Madness

I woke up this morning and knew that I had to write. My mind is all over the place. It jumps from one thought to the next in overdrive. These past few weeks have been a series of events that have me excited and hopeful one minute, then angry and scared the next. I can't seem to get a handle on my jumbled thoughts.

On January 2, 2019 a new law went into effect. Senate Bill 1437. It's a complicated law that will help those who have been charged with felony murder who were unwitting participants in the actual crime. Those unwitting participants will no longer be charged with a felony murder charge as they could have been before this new law. I get that! 

What this law does not do and who it doesn't protect is the victims' and their families.  Actually, the only reason myself and several other victim's families are even aware of this new law is because one of the mother's of a murdered son is in our Homicide Survivors Group which meets once a month. The new law has thrown the case of the four accused in her son's murder into a mistrial. 

This brings me to another issue that I have personally been dealing with for the last almost twenty years. My cousin, Kathy was murdered in April 1999. She was stabbed over fifty times and her body was dumped on Cherry Glen Road. That in itself is heinous enough, Right? 

The horror that followed with the "system" enhanced the heinousness of what happened to Kathy ten-fold. 

For eight long years Kathy's murderer was here in Fairfield at the county jail. He did a couple of stints at Atascadero due to the fact that he would act out in crazy ways during court proceedings and the defense attorneys would file motions for him to have mental evaluations at these different facilities. 

Again, this went on for eight years.

Here is my big issue aside from all of the madness our family suffered through with Kathy's murder and the eight years of court proceedings that followed.

Many times our family was not informed of court hearings or motions that had been filed. This is the job of our appointed Victim's Advocate under the District Attorney's Office. This continued to happen throughout the eight years before Kathy's murderer was FINALLY sentenced in 2007 to fifteen years to life for her murder. 

My son, Matthew Garcia, was murdered in 2008. Here we are again, our family has had to deal with the murder of Matthew, our beloved son, brother, grandson, cousin, nephew, and friend.

AGAIN,  Our family is Not being informed by our court appointed victims advocate, of court hearings/motions filed.

I understand that this is a systemic issue. In twenty years and three district attorney's later and the problem is still very significant. 

I hear from many victim family members on a regular basis about this huge issue. This problem of non-communication has perpetuated the feelings of lack of trust within our JUDICIAL SYSTEM!

I'm not stuck on the problem. I am all about how can we help get to a solution? How can we help out our VICTIMS ADVOCATES and the District Attorneys Office? 

Finding out about this new law by a fellow grieving mother instead of being informed that this law was coming down the pike, from our District Attorney/victims advocates, again, is just WRONG!

I still have yet to hear from anyone in the D.A.'s office concerning this new law? I find this disturbing.

Matt's case is  just one of the many cases that will be affected by this new law. You would think that SOMEONE, ANYONE in the system, would have made a simple phone call to say this is happening?

I just received an envelope in the mail from the District Attorneys Office. My heart dropped when I saw it. I understand that one of the men involved in Matt's murder will benefit from this new law. He may be getting out soon. I thought that I was somewhat ok with it, because he was the one who turned the three of them into the police. Raymond and I even had a 4 1/2 hour meeting with him two years ago, at the prison he is housed in. 

My feelings quickly changed when I saw this letter from the D.A.'s office. I felt myself getting anxious.When I did finally open the envelope, it was a subpoena. I am being called as a witness in another case.

I felt instant relief that this wasn't a notice informing me that the man involved in Matt's murder is being released early. I thought I had worked through most of this. I thought that I had come to a place of forgiveness; not for him but for myself. Well, I guess not. 

The letter from the D.A. is letting me know that I am being called as a witness in another horrific crime which happened across the street from us. The fact that I am feeling glad about this, is an indicator that I am NOT OK with an early release for one of the people involved in the murder of my boy. 

It would be nice to have had this information about SB1437 when it was filed. It would still be nice to hear from ANYONE in the D.A.'s office. 

Myself and several other victims family members could have voiced our concerns before Jerry Brown signed it into law. 

I'm not sure that it would have mattered, But, AGAIN, WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN INFORMED! We have NO RIGHTS. Our kids are dead and we have absolutely no SAY ABOUT ANY OF IT. 

Yes, I am mad, sad, and scared. 

I do have so much to be grateful for. I have an amazing family and friends. I have been blessed with my little precious grandson whom I adore and want to protect from all this madness. 

It feels like we are always up against something! I'm not sure what any of this constant madness means? I do know that myself and many other victim's family's are tired of being placed on the back burner of a system that needs an overhaul.