appeal

Bay Area Legal Leaders Move on From Their Posts, While Leaving a Legacy of Community Collaborations

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In one season, Bay Area families are seeing three prominent leaders of legal institutions that have fought for, and in some cases, created, protections for low-income and marginalized communities, leave their posts. Mary Greenwood, the Santa Clara County Public Defender, and Miguel Marquez, the Santa Clara County County Counsel, have been appointed by Governor Brown to move on judgeship. Michael Kresser, the Executive Director of the Sixth District Appellate Project, is retiring after helping start the non-profit in 1985. While the three led distinctively different agencies, each were able to advance the rights of indigent and marginalized communities through their willingness to listen to, and work with, the communities they served. Through their collective leadership, Santa Clara County expanded its indigent defense, held prosecutorial misconduct in check, and created nationally recognized policy protections for immigrants.

Certainly, as new leadership is developed at each respective legal agency, a continuance of this inclusive, community-partnering approach is vital to continue the legacy laid-down by Greenwood, Marquez, and Kresser. Continue reading →

Bump California death penalty measure from November ballot, group says: Mercury News

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Controversy on whether we should keep or be done with the death penalty within California. Where Do you side? -Post submission by Cesar Flores

A law-and-order group on Monday asked a state appeals court to bump a measure off the November ballot that would repeal California’s death penalty, arguing that it violates a state rule against proposing multiple reforms.

The ballot language is “deceptive” and conflicts with the state’s limit of voter initiatives to a single subject, the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation argues in a petition filed with the Sacramento-based 3rd District Court of Appeal.

The foundation brought the lawsuit on behalf of Phyllis Loya, the mother of a Pittsburg police officer fatally shot in 2005 whose killer was sent to death row by a Contra Costa County jury.

The SAFE California Act would abolish the death penalty, clear the state’s death row and replace capital punishment with life in prison without the possibility of parole. But the measure also provides for shifting as much as $100 million used for death penalty costs to a fund that would pay for solving murder and rape cases. Continue reading →

INVITE TO FREE EVENT: Bringing Our Loved Ones Home Through The Appeals Process (Friday March 16; 6 p.m at De-Bug)

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ACJP Event Series Presents:

Bringing Our Loved Ones Home Through The Appeals Process

Featuring Michael Kresser; Executive Director,

6th District Appellate Program

Friday, March 16th 2012

6pm to 8pm

Silicon Valley De-Bug,

701 Lenzen Avenue, San Jose, California


Do you have a loved one who you feel has been wrongfully convicted? Many
families that come to Silicon Valley De-Bug’s Albert Cobarrubias
Justice Project have loved ones who are fighting their criminal cases
through the appellate process, or would like to start one.  The
appellate process is a way for a higher court to re-look at a lower
court’s decision.  The Sixth District Appellate Program is Santa Clara
County’s local office that handles appeals.  Come hear Michael
Kresser, Director of the Sixth District Appellate Program speak about
the appeals process, inspiring cases that he has won, and answer any
questions that you might have for him. 


Light refreshments will be provided.
Brought to you by:
Silicon Valley De-Bug
Albert Cobarrubias Justice Project (ACJP)
www.acjusticeproject.com
(408) 971-4965
Please feel free to share this invite with anyone who might be interested.
The ACJP event series is an effort to inform our families about the criminal justice system in order to create a more knowledgeable and empowered community.