A group of state lawmakers are working to repeal a law that allows prosecutors to charge someone with felony murder, even if they didn’t kill anyone.
The new law would also restrict the ability to give life sentences to people who are considered "unwitting accomplices." The bill, SB 300, has made it out of committee and is heading to the California Senate for its first vote.
"Instead of being condemned to die in prison…accomplices will have the opportunity to earn parole through rehabilitative program work and good behavior," said Senator Dave Cortese of San Jose, who wrote the bill.
Currently, state law allows prosecutors to charge people with felony murder just for being associated with a person who has killed someone and they can be sentenced to life in prison or the death penalty.
That was the case of Susan Bustamonte, whose brother killed her husband after she told him she’d been abused in her marriage. But she ended up in prison, only later having her sentence commuted by Gov. Jerry Brown.
"I served 31 years missing so much of my life and the lives of my daughters for a crime I didn’t commit," Bustamonte said.
The bill would need to pass both houses of the legislature with a two-thirds vote. The existing law was initially enacted by voters in 1990 and received backing from the California Peace Officers Association at the time.
When asked if they had a position on SB 300, they declined to comment.
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