Kentucky Supreme Court to hear oral arguments for Marsy’s Law challenge this week - Lexington Herald Leader
Kentucky’s Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Wednesday and Thursday – including a challenge of the November 2020 ballot question for Marsy’s Law, which enshrines a set of crime victims’ rights in the state’s constitution.
Proceedings are open to the public and will take place at 10 and 11 a.m. eastern Wednesday and Thursday in the Supreme Court Courtroom on the second floor of the Capitol in Frankfort.
You can also watch arguments live via KET’s stream at ket.org/ky-supreme-court.
What is Marsy’s Law?
Earning 63% of the vote in November 2020, with 37% opposed, Marsy’s Law adds an amendment to the Kentucky Constitution.
According to the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office, under the law, victims have the following rights:
Timely notice of all proceedings
Be heard in any proceeding involving release, plea, sentencing or consideration of pardon, commutation, granting of reprieve or other matter involving the right of a victim
Be present at all proceedings, other than grand jury proceedings.
Proceedings free from unreasonable delay
Consult with the attorney for the commonwealth or designee
Reasonable protection from the accused
Timely notice of release or escape of the accused
Have their safety and their family’s safety considered in setting bail, the defendant’s release and conditions of release
Full restitution to be paid by the convicted defendant
Fairness and consideration of the victims’ safety, dignity and privacy
Be informed of these rights and the legal standing to assert these rights
Why is the Kentucky Supreme Court reviewing Marsy’s Law?
Supporters say Marsy’s Law is necessary because state courts sometimes don’t take crime victims’ concerns into account, moving cases along to conclusion without communicating with the people who were most seriously hurt by a crime.
Even where there are existing laws, such as victim notification before an inmate is released, mistakes happen, and when they do, victims don’t have much legal recourse, supporters say.
Writing specific crime victim rights into the state constitution puts the justice system on notice that these procedures must be followed, they say.
However, opponents say Marsy’s Law would sow confusion in the courts and interfere with defendants’ right to a fair hearing.
They say the amendment would give one or more designated crime victims a formal say at every important hearing, influencing the process even before a defendant is convicted and it’s been established a crime occurred.
Kentucky law already gives victims the right to explain to the courts before sentencing how they were harmed and to request notification when an inmate is released from custody, among other legal protections, opponents say.
“If the voices of complaining witnesses and victims are not being heard, it is because prosecutors and judges are not following the statutes that already protect these rights. The solution is not to create a constitutional amendment that weakens your constitutional rights if you, a friend or family member is accused of a crime,” the Kentucky Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers previously said of the law.
The association joined this latest legal challenge of Kentucky’s Marsy’s Law.
Where does the support for this law come from?
The legislation the result of a national campaign by California tech billionaire Henry T. Nicholas III, whose sister, Marsalee “Marsy” Nicholas, was murdered in 1983. Henry Nicholas spent several hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent years on lobbying and public relations to get the amendment passed.
What other challenges has Marsy’s Law faced?
This isn’t the first time Marsy’s Law has encountered legal troubles in Kentucky.
In 2019, the Kentucky Supreme Court struck down Marsy’s Law because the wording on the ballot measure put before Kentucky voters was too vague.
The measure has won passage in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Wisconsin, according to the campaign’s website.
According to a report by The Pew Charitable Trusts, a version of Marsy’s Law approved by South Dakota voters in 2016 led to longer jail stays while courts waited for victims to be notified and swamped county staff with notification paperwork — even for minor crimes such as vandalism, local officials said.
The American Civil Liberties Union has also opposed the measure, contending it would make it harder for the accused to get a fair trial.
The ACLU of Kentucky, in particular, has said the law could overcrowd jails and needlessly clog up the courts. Heather Gatnarek, an attorney for the ACLU of Kentucky, testified before lawmakers in 2020 that the law’s passage in some states has prompted law enforcement to withhold information from the public, including “the sketch of an assault suspect and name of the community in which the assault took place; the name of a daycare facility where a worker was charged with child abuse and motor vehicle accident reports” all in the name of victims’ privacy.
source: https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article259426134.html
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