Laws

Legislative History

Governor Signs Habeas Bill into Law!

Free Battered Women is thrilled to report that on September 17th, 2004, Governor Schwarzenegger signed SB 1385 into law. It will go into effect on January 1, 2005.

The bill (authored by Senator Burton and co-authored by Senators Kuehl, Romero, and Assembly Members Jackson, Leno, Goldberg, and Dymally), expands the class of domestic violence survivors who are eligible for habeas relief. It also changes language about "Battered Women's Syndrome" to the more favored term "battering and its effects" (see below for more details about the bill).

With the passage of this bill, Free Battered Women will join with our partners in the Habeas Project (Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, California Women’s Law Center (CWLC), and the USC Post-Conviction Justice Project) to implement the law and secure the release of more incarcerated survivors of domestic violence from prison.

What SB 1385 Does and Why it is Important

In 2001, after years of pressure from advocates for survivors of domestic violence, incarcerated survivors, friends, families, attorneys, and community groups, the California legislature passed Senate Bill 799.

This bill (later codified as Penal Code §1473.5) affords incarcerated survivors of domestic violence convicted before 1992 of first- or second-degree murder for killing their abusive partners an opportunity to seek a re-trial or reduction in sentence. Survivors can submit petitions for writs of habeas corpus on the basis that, had evidence of battering and its effects been introduced at trial, it would have changed the outcome of their cases.

In early 2002, Free Battered Women, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC), California Women’s Law Center (CWLC), and the USC Post-Conviction Justice Project (PCJP) established the Habeas Project to assist incarcerated survivors of domestic violence with filing their habeas petitions.

Yet the law allowing battered women to file habeas petitions only applied to a narrow class of survivors. The expanded law, under SB 1385, includes relief for:

• those coerced by their batterers into committing crimes;
• those convicted of voluntary or involuntary manslaughter in the death of their abusive partner;
• those convicted of attempted murder; and
• others convicted of crimes where expert testimony on domestic violence could have changed the outcome of their case.

The bill also expands the law to include survivors who were convicted of offenses occurring before August 29, 1996. This is when the California Supreme Court (in People v. Humphrey) expanded the use of expert testimony on battering and its effects in support of survivors' defense claims.

Finally, the bill also amends the language in Evidence Code §1107 from expert testimony on “battered women’s syndrome” to expert testimony on “intimate partner battering and its effects.” Advocates, experts on battering, researchers, and legislatures across the U.S., believe the term “battered women’s syndrome” is problematic (see What's in a Name? or Critique of the 'Battered Woman Syndrome' Model for brief overviews of the limitations of "battered women's syndrome").

The process of passing SB 1385

The Assembly passed SB 1385 on August 2nd with a vote of 71 to 2, meaning the bill had strong bi-partisan support (29 Republican representatives voted in favor of the bill!). Because it was amended between the time the Senate originally passed it and when the Assembly passed it, the Senate had to vote on the current version of the bill. They passed it on August 17th with a vote of 22 to 4.

Survivor Mary Ramp, who was recently released from prison through the work of the Habeas Project, testified before the Assembly Public Safety Committee. She gave an incredibly moving account of the fear she experienced while surviving 12 years of abuse by her former husband, and the challenges she and her sisters inside faced in maintaining their sense of hope during their incarceration.

The bill was modified slightly in response to opposition by the California District Attorneys Association (CDAA) and the Attorney General's office. The additions include reinserting the 2010 sunset date, adding "intimate partner" before "battering and its effects," and expanding the types of crimes covered to include all violent felonies as defined in Penal Code § 667.5. (--Click on California Law, Check the box for Penal Code, Type: 667.5 in the search box, and then Click the Search button.)

The bill retained language that extends access to habeas relief to survivors convicted of offenses that occurred before August 29, 1996. Thus, virtually all the survivors whose cases we envisioned including in the bill are covered by the amended version.

By amending the bill, CDAA and the Attorney General's office agreed to withdraw their opposition -- thus paving the way for the bill to pass the legislature and be signed into law by the Governor!

Many community organizations stepped forward to support the bill in the Assembly and the Senate. Free Battered Women greatly appreciates the support of the following individuals and organizations for SB 1385:

320 women incarcerated at the Central California Women's Facility
A Woman's Place of Merced County
Action Committee for Women in Prison
Advocacy Coalition in Tulare for Women and Girls
American Association of University Women
American Civil Liberties Union
American Friends Service Committee
API Legal Outreach
Asian Pacific Women's Center
California Alliance Against Domestic Violence
California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
California Catholic Conference of Bishops
California Coalition for Women Prisoners
California Commission on the Status of Women
California LULAC
California National Organization for Women
California Prison Focus
California Public Defenders Association
California Women Lawyers
California Women's Law Center
Catholic Women's Network in Santa Clara County
City and County of San Francisco Public Defender
Critical Resistance
Justice Now
Khmer Girls in Action
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
Los Angeles City Commission on the Status of Women
Manalive Violence Prevention and Community Advocacy Training Institute
National Lawyers Guild, San Francisco, Bay Area Chapter
National Women's Political Caucus-Alameda North
Organization of Farmworker Women Leaders in California
Out of Control
Pacific Institute for Women's Health
Peace Officer Research Association of California
Prison Law Office
San Francisco Domestic Violence Consortium
San Francisco Network Ministries
San Francisco Women Against Rape
Sisters of Notre Dame De Namur
Stand Against Domestic Violence
State of California Commission on the Status of Women
Statewide California Coalition for Battered Women
Stop Prisoner Rape
The Women's Studies Program at CSU Fresno
University of Southern California Post-Conviction Justice Project
Over 90 non-incarcerated individuals

(Above: SB 1385 passes the Senate Public Safety Committee on March 30, 2004. Standing: Senator John Burton, author of the bill; Anthony Williams, Principal Consultant to Senator Burton; Seated, far left: Olivia Wang, FBW Steering Committee member; second from left: Andrea Bible, FBW Project Coordinator; middle: Paul Gerowitz, Executive Director of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice; Charlotte Newhart, Advocate for American Association for University Women; and Beth McGovern, Legislative Director of California NOW, all in support of the bill)

back to top