of California Santa Barbara student, who was stalked and killed by her ex-boyfriend, in 1983. Only a week after Marsy was murdered, Dr. Nicholas and Marsy’s mother, Mrs. Marcella Leach, walked into a grocery store after visiting her daughter’s grave and were confronted by the accused murderer. The family had no idea that he had been released on bail.
The Marsy’s Law petition required 305 signatures to be placed on November’s ballot. The petition received 560,000, according to Regional Director of Marsy’s Law in Southwest Ohio Joey Boggs. Those signatures will be turned in to the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office, June 22. To celebrate the event, many occurrences will happen that day in many of Ohio’s 88 counties, such as: Facebook posts, people wearing Marsy’s Law t-shirts, folks distributing information and in Shelby County, at 9:45 a.m. on WMVR/105.5 TAM FM, an interview with Victim Services of United Way, regarding Marsys law will take place. The number of signatures showed Boggs that people want to make sure Marsy’s Law is a constitutional thing.
“When people realized it is not in the Ohio Constitution and find out it is just under the Ohio Revised Code, they want to make sure it is a constitutional thing,” Boggs said. “Those convicted of crimes are given rights and held up through the Constitution. This law will make sure the same rights are given to the victims and victims families. “
Dr. Henry T. Nicholas, is the key backer and proponent of Marsy’s Law. When it passed in California, in November 2008, Proposition 9, the Victim’s Bill of Rights Act of 2008, Marsy’s Law, became the strongest and most comprehensive Constitutional Victim’s Rights Law in the U.S. Dr. Nicholas is now lending his support to an effort to ensure equal rights for crime victims across the United States, according to marsyslaw.us.
Marsy’s Law for Ohio Grants Basic Constitutional Rights to Crime Victims, including: the right to be treated with respect, fairness and dignity throughout the criminal justice process; the right to information about the rights and services available to crime victims; the right to notification in a timely manner of major proceedings and developments in the case; the right to be present at court proceedings, and provide input to a prosecutor before a plea deal is struck; the right to be heard at pleas or sentence proceedings, or any process that may grant an offender’s release and the right to restitution.
According to Boggs, Marsy’s Law for Ohio Bipartisan Endorsements include: Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, State Auditor Dave Yost, Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien, Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, Buckeye State Sheriff’s Association, 17 members of the Ohio House and Senate and more than 100 other local elected officials and organizations.
“This is a non – partisan issue,” Boggs said. “We are focused on getting all levels and elected officials in support of it, because the victims rights shouldn’t be one side versus the other, but something everyone should support.”
To learn more, visit https://marsyslaw.us/about-marsys-law/
