California expands punishment for rape after Brown signs bills inspired by Brock Turner case

SEPT. 30, 2016

REPORTING FROM SACRAMENTO
Jazmine Ulloa

Brock Turner leaves the Santa Clara County Main Jail on 

Sept. 2 n San Jose, Calif. (Dan Honda/Bay Area News Group/TNS)

Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday signed legislation that expands the legal definition of rape and imposes new mandatory minimum sentences on some sexual assault offenders -- measures inspired amid national outcry over the sexual assault case of former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner.

The decision comes as heated debate has raged this year over the mishandling of sexual assault investigations on U.S. college campuses by police agencies and courts. But increasing punishment for sex offenders posed a challenge for Brown, as the state has been undertaking a broader effort to move away from a focus on prison sentences.

In a message released with his signature, Brown said he was generally opposed to adding more mandatory minimum sentences.

"Nevertheless, I am signing AB 2888, because I believe it brings a measure of parity to sentencing for criminal acts that are substantially similar," he said.

Assembly Bill 2888, authored by Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell) and Assemblyman Bill Dodd (D-Napa), will prohibit judges from giving convicted offenders probation when they sexually assault someone who is unconscious or intoxicated.
Assembly Bill 701 by Assemblywomen Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) and Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton), will expand the legal definition of rape so it includes all forms of nonconsensual sexual assault.

Currently under the law, those convicted of rape using additional physical force must serve prison time. But offenders, like Turner, convicted of sexually assaulting someone who is unconscious or incapable of giving consent because of intoxication, can receive a lesser sentence based on a judge’s discretion.

Rape has previously been defined as “an act of sexual intercourse" under certain conditions of force, duress or lack of consent. Other types of sexual assault, like penetration by a foreign object, were categorized as separate offenses.

The laws go into effect on Jan. 1, 2017.

California woman claims her father was the Zodiac Killer

Her name is Deborah Perez and she said: My father was the Zodiac Killer. Her father was Guy Ward Hendrickson who died in 1983 of cancer. He was a carpenter and father of 6 children.

California police have never been able to capture the Zodiac Killer and believed that a child molester that died in 1992 by the name of Arthur Leigh Allen, was the killer. A case dating back to 1969 of a San Francisco, California, taxi driver that was killed by the Zodiac Killer is still an open police investigation. Perez has provided police with a pair of glasses that she claims belonged to that taxi driver and letters she wrote to the newspaper on her father's behalf about the crimes.

Deborah Perez mentioned that when she was a child, her father would tell her that he was very sick and that he had killed many, many people. She remembers that all she wanted to do was help her father.