Yes: ‘Marsy’s Law’ provides tools to enforce crime victims’ rights

With more than two decades of experience as Franklin County’s prosecuting attorney, I have seen first-hand the suffering that crime victims and their families endure.

After long days in court filled with hearings that are designed to protect the rights of defendants, I often wonder why Ohio’s judicial system cannot be more balanced for crime victims.

Crime victims should be treated with respect and have their rights guaranteed.

Crime victims deserve equal rights such as the right to be notified of court proceedings and to be heard during every step of the judicial process.

That’s why I am supporting State Issue 1 — Marsy’s Law — an Ohio crime-victim bill of rights that voters will have the opportunity to enshrine in the Ohio Constitution this November. The rights embodied in Marsy’s Law are at the core of best practices that prosecutors throughout the country adopt and practice every day in court to protect crime victims.

I respectfully disagree with arguments that this amendment is not needed in Ohio because we already have rights for crime victims in state law. While it’s true that Ohio law covers some of the rights of crime victims, we sorely lack a method to enforce those rights in the Buckeye State. There have been previous attempts by crime-victim advocates to address the lack of enforcement through legislation at the Ohio General Assembly, but the horse-trading nature of the legislative process has made passage of a crimevictim bill virtually impossible.

This lack of an enforcement mechanism has led to some crime victims being abused under our current system. Look no further than the case of a rape victim in Mahoning County who faced a hostile judge and the defendant’s repeated requests for delays were granted for more than three years. That trial judge was able to ignore the victim’s objections, but if Marsy’s Law is passed, crime victims would finally have the legal status to object in court if their rights are violated.

Or consider the case of Ronda Blankenship, a Barberton woman who survived a brutal home invasion in which three loved ones were killed. She was forced to turn over her laptop, diary, passwords and cellphones to defense attorneys, though they had no relevance to the case. Marsy’s Law states that a victim can’t be compelled to turn over her personal information unless the defendant issues a subpoena and a court determines that it’s proper.

Despite some unfounded claims from opponents of the victims’-rights amendment, Marsy’s Law would not give crime victims the right to legal counsel and would not bog down the system with lengthy or unnecessary delays. This scare tactic ignores the facts and the history of other states. Marsy’s Law has been passed in at least five other states, and I have recently talked to a California prosecutor who said it has benefited the administration of justice in that state by safeguarding the rights of crime victims.

In my experience as a prosecutor, crime victims are the very last ones who want to see their case drag on endlessly. They are ready for justice to be served so they can start getting muchneeded closure and begin picking up the pieces of their shattered lives.

It’s time we affirmed once and for all that crime victims have equal rights to those of the accused. Please join more than a dozen county prosecutors including those from Ohio’s largest counties — myself, Sherri Bevan Walsh in Summit County, Joe Deters in Hamilton County and Michael O’Malley in Cuyahoga County — in supporting and voting for this important addition to the Ohio Constitution.