Voices of crime victims, families should be heard

In December 1995, three men robbed an armored truck during a delivery at a Columbus bank. One shot and killed the driver of the truck and later received the death penalty, an accomplice is serving a life sentence, and the third was released in December 2015 without the knowledge of the victim’s family.

That family left in the dark was mine. The victim was my father.

John Hamilton was a hero. He proudly served in the U.S. Army for 22 years. After serving in Vietnam, he transitioned back home to the role of a loving father and husband.

He wasn’t supposed to be at work the day he was ambushed, shot and killed. As the driver, he normally would not have been in the back of the truck, so when we saw the news reports of a death, we assumed it was someone else. But we soon learned this story couldn’t strike closer to home.

Two decades later, the story continues. For my mother, a day doesn’t go by that she doesn’t think of what was taken from her way too soon.

It did help to see justice served. The triggerman, Leon Tollette, who is on death row, and the backup gunman, Xavier Womack, wake up each day behind the iron bars of a Georgia prison. And until 2015, that was also the case for the third man, Jakeith Robinson.

In Robinson’s first trial in the 1990s, he was found not guilty of murder and the court declared a mistrial for the other two charges he faced: armed robbery and carrying a firearm during the commission of the crime. The Columbus District Attorney’s office then conducted a second trial for those two charges, during which he was found guilty of both.

This man was then sent to prison for life — that is, until the decision was overturned by the Georgia Court of Appeals. The court ruled there never should have been a second trial after he was found not guilty of murder.

My family wasn’t told about these legal proceedings. Our voices weren’t heard in this court. We received no notification when this man who played a role in my father’s murder was given his freedom by the state of Georgia.

Under state law, victims are entitled to these rights. But in Georgia, unlike defendants and convicts, victims don’t enjoy the protections that come with constitutional rights. As such, our family had no recourse to get our rights enforced.

Georgia is one of only 18 states that do not have victims’ rights in the state constitution. Many of these states are currently in the process of fixing this. Voters in Georgia should get their say too.

Marsy’s Law would provide the following basic rights to crime victims:

• The right to receive information about their rights and services available to crime victims;

• The right to receive notification of proceedings and major developments in their criminal case;

• The right to receive timely notification of changes to the offender’s custodial status;

• The right to be present at court proceedings;

• The right to provide input to the prosecutor before a plea agreement is finalized;

• The right to be heard at plea or sentencing proceedings or any process that may result in the offender’s release;

• The right to restitution.

To get Marsy’s Law on the ballot in Georgia, the amendment must receive a two-thirds vote of both houses of the General Assembly. That’s a high bar to cross, but it’s an effort worth undertaking because it’s so important to overwhelmed and vulnerable victims.

Marsy’s Law in Georgia would have protected my family from going through this extended ordeal 20 years after my father’s murder. No family deserves to go through what my family did 20 years ago. No family in Georgia deserves to go through an additional opening of wounds after two decades the way my family did, either.

Please ask your state representative and state senator to vote “Yes” on Marsy’s Law to ensure equal constitutional rights for the families of our crime victims.

This story was originally published December 18, 2016 at 5:41 PM with the headline "Voices of crime victims, families should be heard."