2 of 3 Calif. crime measures fail at polls

LOS ANGELES - Californians defeated two of three crime measures on their ballot, including one of the few proposals to trim the state's bulging inmate population.

The only crime-related measure to pass was Proposition 9, which writes crime victims' rights into the state Constitution.

The defeat of Proposition 5 on Tuesday leaves the state more vulnerable to a federal court order that the state free some prisoners before they have completed their full sentences, said Dave Fratello, the measure's co-author and campaign manager.

The measure would have diverted a projected 84,000 drug offenders from prison or jail into treatment programs annually. The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office said that would have cut the prison population an estimated 17 percent just as a special panel of three federal judges is set to consider ordering a similar size reduction.

The judges have scheduled a trial starting Nov. 18 to decide if prison crowding is harming inmates' medical and mental health care.

"We think this (proposition) may have been the last, best hope to avoid a takeover of the prison system, because the state would have had a plan," Fratello said after his measure's defeat. "Now the state has no plan."

Lance Corcoran, spokesman for the influential state prison guards' union, said prison crowding is indeed a problem, but so is a proposition that could have kept serious criminals from prison or jail if they convinced a judge their crimes were drug-related.

The California Correctional Peace Officers Association poured nearly $2 million into the measure's defeat, paying for the bulk of the advertising against the initiative.

It was an unlikely informal alliance with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who joined with all four of his living predecessors in opposition. The guards' union last month dropped an effort to recall Schwarzenegger to concentrate instead on defeating ballot measures like Proposition 5.

First the state Legislature and now voters have rejected proposals that would have eased prison crowding, said Michael Bien, one of the attorneys representing inmates before the federal panel. That leaves it up to the judges to act.

State Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, whose Proposition 6 also was defeated, said legislators could reconsider prison problems during a special legislative session Schwarzenegger is to call this week. Legislators have repeatedly rejected $8 billion in bonds sought by a federal receiver to improve inmate health and mental health care, sparking a second showdown with federal judges.

Runner's initiative would have stiffened penalties for gang members, including allowing gang members as young as 14 to be tried as adults. He said voters may have feared the already stressed state budget could not afford to divert $500 million a year to local police, prosecutors, probation and rehabilitation services, plus $500 million for new prison cells.

Proposition 9, the crime victims' rights initiative, will write 17 specific victims' rights into the California Constitution.

"I think the empathy is on the side of the victims," said Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca.

Baca opposed Proposition 5 and supported 6 and 9. But he predicted portions of Proposition 9 would face court challenges.

For instance, the measure makes it more difficult for criminals to be paroled. It also requires state and local officials to spend whatever it takes to avoid releasing inmates early to ease crowding in prisons or jails. That sets up potential legal conflicts with federal court orders capping the number of inmates who can be housed in 20 jails throughout the state.

Supporters nicknamed the measure Marsy's Law, after the slain sister of its primary financial backer, billionaire Broadcom co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III. Nicholas was indicted in June on federal securities fraud and drug charges. He has pleaded not guilty.

Marcella Leach, mother of Marsy and her brother, said in a statement that Proposition 9 "has helped my family turn a personal tragedy into a positive for society."

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