Senate bill raises issues

Colusa County District Attorney’s Office sues Board of Parole Hearings

Since the horrific murder of her younger brother in 1997, Devin Lombardi has taken on the role of victim advocate.

And after the October re-sentencing of his killer raised awareness to challenges within the juvenile justice system, she may be one step closer to achieving what she believes is justice for more victims.

Because Nathan Ramazzini was 16 when he (and Leopoldo Contreras, 19 at the time) brutally beat and stabbed Erik Ingebretsen in Colusa County, sweeping changes in the juvenile justice system have challenged prosecutors to fight to keep him behind bars.

The Colusa County District Attorney’s Office is essentially suing the Board of Parole Hearings over its enforcement of Senate Bill 394 – which allows murderers who were juveniles when the crime was committed and

who were sentenced to life without parole to qualify for parole hearings after serving 25 years in prison.

In its petition for a writ of prohibition filed in the Colusa County Superior Court last summer, the department argues that the bill was passed unconstitutionally without a 2/3 vote, needed in the Assembly because it amends a law created by proposition. The suit was recently transferred to Sacramento County Superior Court.

Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-yuba City) plans to roll out legislation related to the Ramazzini case during a press conference scheduled for Feb. 20, though his office wouldn’t release more details Friday.

The District Attorney’s