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560K signatures submitted toward Ohio victims' rights effort

Posted at 1:34 PM, Jun 22, 2017
and last updated 2017-06-22 13:34:12-04

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Backers of a proposed constitutional amendment giving crime victims and their families the same rights as the accused say they’ve delivered enough signatures to Ohio’s elections chief to make the fall ballot.

About 306,000 of the 560,000 signatures delivered Thursday to Secretary of State Jon Husted must be valid.

The proposal is dubbed Marsy’s Law for Ohio. It would require that victims and their families be notified of all court proceedings and allowed to tell their accounts of the crime. It also would give victims input on plea deals and declare full and timely restitution a right.

The measure is named for a California woman stalked and killed by her ex-boyfriend in 1983. The accused was released on bail a week after her murder without her family being told.