No room for bargaining

Letter Published in the Chico Enterprise-Record
Sunday June 3rd, 2003


Superior Court Judge Robert Glusman is a name you will want to remember when it comes time to vote for judges. In fact, if public safety is important to you, clip out this letter and put it in your "voting file" with a note: Do not vote for Robert Glusman.

On May 23 the E-R reported, "Over the prosecutor's opposition, Kenneth Alan Keyes, 18, had been released last month from jail to the unlocked Skyway House facility in Chico prior to sentencing for ... car thefts." Keyes admitted stealing two cars, one with a baby inside. He pleaded guilty to that crime and also to leading officers on a 100-mph chase in another stolen auto the previous year.

Senate Bill 161 and Assembly Bill 140 are pushing for stricter penalties for those who flee. Read about these bills and then write to all your state legislators. Ask them to support at least one of these bills and ask them to make the bill of their choice a non-bargaining law. In other words, the prosecutors cannot "bargain" or drop fleeing charges.

According to the E-R article, "Keyes' attorney, Denny Forland, persuaded the judge last month to postpone sentencing in the case. ... The request was vigorously opposed by deputy district attorney Kristen Lucena, who argued that Keyes had a significant juvenile record and posed a public danger if released to the unlocked drug facility."

Guess what? Keyes walked away from the unlocked facility and hasn't been seen since.

Candy Priano 
Chico