Sometimes it seems that the passage of time has passed by
slowly, like the grains of sand dropping from the top of an hour glass to the
bottom. As each grain drops representing the passing moments of our lives,
seconds, hours, days, months and years since my son Tom’s murder I suddenly am
forced to realize that it has been nineteen years since that fateful and
horrible night in July of 1993.
The next step in the procedure is for the prisoner’s attorney, the deputy district attorney to make their closing statement before the parole board commissioners. After this process is completed it was our turn to address the commissioners and to give our victim’s impact statement and to express our feelings about whether parole should be granted. Once we were finished the hearing is concluded and the commissioners deliberate their decision, which they reach immediately after the hearing. Once they have reached their decision all parties are called back into the hearing room where they announce their decision.
Nineteen years of grieving, wondering what his life would
have been like and of course ours had he not been murdered. Struggling to cope
with the loss of him, getting on with our lives as best we could as only a
survivor of a murdered loved one can understand. Always knowing that sometime
in what once seemed like a distant future would once again arrive and we must
be confronted by the very face of evil, Tom’s murderer at a parole hearing.
Last week, June 5th 2012 that day and time arrived as we made a long
journey from where we now live to the Solano California State Prison located in
Vacaville, CA.
Once more, old wounds, traumatic memories, emotional pain as
well as physical problems resurfaced and any closure many think we should have
had when the murderer was sent to prison was non-existent and was a similar experience
like an old and festering wound had been reopened.
Some might think and say, “Why did you go what did you
accomplish, surely you must have realized the emotional pain you would relive?”
To be candid my wife and I realized this but as I have said
countless times during the past nineteen years even though our son was dead we
are and always will be his parents and not to go to the hearing giving him a
voice that was forever silenced when he was murdered was unthinkable, a
no-brainer. Being there for him was yet another act of parenting, trying to
make sure the murderer and the parole board was reminded he was much more than
a statistic of crime, a victim, he was our son, and to us most importantly
arguing his case that a parole should not be granted to his murderer.
Thankfully, the vast majority of Americans will never have
to attend a parole eligibility hearing in their lifetime and we of course never
imagined we would ever sit through one as the parents of a murdered son. Sadly,
that was what fate had in store for us and I want to describe the process for
the benefit of those fortunate ones that never will have to attend a hearing in
order to educate the public another example of the plights of crime victim survivors.
Or as an example for those victims that will have to go through this process.
Notification to victims:
When our son’s murderer was convicted and sentenced in a
California Superior Court as victim survivors and according to the victim’s
rights granted us in the California State Constitution we would be notified by
the state’s department of corrections of the following; prisoner’s escape from
prison, death while incarcerated and notification of any parole eligibility
hearings which we had the right to attend. The Office of Victim’s Assistance a
part of the department of corrections was the responsible agency to notify us
providing we had given them our names, addresses and telephone numbers by
submitting the information to them on the form that was provided to us.
Naturally, we complied with this requirement.
At least ninety days before the scheduled parole eligibility
hearing the California Department of Corrections (CDC) is required to notify a
victim of the pending hearing the date, time and place of the hearing. Victim must
provide the CDC with required identification information so you can be cleared
to enter the prison where the hearing will take place. Also, the CDC will
advise you of the type of clothing that can be worn and what you will be allowed
to bring with you to the hearing and what is prohibited.
The Hearing:
In the case of the hearing my wife and I attended it was
presided over by Parole Board Commissioner and an assistant commissioner. The
people of the state of California were represented by a Deputy District
Attorney from the county in which the crime occurred (in this case Los Angeles
County.) Also there was a member of the Office of Victims Assistance in
attendance as our representative as well as my wife and me.
As this was the inmate’s parole eligibility hearing he was
present and was represented by an attorney.
The Parole Board Commissioners follow a strict agenda as
they review the prisoner’s record since he has been incarcerated. They make
note of any special positive achievements he has done while in prison, read
letters of support for him as well as go over organizations that are willing to
give him a place to live and a job should he be granted parole. The prisoner
must show proof in advance of the hearing that if paroled he does indeed have a
job and a place to live, without it there will not be a hearing conducted.
The commissioners also go over any prison misconduct or violations
that have been entered on his prison record and will ask him about them. The
prisoner is treated with respect and dignity but the commissioners will ask him
pointed and tough questions about the crime he committed and he will be given a
chance to address the commissioners.
After the prisoner and his attorney have had their chance to
speak at the hearing the Deputy District Attorney who is representing the
people of the State of California will review the crime committed, trial
proceedings and generally make an argument as to why it is in the public safety’s
best interest that the prisoner be denied parole.
The next step in the procedure is for the prisoner’s attorney, the deputy district attorney to make their closing statement before the parole board commissioners. After this process is completed it was our turn to address the commissioners and to give our victim’s impact statement and to express our feelings about whether parole should be granted. Once we were finished the hearing is concluded and the commissioners deliberate their decision, which they reach immediately after the hearing. Once they have reached their decision all parties are called back into the hearing room where they announce their decision.
The decision:
In California a ballot initiative was approved by the voters
(Prop 9) Marcy’s Law* which gave victim’s additional rights in the California
Constitution. Listed among those rights were those that stipulated the length
between an inmate’s parole eligibility hearings if parole is denied at a
hearing. The California Parole Board has the discretion of allowing another
parole hearing in as little as three years or for as long as 5, 7, and 10 and
fifteen years. In the hearing we had just attended on behalf of our son Tom his
murderer was denied parole and was given a term of 7 years before he would once
again be eligible for a parole eligibility hearing. He is currently serving a
30 year to life sentence for a 1st degree murder conviction for the
murder of our son Tom Myers.
At this hearing my wife and I with the skill and help of the
Deputy District Attorney from Los Angeles County were successful. Whether we
will prevail at the next hearing seven (7) years from now is anyone’s guess and
Tom’s murderer can be assured if at that time we are still living and able to
travel we will be there as no amount of good deeds, certificates earned or
programs participated in will ever bring back Tom and he should remain in
prison for the rest of his natural life.
Finally, as a victim it is very troubling and disconcerting to
know that the current Governor of California Jerry Brown has instructed his
appointed members of the Parole Board that when conducting a hearing they are
only to consider the behavior of the person having the hearing and not the
severity of the crime they committed. To me and to all other victims that will
have to endure the process we have just gone through Governor Brown’s
instructions are an egregious assault on victim’s justice and an outrage. He
should be ashamed of himself and I hope and pray no one from his family will
ever become a murder victim.
*Marcy’s Law is named after the daughter of our good friend
and co-founders of Justice for Homicide Victim’s a California based Victim’s
Rights organization Marcella and Robert Leach. Mr. Leach (Bob) is now deceased.
After the murder of our son Tom my wife and I became active in this
organization and are currently on its Advisory Board of Directors. You can find
out more about this organization by going to their website justiceforhomicidevictims.net
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