Virginia Law to Punish Victims
On November 14, 1996 Alan Peterson, a Southern California contractor, was leaving a Jack in the Box with his lunch when 16-year-old gang member Lawrence Cottle shot him in the chest while attempting to carjack his pickup. A short time later Peterson died in the hospital. The next day Cottle robbed a man at gunpoint, then held his gun to the head of a little girl while stealing her mother’s purse. Cottle ended his crime spree with an armed carjacking before crashing into a police car while attempting to flee. For these crimes Cottle was sentenced to life without parole (LWOP). In May of last year, Alan Peterson’s daughter learned that her father’s murderer was eligible for release on parole and would go before the parole board in June. She was devastated to learn that California has passed a law (SB 394) making murderers under 18 sentenced to LWOP eligible for parole after serving 25 years. Dozens of other families have gone through the same trauma of learning that the murderers of their loved ones have been set free under this law. A committee of the Virginia Senate has just passed out a bill (SB 842) that would make all murderers and all violent criminals eligible for release after serving 15 years.