Prison breakout bill regulates rights of victims on death row – Orange County Register

There are no words to describe the tragic murder of a family member. There is no true comfort left when a child, sibling or parent is violently taken from this world. But there is justice that can work. There can be a semblance of peace in knowing that those responsible will be held accountable and will never do evil again. There can be closure.

But California Democratic lawmakers now want to undo that small consolation with their recently revived Senate Bill 94. The bill, which was abandoned last year amid protests and distress from victims' rights groups and the public, would allow the worst known murderers to return to the streets and avoid the remainder of their life sentences.

The convicted felons who would benefit from SB 94 are not just “ordinary murderers.” Their crimes are not crimes of passion, lapses in judgment, mental infirmities, or simply uncontrolled anger or jealousy. No, they commit the most heinous murders – racist killings, contract killings, torture, and worse – done premeditatedly and with a malice that most of us could never experience or imagine, let alone possess.

Unless, God forbid, we fall victim to the few real monsters that walk among us.

This was the case with Vanetta Perdue, who was a young child at home with her mother and siblings when one such killer broke in and set her mother on fire, leaving the family to burn in the flames of the evil he had created. He was her father. She barely escaped with her life.

“My mother pleaded for her life and ours. Murderers like Samuel Windham deserve life without parole. Senate Bill 94 denies my mother justice and my family peace,” Perdue said at a press conference against the bill last year.

Families of victims like Perdue and others are adamant that history's most brutal killers should remain in prison for the rest of their lives. Their voices should be a top priority. The victims and their families often fought for justice for many years. For them, sentencing their perpetrator to life without parole was the light at the end of the tunnel, the end of a dark time, and it should last forever.

With no regard for the will of the people or the well-being of victims and their families, Democratic lawmakers have been dismantling our public safety protections for years. Their priority is getting criminals out of prison, not keeping the public safe – which is their job. These so-called “progressive” politicians have ignored the public outcry and even fought against the people who are demanding harsher sentences for dangerous criminals.

The Democratic Party leadership in California has rolled back protections against drug dealers who smuggle dangerous drugs into our communities, virtually eliminated theft, and weakened penalties for nearly all crimes.

These Democratic politicians claim they recently realized that we need real reform to be safe. They have passed laws that they believe will help solve the public safety problems we face. They hold cheesy photo ops at Home Depot with orange buckets in the background and proclaim that they are going to fight crime and finally get tough on it.