EVERYONE!!! WHETHER YOU KNEW CASEY OR NOT! PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION!!!!
Today's article below. PLEASE KEEP REPOSTING, your friends don't always check their bulletins everyday. Please keep forwarding, forward to your friends and everyone you know. Forward to your address book, forward as a text message to anyone on your phone. Please keep getting this out there, we only have until MONDAY!
SIGN THIS PETITION:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/dont-let-the-guys-who-killed-casey-plea-to-assault
Article from the Press Democrat:
The mother and sister of a slain Santa Rosa man are mounting a public campaign hoping Marin County prosecutors will withdraw a plea offer to three defendants accused of beating him to death on Dillon Beach last spring.
The family and friends of Casey Tyler Adams, 26, said allowing the suspects to plead guilty to an assault charge ignores the fact that a man lost his life even as he tried to avoid a fight.
Adams' mother, Cynkay Morningsong, and sister, Jennifer Adams, both of Santa Rosa, also object to offering defendants a charge that carries no strike under California's Three Strikes law.
"I want justice for my brother," Jennifer Adams said Wednesday. "He deserved more than this."
A spokesman for the Marin County District Attorney's Office said the defendants would face a maximum four-year sentence whether or not they took the offer to plead guilty to assault with means of force likely to produce great bodily injury.
Probation or a year in county jail are options if they're convicted of involuntary manslaughter or the lesser charges already filed. Either way, the sentence is in the hands of a judge, not prosecutors, Chief Deputy District Attorney Barry Borden said.
Prosecutors have "been in constant contact" with Adams' family, explaining the facts of the case and how the law applies, Borden said, "but ultimately we have to do what is right and what is in the interest of justice."
"We've spoken to them on several occasions and are more than happy to talk to them again, but at this point there's no intention on our part to withdraw the offer," Borden said.
Adams started an online petition Wednesday that garnered 150 signatures supporting her cause in a matter of hours. She and her mother, along with their friends, have forwarded copies of a statement to other friends and multiple media outlets pleading their case, as well.
They said prosecutors gave the defendants until Friday to accept the deal, though no formal decision would be made until their next court appearance Tuesday.
"We're just trying to do as much as we can because our time is limited," Morningsong said.
Casey Adams, who was camping with friends over Memorial Day weekend, died of a brain hemorrhage early on the morning of May 27 after he was struck repeatedly -- with a flashlight on one occasion, according to observers' accounts of court proceedings.
The beating followed an initial encounter in which a group of other campers approached him and some friends on the beach, one of them reportedly shining a flashlight in Casey's eyes.
An exchange of words ensued, and the group departed momentarily, only to return. One of them again pointed the light at Casey's face before the encounter turned violent and Casey was quickly killed.
People in both parties had been drinking, Casey's family said.
The three suspects, Robert Marcus, 20, of Elk Grove, Robert Martell, 24, of Antioch, and Daren Bell, 24, of Sacramento, were arrested the next morning. They were charged 2 months later. Marcus and Martell were charged with involuntary manslaughter and battery with serious injury. Bell was charged with with felony assault with a deadly weapon.
They were ordered to stand trial three weeks ago.
Jennifer Adams said she believes the charges do not fit the evidence and that the defendants should have been charged with voluntary manslaughter, defined as an unlawful killing "upon a sudden quarrel or heat of passion." That offense carries a potential 11-year sentence.
To call the case involuntary manslaughter for the two key defendants and then reduce it to assault, Adams said, ignores "what they actually did."
Witnesses and the defendants agreed, she said, that her brother was in a defensive posture and never struck a blow.
The severity and recklessness of the attack, she and her mother contend, was evident in the judge's chastisement of the defendants when he ordered them to stand trial.
"The reality," Morningsong said, "is they came down, they picked a fight with my son, and when he responded the way they wanted him to, they used that as an excuse to punch him until he died."
Said prosecutor Borden: "Had we believed that this was a voluntary manslaughter case, we would have charged it as such. Had we believed this was a murder case, we would have charged it as such."
Today's article below. PLEASE KEEP REPOSTING, your friends don't always check their bulletins everyday. Please keep forwarding, forward to your friends and everyone you know. Forward to your address book, forward as a text message to anyone on your phone. Please keep getting this out there, we only have until MONDAY!
SIGN THIS PETITION:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/dont-let-the-guys-who-killed-casey-plea-to-assault
Article from the Press Democrat:
The mother and sister of a slain Santa Rosa man are mounting a public campaign hoping Marin County prosecutors will withdraw a plea offer to three defendants accused of beating him to death on Dillon Beach last spring.
The family and friends of Casey Tyler Adams, 26, said allowing the suspects to plead guilty to an assault charge ignores the fact that a man lost his life even as he tried to avoid a fight.
Adams' mother, Cynkay Morningsong, and sister, Jennifer Adams, both of Santa Rosa, also object to offering defendants a charge that carries no strike under California's Three Strikes law.
"I want justice for my brother," Jennifer Adams said Wednesday. "He deserved more than this."
A spokesman for the Marin County District Attorney's Office said the defendants would face a maximum four-year sentence whether or not they took the offer to plead guilty to assault with means of force likely to produce great bodily injury.
Probation or a year in county jail are options if they're convicted of involuntary manslaughter or the lesser charges already filed. Either way, the sentence is in the hands of a judge, not prosecutors, Chief Deputy District Attorney Barry Borden said.
Prosecutors have "been in constant contact" with Adams' family, explaining the facts of the case and how the law applies, Borden said, "but ultimately we have to do what is right and what is in the interest of justice."
"We've spoken to them on several occasions and are more than happy to talk to them again, but at this point there's no intention on our part to withdraw the offer," Borden said.
Adams started an online petition Wednesday that garnered 150 signatures supporting her cause in a matter of hours. She and her mother, along with their friends, have forwarded copies of a statement to other friends and multiple media outlets pleading their case, as well.
They said prosecutors gave the defendants until Friday to accept the deal, though no formal decision would be made until their next court appearance Tuesday.
"We're just trying to do as much as we can because our time is limited," Morningsong said.
Casey Adams, who was camping with friends over Memorial Day weekend, died of a brain hemorrhage early on the morning of May 27 after he was struck repeatedly -- with a flashlight on one occasion, according to observers' accounts of court proceedings.
The beating followed an initial encounter in which a group of other campers approached him and some friends on the beach, one of them reportedly shining a flashlight in Casey's eyes.
An exchange of words ensued, and the group departed momentarily, only to return. One of them again pointed the light at Casey's face before the encounter turned violent and Casey was quickly killed.
People in both parties had been drinking, Casey's family said.
The three suspects, Robert Marcus, 20, of Elk Grove, Robert Martell, 24, of Antioch, and Daren Bell, 24, of Sacramento, were arrested the next morning. They were charged 2 months later. Marcus and Martell were charged with involuntary manslaughter and battery with serious injury. Bell was charged with with felony assault with a deadly weapon.
They were ordered to stand trial three weeks ago.
Jennifer Adams said she believes the charges do not fit the evidence and that the defendants should have been charged with voluntary manslaughter, defined as an unlawful killing "upon a sudden quarrel or heat of passion." That offense carries a potential 11-year sentence.
To call the case involuntary manslaughter for the two key defendants and then reduce it to assault, Adams said, ignores "what they actually did."
Witnesses and the defendants agreed, she said, that her brother was in a defensive posture and never struck a blow.
The severity and recklessness of the attack, she and her mother contend, was evident in the judge's chastisement of the defendants when he ordered them to stand trial.
"The reality," Morningsong said, "is they came down, they picked a fight with my son, and when he responded the way they wanted him to, they used that as an excuse to punch him until he died."
Said prosecutor Borden: "Had we believed that this was a voluntary manslaughter case, we would have charged it as such. Had we believed this was a murder case, we would have charged it as such."