Day of Action Demands Common-Sense Sentencing Reform

SB 300: A modest reform to an extreme injustice.

FUEL (Families United to End LWOP) and the Drop LWOP Coalition host a “Day of Action” today in support of Senate Bill 300 authored by Senator Dave Cortese (D-Silicon Valley).  

SB 300 will address California’s unjust “felony murder special circumstance” law by allowing for a sentence other than the death penalty or life in prison without parole (LWOP) for a person who did not kill anyone, nor intend for anyone to die.

This bill restores judicial discretion to impose a sentence other than death or LWOP when a judge rules that it serves the interest of justice in a case where a special circumstance is charged.

“This bill gets to the heart of an institutionalized bias in our criminal justice system,” says Senator Cortese. “We must reform these long-standing inequities,”

“We can adopt resolutions on racial justice, we can set up commissions and special oversight boards, but until we change the laws that are leading to mass incarceration of people of color - none of that is going to matter," said Senator Cortese in a recent press conference on SB 300.  

SB 300 is co-authored by Senators Bradford, Kamlager, Skinner, and Wiener and supported by dozens of California social justice and equity organizations. 

Sponsors of SB 300 include:

·      Anti-Recidivism Coalition

·      California Coalition for Women Prisoners

·      Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB)

·      The Drop LWOP Coalition

·      Ella Baker Center for Human Rights

·      Families United to End LWOP (FUEL)

·      Felony Murder Elimination Project

·      Silicon Valley De-Bug

·      Young Women’s Freedom Center

For a full list of supporters and for more information about SB 300, visit this link.

SB 300 Stories

Tammy Cooper was sentenced to die in prison at 32 years old for the deadly actions of her abuser. A sex trafficking victim, Tammy was charged as an accomplice to a murder she did not commit and sentenced to life without possibility of parole under felony murder special circumstances law. After 28 years of incarceration, Tammy was reunited with her father, Clarence, through a rare act of clemency. She is fighting to reform the laws that separated her from her family for 28 years.

“We lost 28 years together. It was supposed to be forever,” says Cooper.

Joanne Scheer’s son, Tony Vigeant, was sentenced to die in prison at the age of 22. Tony was 20 years old and a clerk in the US Marine Corps when he was involved in a tragic incident where a fellow Marine, a young Iraq war veteran suffering an episode of PTSD, shot and killed a person while retrieving Tony’s laptop computer. Even though Tony did not harm or intend to harm anyone, he was charged as an accomplice under the felony murder special circumstances law and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

“My son Tony did not harm, or intend to harm, anyone. Current law ensures that he pays for someone else’s decision with his life,” says Scheer.

After passing through the State Senate, SB 300 will be heard in the State Assembly in the upcoming weeks.