Victims Rights

Already under attack by Democrats, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is now taking fire from a traditional ally of his Republican Party, a victims' rights group that says the governor is endangering the public with his parole and prison reforms. In a television advertisement unveiled last week, the leader of Crime Victims United of California said the governor "let us down" after promising to "stand with victims."

Betty Jane Spencer, 71, a victims-rights advocate who survived a 1977 home invasion that left her son and three stepsons slain, died Tuesday of undisclosed causes in a nursing home in Clinton, Ind. On Valentine's Day 1977, four men stormed into Spencer's rural mobile home and ordered Spencer, her son and stepsons to lie face down on the floor. An hour later, after taunting and threatening the family, the men fired 11 shotgun rounds at them.

A judge on Wednesday dismissed a libel suit filed by a Roman Catholic priest against a victims' rights group that supported the woman who had accused him of molesting her. In February, Msgr. Joseph F. Alzugaray, a former Los Angeles priest, sued the Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests as well as his accuser and her lawyer. Alzugaray alleged they defamed him in leaflets that SNAP members distributed outside churches and on web- sites. But Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Jon M.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled that a Mexican woman who fled to the United States after her husband savagely beat her was entitled to stay in this country because of a law protecting immigrant women who have suffered domestic violence. In a 3-0 decision, the San Francisco-based panel overruled findings by a federal immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals that Laura Luis Hernandez could be deported.

People molested as children would have until they turn 30 to seek prosecution under a bill proposed Wednesday by a San Diego lawmaker. The announcement by Assemblywoman Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) is a direct response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that invalidated hundreds of charges and convictions in sex offense cases in California.

An advocacy group for victims of abuse by priests called Monday for the removal of a Catholic priest in Santa Ana who was linked to child pornography by police investigators but never prosecuted. Standing in front of St. Joseph's Church, where Father Cesar Salazar serves as a parish priest, three members of SNAP -- the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests -- asked Bishop Tod D. Brown to remove him while the Diocese of Orange conducts an investigation.

California consumers will learn next month whether their favorite shopping sites are steeled against computer fraud -- or are haunted by hackers and identity thieves. Starting July 1, companies must warn California customers of security holes in their corporate computer networks. When a retailer discovers that credit card numbers in its files have been stolen, it must e-mail customers, essentially saying, "We've been hacked, and the hacker may have your credit card number."

Raising awareness about a state law that took effect Wednesday, alleged victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests distributed leaflets New Year's Day at malls and grocery stores throughout California and encouraged others to come forward. From Sacramento to San Bernardino, they told passersby about the law, which lifted the statute of limitations on molestation lawsuits for one year beginning Jan. 1.

President Bush called Tuesday for a constitutional amendment to protect the rights of violent-crime victims, providing a key boost to advocates who have struggled for years to give victims equal footing with defendants in the courtroom. Pushing a law-and-order message that has been a steady drumbeat of the administration, Bush and Atty. Gen.

The family of Antonio Saldivar filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Wednesday against the Huntington Beach police officer accused of shooting and killing the 18-year-old farm worker in what investigators say was a case of mistaken identity. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana by family attorney Tim Black, comes five months after the family's $15-million claim was rejected by the city. The city and Police Department are also named as defendants.