BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 1186 Page 1 SENATE THIRD READING SB 1186 (Lara) As Amended June 6, 2016 2/3 vote. Urgency SENATE VOTE: 36-1 ------------------------------------------------------------------ |Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------| |Appropriations |20-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | | | | |Bloom, Bonilla, | | | | |Bonta, Calderon, | | | | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | | | | |Gallagher, Eduardo | | | | |Garcia, Roger | | | | |Hernández, Holden, | | | | |Jones, Obernolte, | | | | |Quirk, Santiago, | | | | |Wagner, Weber, | | | | |McCarty | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------ SUMMARY: This bill, an urgency measure, appropriates SB 1186 Page 2 approximately $5.3 million from specified funds to the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board (board) for the payment of 274 state claims. FISCAL EFFECT: 1)Stale-dated warrants. General Fund appropriations in the amount of $606,296.25 to pay 267 claims, and appropriations from specific budget items in the amount of $41,147.07 to pay 40 claims (General Fund/special funds). All of these claims are for reissuance of stale-dated warrants (expired checks). The individual claim amounts range from $9.02 to $116,910. 2)Erroneous convictions: a) General Fund appropriation in the amount of $581,600 to pay the claim of Obie Steven Anthony III, approved by the board on September 17, 2015. b) General Fund appropriation in the amount of $653,600 to pay the claim of John Smith, approved by the board on September 17, 2015. c) General Fund appropriation in the amount of $654,500 to pay the claim of Marco Milla, approved by the board on March 17, 2016. d) General Fund appropriation in the amount of $762,440 to pay the claim of Larry Pohlschneider, approved by the board on April 21, 2016. SB 1186 Page 3 e) General Fund appropriation in the amount of $564,100 to pay the claim of Michael Smith, approved by the board on October 15, 2015. f) General Fund appropriation in the amount of $512,600 to pay the claim of Timothy Gantt, approved by the board on October 15, 2015. g) General Fund appropriation in the amount of $936,880 to pay the claim of Luther Ed Jones, Jr., approved by the board in April 27, 2016. COMMENTS: 1)Background. The State Board of Control was established in 1945. It was revised and renamed the Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board by AB 2491 (Jackson), Chapter 1016, Statutes of 2000. Government Code 13928 requires the board to ensure that all claims that have been approved by the board, and for which no legally available appropriation exists, are submitted for legislative approval at least twice during each calendar year. In general, the board will approve claims in November and February. Those claims are reported to the chairs of the Appropriations Committees who introduce bills appropriating General Funds and special funds to pay the claims. These bills may appropriate funds in amounts to the penny for tens to hundreds of claims. Government Code 906 provides for the payment of interest on claims approved by the board for which an appropriation has been made beginning 30 days after the effective date of the law by which the appropriation is enacted. The re-issuance of stale-dated warrants is the most prevalent claim approved by the board. For stale-dated warrants, the SB 1186 Page 4 State Controller must confirm that 1) the check was not cashed and has not been issued and 2) more than three years have elapsed since the check was issued and the monies have reverted to the General Fund or to the relevant special fund. For these warrants an appropriation is needed to reissue the payment. This category also may include state treasury bonds that have not been redeemed within 10 years of their maturity date (there are no such claims in this bill), but the majority of warrants are payroll or tax refund checks. In addition to stale-dated warrants, existing law authorizes a person convicted and imprisoned for a felony to submit a claim to the board for pecuniary injury sustained as a result of erroneous conviction and imprisonment. Recent changes to these provisions, SB 618 (Leno), Chapter 800, Statutes of 2013, specify that a person who has secured a declaration of factual innocence from the court after having his or her conviction set aside is eligible for payment in a claim against the state. Upon application by the petitioner, the board shall, without a hearing, recommend to the Legislature an appropriation to cover the claim. Likewise, if the court finds the petitioner has proven his or her innocence by a preponderance of the evidence, or the court grants a writ of habeas corpus concerning a person who is unlawfully imprisoned, or when the court vacates a judgment for a person on the basis of new evidence concerning a person who is no longer unlawfully imprisoned, and the court finds the evidence points unerringly to innocence, the board shall, upon application by the claimant, without a hearing, recommend to the Legislature an appropriation to cover the petitioner's claim. Otherwise, a claimant is required to introduce evidence in support of his or her claim at a hearing before the board, and the Attorney General may introduce evidence in opposition. The claimant must prove, by a preponderance of the evidence: 1) the crime was not committed at all, or, if committed, was SB 1186 Page 5 not committed by the claimant; 2) the claimant did not contribute to the arrest or conviction for the crime; and 3) the claimant sustained pecuniary injury though the erroneous conviction and imprisonment. If a claimant meets the burden of proof, the board shall recommend to the Legislature an appropriation of $140 per day of incarceration served in a state prison subsequent to the claimant's conviction. That amount was recently raised from $100 to $140, upon enactment of SB 635 (Nielsen), Chapter 422, Statutes of 2015, therefore, claims approved by the board prior to January 1, 2016, provide payment of $100 per day of incarceration. 2)Purpose. This bill, an urgency measure, appropriates $647,443.32 in various state funds, including $606,296.25 directly from the General Fund, to the board for the payment of 267 state claims for reissuance of stale-dated warrants. This bill also appropriates $4,665,720 to the board for payment of seven specified erroneous conviction claims: Erroneous Conviction Claims (six): Obie Anthony III, preponderance of evidence, $581,600. In 1995, Mr. Anthony was convicted of murder and attempted murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. In April 2010, Mr. Anthony filed a habeas corpus petition. His murder conviction was overturned on September 30, 2011, on the grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel, false and misleading testimony, and prosecutorial misconduct, but the judge determined that he had not met his burden of proving actual innocence. Mr. Anthony filed a claim for compensation as an erroneously convicted person in September 2013, and the court determined on May 30, 2014, that there was a preponderance of evidence that the offenses resulting in the SB 1186 Page 6 death of one man and injuries to two others were not committed by Mr. Anthony, and it was determined that he had no involvement in those offenses or the events surrounding them. Mr. Anthony was incarcerated for 5,816 days. John Smith, preponderance of evidence, $653,600. In 1994, Mr. Smith was convicted of murder, attempted murder and enhancements of personal use of a firearm, personal discharge of a firearm from a vehicle, and intentional infliction of great bodily injury, as a result of a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. In October 2010, Mr. Smith filed a habeas corpus petition, asserting that false testimony was introduced during his trial identifying him as the shooter. The sole eye witness recanted his statement identifying Mr. Smith as the shooter in the incident, and the court found that the eyewitness perjured himself at trial and granted the habeas petition vacating Smith's convictions and sentencing, but declined to make any finding of factual innocence. Mr. Smith filed a claim for compensation as an erroneously convicted person with the board in September 2014. The Los Angeles District Attorney's Office conceded that he met his burden of establishing his innocence by a preponderance of the evidence, and the Attorney General's Office concurred. The board ultimately determined that Mr. Smith met his burden of proving he did not commit the murder as charged and convicted and there was a preponderance of evidence that he was innocent of the crime, and that he sustained pecuniary injury through his erroneous conviction and imprisonment. Mr. Smith was incarcerated for 6,536 days. Marco Milla, binding finding of factual innocence, $654,500. On October 24, 2001, Marco Milla was arrested and charged with one count of murder and five counts of attempted murder after it was alleged that he shot at a passing vehicle during a gang-related shooting. On December 23, 2002, the jury found Mr. Milla guilty on all charges and sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and the conviction SB 1186 Page 7 was affirmed on appeal on December 20, 2004. In 2010, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office was informed by the United States Department of Homeland Security that a confidential informant on an unrelated investigation had witnessed the shooting for which Mr. Milla was convicted. The informant named a gang member who was the shooter and stated that Milla was not even present at the scene. In January 2014, Mr. Milla filed a habeas corpus petition based on the newly discovered informant, and the informant testified at the hearing that Milla was not the shooter. His petition was granted, his prior convictions were vacated, and a new trial was ordered. The Los Angeles District Attorney declined to seek a second trial and on January 13, 2016, Milla received a finding of factual innocence. Mr. Milla was incarcerated for 4,675 days. Larry Pohlschneider, binding finding of factual innocence, $762,440. In January of 2001, Mr. Pohlschneider was convicted of three counts of continuous sexual abuse of a child, with a multiple victim enhancement, and was sentenced to 24 years in state prison. On October 7, 2015, the trial court granted Mr. Pohlschneider's petition for writ of habeas corpus based on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, and on November 24, 2015, the trial court found that he had met his burden of proving actual innocence and that the crimes with which he was charged were not committed by him. Mr. Pohlschneider was incarcerated for 5,446 days. Timothy Gantt ($512,600) and Michael Smith ($564,100), board approved claim. In 1994, Mr. Gantt and Mr. Smith were convicted on charges of murder and second degree robbery, along with a special circumstance of murder while engaged in the commission of a robbery, and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The judgments were affirmed on appeal. Mr. Gantt subsequently filed multiple habeas corpus petitions. In March 1998, his petition alleging the prosecutor had withheld exculpatory evidence from SB 1186 Page 8 the defense was initially dismissed, but the Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal and remanded the matter back to District Court for an evidentiary hearing. On April 21, 2006, the District Court granted Mr. Gantt's writ of habeas corpus, which was affirmed on appeal. The Los Angeles District Attorney's Office elected to retry Gantt, but during the trial the District Attorney (D.A.) stated that it was unable to proceed due to difficulties with an eyewitness, and dismissed the case. The witness expressed uncertainty about his identification of Gantt. Mr. Gantt was released from custody on June 5, 2008. In November 2009, Mr. Smith filed a habeas corpus petition. The D.A. did not oppose the motion and Mr. Smith was released from prison. Mr. Gantt filed his claim for compensation for erroneous conviction and imprisonment on November 17, 2008, and Mr. Smith filed his claim on July 14, 2011. All parties agreed to join the claims for a hearing before the board since the evidence and facts are similar. At the board hearing, the Attorney General's Office acknowledged that evidence against the claimants was not strong, but argued that the claimants had not met their burden of proving their innocence to a preponderance of the evidence. The board members noted that the evidence against the claimants was weak and circumstantial, and unanimously approved the claims for compensation. Mr. Gantt was imprisoned for 5,125 days and Mr. Smith was imprisoned for 5,640 days. Luther Ed Jones, Jr., binding finding of factual innocence, $936,880. On June 10, 1998, Mr. Jones was convicted of committing lewd and lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14 and was sentenced to 27 years in prison. Approximately 18 years after his conviction, the alleged victim came to the Lake County District Attorney's Office and stated that she lied at Jones' trial. The alleged victim stated that Jones never SB 1186 Page 9 molested her and that she had been coerced by her mother to testify against Jones in order to resolve a custody issue. The alleged victim stated that she was molested but that the perpetrator was a different boyfriend of her mother. The District Attorney's Office, after a thorough investigation, concluded that Jones was innocent and he did not commit the crimes for which he was charged. The District Attorney's Office filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of Jones. The court granted the petition on February 16, 2016, and Jones was released from custody on February 17, 2016. On April 26, 2016, Jones received from the Lake County Superior Court a finding of factual innocence based on new evidence that points unerringly to innocence. Mr. Jones was imprisoned for 6,692 days. Analysis Prepared by: Pedro Reyes / APPR. / (916) 319-2081 FN: 0003451