Tuesday 2 August 2022 01:15 AM Families of LA murder victims feel 'tricked' by woke DA pushing to commute ... trends now
Families of LA' slain are speaking out against the city's recent push to commute their loved ones' murderers' death sentences to life in prison - a campaign implemented by the city's progressive district attorney George Gascon.
Several grieving relatives slammed Gascón's relentless resentencing efforts Monday as an offensive 'crusade' - one they said further victimizes the deceased's families as they mourn the loss of their loved ones.
Some said the felt lied to, and others blindsided, by the campaign - with one family revealing they only learned that their loved one's killer's sentence had been lightened thanks to a formality in the city's court system.
That family further revealed the murderer - who was transferred out of death row and into a program for inmates with good behavior thanks to Gascón's efforts - was resentenced without a hearing, leaving them no opportunity to object in person.
So far, Gascón has officially filed three resentencing motions for killers who had been doomed to die - but sources say that the office is planning to file motions to resentence at least 65 post-conviction cases, further fueling families' rage.
They accuse the office of turning its back on them, and Gascón - an outspoken opponent of the death penalty - of ignoring their repeated cries of outrage.
Meanwhile, Gascón is facing a second recall effort in less than a year to remove him from office over his controversial policies, after narrowly escaping the first by the skin of his teeth.
Several grieving relatives slammed Gascón's relentless resentencing efforts Monday as an offensive 'crusade' - one they said victimizes the deceased's families as they mourn the loss of their loved ones
Heather Scott, seen at bottom right in this undated image, was only 12 years old when her father, Fred Rose, top middle, was gunned down by a man in 1992. Gascon's office recently campaigned to nix the killer's death sentence, outraging the family
'When you take someone’s life, there has to be consequences,' the daughter of one victim, Heather Scott, told The New York Post Monday, criticizing the DA's most recent, woke campaign.
'There have been massive consequences for my family that is permanent.'
Scott was only 12 years old when her father, Fred Rose, was gunned down 'execution-style' in 1992 by Scott Forrest Collins, who kidnapped and robbed the 42-year-old father-of-three on his way home from work before killing him.
Collins, 52, was subsequently convicted and sentenced to die in 1996, but escaped being put to death thanks to a series and Golden State's relatively recent aversion to doling out the death penalty. The state has not ordered an execution since 2006.
Earlier this year, officials from Gascón's office reportedly reached out to Scott, 43, who still lives in the City of Angels, to tell her they had filed a motion to resentence Collins, who has since been transferred out of death row and into a program at a correctional facility in Tehachapi, Calif., for inmates who have shown good behavior.
Scott, 43, told the paper that she was completely taken aback by the revelation, which saw city officials assure her that a life sentence 'would be the same thing' due to a recent moratorium placed on death row cases by Governor Gavin Newsom.
The motion, if granted, would see Collins' sentence reduced to life without parole - and would make the case the second to be reversed as a result of the embattled DA's campaign.
Scott Forrest Collins was convicted and sentenced to death in 1996 for kidnapping and robbing 42-year-old Rose at gunpoint
'I was in total shock but then I began to realize that maybe we have been lied to because it's not true when they told us that nothing would change,' Scott told The Post.
'I asked why they would do this because that sounds like something (Collins') defense attorney would do, not the DA,' she added. 'The response I got was, "He would never would've been executed in the first place," but that's not true.
'They can't guarantee that he will never get out of prison, and that's our biggest fear.'
Scott said her family were only notified by the DA’s Office about the resentencing motion - which is currently being considered - as a formality, with documents revealing that prosecutors had plotted to proceed with the resentencing without a hearing, leaving Scott and her family with no opportunity to object in person.
Scott would then reache out to the city's former Deputy DA Kathy Cady, who along with former DA Steve Cooley, agreed to help the family, file an opposition to resentence Collins without a hearing.
Cady Monday panned the maneuver as premeditated and 'scandalous' - a systematic way to try to undo every death sentence based on (Gascón’s) policy.
'Policy does not mean that the law has changed when there is no legal mechanism to do what you want to do. That’s not how the law works,' the prosecutor told the Post.
Last month, Scott, along with her husband and her mother, Sharon, appeared in court to plead their case before a judge, asking the jurist to deny Gascón’s motion - a request the court is still mulling over.
The family is now waiting for action from the city,who insist that Collins is a 'model prisoner' and was only 21
