By Kim Minugh
kminugh@sacbee.com
Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully announced her opposition today to a bill pending in the legislature that would allow sentencing modifications for convicted murderers between the ages of 16 and 18.
The bill, SB 399, applies specifically to those who were sentenced to first-degree murder with special circumstances and received sentenced of life without parole. The bill would allow those offenders to petition to have their sentences modified to allow parole.
In a letter to Assembly Speaker John Perez, Scully wrote that the bill would weaken accountability for "those, sixteen years and older, who commit the worst crimes."
She also argued that in such cases, prosecutors have discretion in deciding whether to seek life without parole, and that sentencing judges have similar discretion.
"Current law provides adequate safeguards against the abuse of the life without parole penalty," she wrote in the letter, dated Monday and sent to every member of the Assembly.
To underscore her point, Scully cited two recent cases in which juvenile offenders were tried as adults and convicted of first-degree murder: Jimmy Siackasorn (photo left), who was 16 when he fatally shot Sacramento County sheriff's Detective Vu Nguyen; and Frank Abella, who, with another suspect, robbed, tortured and fatally shot disabled William Deer just shy of Abella's 18th birthday.
Siackasorn was sentenced to life without parole. Abella is scheduled for sentencing Aug. 27, and also faces a sentence of life without parole.
Scully wrote that the bill would "re-victimize" families of those victims and future victims by subjecting them to further court and parole hearings.
"On behalf of Detective Vu Nguyen, disabled William Greer, their families, and those crime victims still to come, I urge you to vote no on SB 399," Scully wrote in the letter.
The bill, authored by Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, passed in the Senate and is now being considered in the Assembly.
Call The Bee's Kim Minugh, (916) 321-1038.
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