Murder Victim’s Family Fights Gascon’s Sentence Reduction Policy

Another Los Angeles County murderer is seeking to benefit from progressive District Attorney George Gascón’s policy of reducing all death sentences to life without parole.  My News LA reports that Scott Forest Collins was sentenced to death for the 1996 robbery and murder of Fred Rose in North Hollywood.  Now, twenty-six years later, Gascón’s hand picked deputy, former defense attorney  Shelan Joseph, is partnering with the murderer’s attorney to request that Collin’s death sentence be vacated.  On behalf of Rose’s widow and two daughters, former LADA Steve Cooley and former Deputy DA Kathleen Cady have petitioned the court to deny the murderer’s request.

“When the evidence suggests that the District Attorney’s Office and the defense are in collusion, the court is the final and only gate keeper to ensure that justice is done and the victims’ rights are upheld,” said Cooley and Cady.  The pair are arguing that there is no legal basis for reducing Collins’ sentence, handed down by  a jury and upheld by the state Supreme Court, other than Gascón’s policy, which is not a law.

Shelan Joseph argues that Collins was “only 21-years-old at the time of the offense and he experienced hardship as a child.”  All of this was presented to the sentencing jury and in appeals of his conviction and sentence.  The Criminal Justice Legal Foundation is preparing to file a amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in this case, arguing in opposition to the reduction of this murderer’s sentence.