Message Board

[Admin]

Father Warns Violent Crime Victims' Families

Jul 27 2006 6:13PM
Reported by Kevin Landers

When a Columbus man raped and murdered a 15-year-old girl in 1974, her father hoped he would spend the rest of his life behind bars. Instead he served nearly 30-years and was paroled, without that father ever knowing. Now, her killer is back in the system, and for the first time a father is getting a chance to tell the parole board to never let him out again.

Robert Francis doesn't want another child to suffer like his did. He's speaking out to alert families: don't let this happen to you.

"She went to school that morning knowing that it was her mother's birthday but she never came home for her mom's birthday," said Robert Francis.

Roberta Francis was 15-years old.

"There was a field that she cut through to keep from walking up the street," Francis said.

Roberta was on her way to Brookhaven High School.

"He waited on her that morning as she was going through the field and raped and murdered her," Francis said.

At the crime scene off Cooke Road, detectives found the bird bath used to crush her head. Franklin County sheriff's deputies later arrested Paul Saultz, a convicted child molester.

"Roberta should have never been murdered, he never should have been on the street," Francis said.

Saultz confessed to the murder, and spent nearly 30 years of a life sentence in prison.

At the time of the crime, the state had no system to notify family members about upcoming parole hearings. So Paul Saultz was paroled without protest.

Today there is a notification system, but victim advocates say the system is far from perfect.

Paul Saultz is back in prison for violating his parole. Robert says he's speaking out to protect other families from criminals who are released and arrested again.

"This is a matter of prevention. Are we going to let this happen to somebody else's child?" Francis said.

This case got the attention of the attorney general, the sheriff's office and county prosecutor. All wrote letters to the parole board to deny Paul Saultz's parole.

You can read more about Roberta Francis' story by going to findmissingkids.com.

[Admin]

Father fights to keep girl’s killer in prison
Man up for parole 32 years after grisly crime

Saturday, July 29, 2006
Barbara Carmen
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Robert K. Francis, silver-haired and soft-spoken, has spent the past 32 years avoiding attention. His little girl was dead. He figured publicity would only reopen the wound.

But Francis found his voice yesterday, his first chance in all those years to sit down with a member of the Ohio Parole Board and fight the release of the man who raped and killed 15-year-old Roberta.

"I told them that we’re kind of a private family," Francis said after the meeting. "This whole thing is like your family is in a fishbowl. But the reason we did it this time is because this man is a danger to society."

Paul Raymond Saultz has served 30 years for murdering the Brookhaven High School sophomore two days before Thanksgiving in 1974. The state paroled him in December 2004 but arrested him again in June for unspecified parole violations.

Francis and victim-advocate Bret Vinocur said they have been given a "miraculous" second chance to return Saultz to prison. They’ve launched an Internet petition, at www.findmissingkids.com, to collect enough signatures to sway the parole board.

"The Francis family has done everything it can," Vinocur said. "Without public support behind us, this guy could walk."

But Saultz’ stepbrother, Walter E. Cupp, said his brother isn’t a danger and should be freed. Cupp, who was Roberta’s boyfriend, said he still doesn’t believe Saultz killed her.

"I know he was arrested again, but it seems like he was (doing) fine to me," Cupp said.

He said he keeps in touch with his brother but was unaware that Saultz faces an upcoming parole hearing.

Yesterday’s victims’ conference was a chance for Sandra Crockett Mack, the parole board member who is to interview Saultz in prison, to hear the other side before presenting her recommendation to the full nine-member board. A decision is expected Aug. 10 or 11.

Both Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien and Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro wrote the parole board, urging it to keep Saultz locked up.

"In my view, he continues to present a serious threat to the safety of the community," O’Brien wrote.

Petro noted that Saultz already had a second chance and violated his parole.

"Ohio’s citizens and our innocent children must be protected from sexually violent offenders such as Mr. Saultz," Petro wrote.

Francis said he believes his daughter would still be alive "if the state had done its job the first time."

Saultz, described in reports from the old Columbus State Institute as having an IQ of 60, was convicted in 1970 of molesting a 12-year-old girl. He was given a maximum one-year prison sentence but instead was sent to a state mental hospital for several years.

He was freed only months before Roberta’s murder, but Francis recalled a judge saying Saultz should never have been released.

Francis often brings flowers to his daughter’s grave. She lies beside her mother, who died of heart problems on Nov. 24, 2004.

"People say 30 years is a lot for him to have served in prison," Francis said. "But my wife was without her daughter for 30 years."

bcarmen@dispatch.com

[Admin]

Killer must stay in prison for at least 14 more months
Victim’s dad, others plan to fight release again in March ’08

Saturday, January 06, 2007
Barbara Carmen
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


TIM REVELL DISPATCH
Robert K. Francis, shown at his daughter’s grave,
plans to dedicate the next year to keeping Paul
Raymond Saultz in prison. Saultz raped and
murdered Roberta M. Francis, 15, in 1974.


Paul Raymond Saultz was released in 2004 after serving 29 years for murder. He is back in prison on a parole violation.


A phone call yesterday from the Ohio Parole Board ended five months of waiting for the father of a young murder victim and began a new countdown of 14 months.

The parole board will next consider releasing Paul Raymond Saultz, a sexual predator, rapist and murderer, in March 2008.

That’s not nearly long enough, a prosecutor, relatives and a victim advocate said.

The three led a national letter campaign in August to keep Saultz locked up after he molested a mentally retarded woman — his third admitted sexual offense — in May.

"Enough is enough," Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said. "He should die in prison."

O’Brien noted that Saultz, 57, has failed at all rehabilitation efforts.

Saultz raped and murdered 15-year-old Roberta Francis in November 1974 as she took a shortcut home from school on her mother’s birthday. Saultz had been released 11 months earlier from a state mental hospital, where he’d served four years for molesting a 12-yearold girl.

He served 29 years of a life sentence for Roberta’s murder and was paroled in December 2004. By last June, he was back in prison on a parole violation.

According to state records, Saultz, who is mentally retarded and has the intellect of a firstgrader, sexually assaulted a woman in a sheltered workshop.

Cynthia B. Mausser, chairwoman of the parole board, said the board considered the seriousness of Saultz’s past offenses and a pattern of behavior in deciding to keep him in prison until at least mid-2008. Typically, parole violators serve no more than an additional nine months.

Saultz will be eligible for a parole hearing in March 2008. He could be released as early as May 2008. Or the parole board could keep him for several more years or even life. Saultz declined to be interviewed for this story.

"To the family, we certainly sympathize with their loss," Mausser said. "We considered their feelings. We know it’s difficult for them to have to be reminded."

"It’s horrible for the family," said victim advocate Bret Vinocur. Thousands wrote to his www.findmissingkids.com Web site to urge the parole board to never release Saultz.

"We got letters from Germany," Vinocur said. "This isn’t rocket science. They’re constantly dredging up Roberta’s murder to her father, this sweet gentleman, who has suffered enough."

Robert K. Francis, of Norwich Township, said he thought he could find peace at 76. But instead, the next year or so will be dedicated to keeping Saultz in prison.

"How can they possibly think 18 months is going to teach him a lesson?" Francis said. "We went through all this — getting the letters and all the work everybody did — and it’s all washed aside 18 months later, and you start up again."

bcarmen@dispatch.com

[deb]

I've spoken with Mr. Francis, he is such a sweet man who lives with great pain, over the loss of his daughter Roberta and his wife. How is it Roberta's killer who was convicted in 1970 of rape to a 12 year old then murdered 2 more was only sent back for 18 months?????

This is a example of no justice and the possiblity of another child becoming one of his victims in 2008. Why can't the Parole Board give him the 5 years? Even that is not enough with the record he has, but atleast it would be better than 14 mo. I suppose they think we should all be grateful they did not go ahead and release him, which we are.

Thank you for each one of you who voiced your concern and sent letter's on behalf of Roberta and her family and friends.

We all need to continue to fight for justice for all families of a loved one who has been taken from us.

[Admin]

Bill would notification of parole of offenders
A law loophole allows some offenders to bypass the registration and notification.

By Marc Kovac
Youngstown Vindicator
10/03/2007

COLUMBUS — Robert Francis picked up a newspaper one day earlier this year and read about a sex offender who had been released from prison and was living on the south side of town.

It was the same man who had murdered Francis' 15-year-old daughter more than 30 years ago. Francis had no idea the man was even up for parole.

"We weren't notified," he said. "I think that the victim's family has a right to be in the parole hearings of these criminals. ... Where it involves murder and rape and certain crimes, I think the victim's families should be able to speak out."

Legislation being offered by two Columbus-area lawmakers would do just that, requiring victims of violent crimes and their families to be automatically notified of coming parole hearings and expanding their rights to participate in the process.

"Family members and victims deserve a voice in parole conferences so that intelligent, informed decisions can be made regarding parole," said Sen. Steve Stivers, a Republican from Columbus.

Stivers and Rep. Kevin Bacon, also a Republican from the Columbus area, unveiled their legislation during a press conference at the Statehouse on Tuesday. They're calling it "Roberta's Law" after Francis' daughter, who was brutally raped and murdered in 1974.

Notification

Bacon said the legislation would require notification to victims' families when violent felony offenders are being transferred or considered for parole. The bill also would require five years of post-release control and the creation of a publicly accessible database of such offenders for 10 years after their release.

Francis said his wife, who died several years ago, wanted to be a part of any parole hearing involving their daughter's killer. But he never received notification when the inmate was up for parole and released.

"I would have wanted to be there," he said. "... I don't think that the man should be out on the street. I think he is a very great danger."

Additionally, the bills (comparable versions will be introduced in the state House and Senate) would expand sex offender registration and community notification requirements to cover so-called sexually motivated killers.

A loophole in existing state law allows offenders convicted of voluntary manslaughter (but whose crimes were sexual in nature) to bypass the community registration and notification process.

The issue was brought to lawmakers' attention by the family of Barbara Sue Caulley, a 14-year-old who was raped and murdered in 1988. Her killer was convicted of voluntary manslaughter; if released, he would not be classified as a sexually oriented offender.

[Admin]

Murder Victim's Son Pushes For Parole Changes
Ohio Senate to vote on Roberta's Law

Rich Jaffe
WKRC
11/06/2007

A new law could bring sweeping changes to the parole system, including a more extensive notification system and the parole board would be held more accountable for the decisions it makes. This is the lengthy Senate Bill 228, called Roberta's Law. It's named for a little girl who was raped and murdered in 1974. When her killer was released from prison, Roberta's family had no idea he was out, until they read it in a local paper.

In this developing story, Rich Jaffe talked to a local murder victim's son who will be in Columbus to push for the change.

In August of 1996, 69 year-old Clara Swart was found with her hands bound, hanging in her Clermont County home. Her killer, Jessie James Cowans, had gotten out of prison just 90 days earlier. He had been serving a life sentence for the 1977 murder of a handicapped man, when the Ohio Parole Board let him out.

David Swart, Victim's Son: "They provided no comments from the general public, they reviewed the case under cloak of darkness and they released him almost as a shock release because they needed to eliminate overcrowding."

Dave Swart hopes Roberta's Law will pass and prevent such secrecy in the future. The law will require accountability of the parole board to legislators and the public. It will also require much broader notification when a criminal gets out.

"Thirty days prior to my mom's murder, Jesse James Cowans was ticketed in Amelia for swerving and possible dui, and if they'd been doing their job he would have been put back in prison and the murder would never have occurred."

Prior to Cowans release from prison in 1996, then Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters wrote no less than seven letters to the parole board warning them that if Cowans got out of prison, he'd kill again. Those letters were ignored by the parole board and Jesse James Cowans did exactly as everyone feared he would.

Prosecutor Joe Deters, September 3, 1996: "This man should have been executed for what he did back in 77."

Currently serving a death sentence in Ohio, parole won't be an issue for Cowans again. But proponents believe a more transparent parole board will make the entire state safer.

There's a chance the bill could go for a full senate vote next week. So far, it's had no opposition.

[Admin]

Parole laws could toughen
Families push open process, more supervision

By Sharon Collidge
The Cincinnati Enquirer
11/13/2007

Some survivors of homicide victims want to toughen Ohio's parole system to increase accountability and public scrutiny about convicts being put back on the streets.

The tougher standards will get their first test this week when the Ohio Senate votes on the issue.

An area man and woman who lost loved ones to homicides say change can't come soon enough.

Cheryl Cole Candelaresi learned that the man who gunned down her husband was released from prison when she read the newspaper one August 1994 morning.

Candelaresi said she had no advance notice, no chance to fight Ricardo Woods' release from prison for killing Cincinnati police officer David Cole in 1974.

"The shock of reading it was just like the shock the night police came to my house and said David had been killed," the 56-year-old Withamsville woman said.

Candelaresi and Dave Swart of Pierce Township, whose mother was killed in 1996 by a man who had been recently paroled, are pushing for the bill to toughen parole laws.

The bill includes more extensive notification of pending paroles, holds the parole board accountable for release decisions and mandates five years of parole supervision for the worst offenders.

Senate Bill 248 is known as Roberta's Law, named for a Columbus child whose killer was paroled without her family being told.

"Release without notification happens all the time," Candelaresi said. "It's too late to do anything about my situation, but I can help others."

Sen. Steve Stivers, R-Columbus, introduced the bill last month, in part spurred by Bret Vinocur, a victims' advocate in Columbus who runs Find Missing Kids Inc.

Vinocur has long argued for greater transparency in all criminal proceedings.

"If victims know about paroles and fight them, they have much better odds of that person being kept behind bars," he said. "The victim needs a voice."

Too often, the parole board operates in secret, victims never know when convicts are up for parole, and board members never have to justify why they set a convict free, Vinocur said.

"This is going to change that," he said.

Parole board members are full-time state employees whose pay ranges from $61,651 to $80,829.

The Senate could vote on the bill as early as Wednesday. If passed, it would then go to the House.

Vinocur sees little opposition.

Andrea Carson, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said the department is watching the bill's progress.

"Because it's not final, we really don't know what impact will be," Carson said.

Some provisions could be costly and time consuming.

Keeping all convicts who have committed a high-level crime on parole for five years could require more parole officers.

State lawmakers passed Laura's Law in 2005, creating an Internet database of upcoming parole hearings, inmates' crimes and sentences. It also lists inmates currently on parole. It can be searched by name, ZIP code and county.

Barry Wilford, legislative director for the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, said he supports much of the proposed law, but has some concerns.

"Not all victims want to be notified," he said. "Some find it too painful and want closure. Notifications cause them to relive the pain and emotions."

Dave Swart, whose mother, Clara Swart, was killed in her Monroe Township home in 1996, testified on behalf of the bill last week.

Jessie James Cowans got out of prison on parole, having served 20 years of a life prison term for killing a man in a wheelchair when he was 17.

Three months later, Cowans strangled 69-year-old Clara Swart.

A jury sentenced Cowans to die in that killing. He remains on Ohio's death row.

Dave Swart, 56, said it was impossible to get answers about why Cowans was paroled, and that prompted him to sue the state.

He got an answer - overcrowding - although the suit was eventually dismissed.

Like Candelaresi, Swart wants a tougher parole system for future victims.

"It's a common-sense law," he said. "It requires transparency and accountability, which the system has never had before."

As for Candelaresi, she doesn't know what happened to Woods.

For a time, he lived in California, but she lost track of him.

"We should be able to trust the criminal justice system, but it failed and let us down," she said. "This affects the whole community."

[Admin]

Man fights for victims on his time
He's blocked the release of 15 rapists, murderers

By Barbara Carmen
The Columbus Dispatch
December 27, 2007

Bret Vinocur spends hours at the gym, has a solid job, a self-deprecating sense of humor and a nice suit.

But he once quipped that he has trouble getting a second date. "Twenty minutes into dinner with me, all the women are in tears. They say, 'I can't handle what you do.' "

By day, the 40-year-old Vinocur collects money from insurance companies for Safelite AutoGlass. At night, he works full time as a volunteer advocate for crime victims.

He pores over autopsy photographs, prowls through court records, interviews police officers and compiles notebooks detailing horrific crimes.

Then he takes a vacation day from work, puts on his suit and goes off to fight the Ohio Parole Board or lobby the General Assembly.

In five years, he has blocked the release of 15 rapists and murderers, working free on behalf of grieving families who are at a loss to fight the system.

By spring, the General Assembly is expected to pass Vinocur's second victims' rights bill, sponsored by Sen. Steve Stivers.

"Of all the laws we pass, less than 1 percent have come from an ordinary citizen who just wanted to make things better," said Stivers, a Republican from Columbus.

"He's on his second law. He may be the only one out there who's done that. He is passionate and smart and a great advocate for victims of crime."

Roberta's Law, named after a teenager murdered on her way home from school, would require the parole board to notify all victims of violent crimes and their families when the person who committed the crime is to be released from prison. Roberta Francis' father never got a call from the state. It was Vinocur who helped him get the murderer's parole revoked.

The new law also would require the board to grant hearings to all families fighting a parole. Depending on the crime, such hearings are currently at the board's discretion.

Speaking up

Vinocur prepares for a parole hearing as if it were a matter of life or death, which, he said, it is for the next unsuspecting victim.

"All day, I'm like Clark Kent sitting in a cubicle," he said. "At night, I memorize these cases. The only way to do it right -- the only way to be able to effectively argue that this person should never be let out -- is to get yourself into the head of the victim until you can feel their fear and you are at that crime scene with them."

He has lost only one appeal on behalf of a victim's family. It haunts him. "It's pretty sad when the families tell you to let it go," he said.

The idea for his Web site, FindMissingKids.com, came to Vinocur five years ago, after several girls across the country were kidnapped and murdered. He started looking on the Internet and was surprised that he couldn't find much information on missing children.

He learned as he went along and became interested in parole cases as he saw that some sexual predators were being released from prison.

"I had a business degree from OSU in finance. There's no such thing as a degree in victim advocacy," he said. Today, his Web site gets 1,000 hits a day -- more when he is collecting signatures on petitions to fight paroles.

His first big case was Laura Skinner, a 3-year-old who was raped and murdered by her mother's boyfriend.

No one spoke up to keep Laura's murderer in prison. So Vinocur got the General Assembly to pass Laura's Law, which required the state to post upcoming parole hearings on the Internet.

His new law would require the Parole Board to attempt to notify every family about impending releases, this after victims told Vinocur they ran into their child's murderer on the street or read about the release in a newspaper.

Reaching out

Often, Vinocur phones families to offer help.

Debbie Brown Hurst said her family was close to giving up fighting the parole of her father's murderer when Vinocur called. Lima Police Officer William Brown had a wife and seven children when a gas-station robber shot him at age 33.

"We had two weeks to fight the release. I didn't know what to do," Hurst said. "Then Bret phoned me. I thought he was a nut. I said, 'How much is this going to cost?' He said, 'Not a penny.'

"When Bret came into our hearing with four folders full of e-mails from people who were against the release, that really meant the world to us."

Ross Caudill drew another five years in prison. Vinocur will help Hurst again in 2009.

Brenda Pennewitt, whose 19-year-old brother was stabbed 72 times, said Vinocur has become a brother to her. It was her appeal that marked Vinocur's single loss. The murderer was set free after 25 years in prison.

"When I got to the point when I said, 'I just can't fight anymore,' he said, 'That's OK, I'll do it for you,' " said Pennewitt, of Hilliard. "He's my angel."

Andrea Carson, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said the parole board does consider the information Vinocur presents about crimes.

"There are citizens who often come and meet with our Office of Victim Services on behalf of victims, but he is definitely one of the most passionate advocates we've seen in recent years," Carson said.

Vinocur traces his empathy to a former girlfriend whose mother was murdered in a robbery shortly after the woman successfully fought cancer.

"The pain in that family has stuck with me forever," he said. "I really wish I could do more for this."

This year, his employer heard of his work and gave him $4,500 to continue his mission. "It was a great fit for us," said Randy Randolph, chairman of the Safelite Charitable Foundation, which supports children's issues.

Still, Vinocur takes hundreds of dollars a year out of his pocket to run his Web site, photocopy documents and buy gasoline. He drives to each child's grave before a parole-board hearing.

He tells them, "I'm sorry" and "I won't let this happen again."

[Admin]

PLEAS FROM VICTIM'S FAMILY
Sex offender, killer shouldn't be freed, parole board told

Barbara Carmen
The Columbus Dispatch
February28, 2008

The Ohio Parole Board will decide March 17 whether to release a man who has served more than 30 years for raping and murdering a teenager, and who is still described by a former guard as "a mad dog."

The family of Roberta Francis argued yesterday against the parole of Paul Raymond Saultz, who has attacked a girl each of the two times the state has let him out.

Francis, 15, was murdered on her mother's birthday in 1974 as she took a shortcut home from school. Saultz had been released months earlier from a state mental hospital, where he went instead of prison for molesting a 12-year-old girl.

He had served 29 years of his life sentence for murdering Roberta when he was paroled again in December 2004. In June 2006, according to state records, he molested another girl. Saultz was sent back to prison for 18 months on the parole violation.

The Francis family, accompanied by Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien and victim advocate Bret Vinocur, emerged optimistic from the private conference.

"The parole board was very informed, much more so than before (in 2006)," Vinocur said. "When they paroled him the first time, I don't believe they had all the information. I'm very confident now we'll get a good decision from them."

Among the evidence presented to parole board member Sandra Crockett Mack was a letter from Terry Dountz, a retired Franklin County deputy sheriff and a former officer at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution.

"I saw an angry, vicious man that if released would certainly hurt, rape and or kill a female child or young woman again," Dountz wrote. "Some said Paul Saultz was like a mad dog and should be put down. The best we can do as a legal system is to keep him locked up until his death."

O'Brien asked the parole board to hold Saultz for another 10 years, the maximum time an inmate can be denied a release hearing.

"In my view, he should die in prison," O'Brien said. "He's a ticking time bomb."

O'Brien noted that it would be ironic if the board releases Saultz as the state legislature is considering a victim's rights law named for his victim.

"Roberta's Law" would require county prosecutors to notify victims of violent felony offenses if the offender is set for a parole hearing. Victims or their families can ask for a conference with the board.

Saultz, 58, did not want to comment on his behalf, said officials with the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. State reports from a mental hospital indicated years ago that he has an IQ of 60.

Robert Francis said he sometimes feels like giving up. "It won't bring Roberta back," he said. "Sometimes, I think, 'Why bother?' But this isn't about making Saultz pay more for my daughter. It's mainly to prevent this from happening to another child, another family.

"I just want the parole board to make a decision based on whether or not they wouldn't mind him living in their neighborhood, near their children or grandchildren."

The Francis family and Vinocur are gathering signatures on an electronic petition at www.findmissingkids.com to urge the parole board to deny Saultz's parole.

[Admin]

Murderer's parole hearing postponed
Rapist to serve five more years; board to hear case in '13

By Barbara Carmen
The Columbus Dispatch
April 1, 2008

A rapist and murder who has attacked vulnerable victims each time the state has let him out will serve at least five more years in prison.

The Ohio Parole Board said yesterday that it won't consider releasing Paul Raymond Saultz until March 2013. The board could have postponed his next hearing for as long as 10 years.

Saultz, 58, has served more than 30 years of a life sentence for killing 15-year-old Roberta Francis. The girl, who took a shortcut home from school on her mother's birthday in November 1974, was raped, brutally beaten and left to die in a field.

"I'm happy he got five more years," said Robert K. Francis, the father of the victim. "I would have preferred the maximum amount of time they could give him without a hearing. As bad as he is, they should have given him 10 years and not felt bad about it."

Francis, of Norwich Township, said he fought the parole to protect other children.

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien had argued that Saultz should stay in prison until he dies and called him a "ticking time bomb."

The parole board said it had considered public outcry in issuing its decision.

"There was still strong victim and community opposition to his release," spokeswoman Andrea Carson said. The board also weighed Saultz's "history of sexual misconduct."

Thousands had signed online petitions at www.findmissingkids.com to oppose the parole, said victim advocate Bret Vinocur.

"We'll take five years," Vinocur said. "But the last time Saultz got out, he committed a variety of sexually aggressive offenses against girls or women in a center for the (developmentally) handicapped."

Saultz murdered Roberta months after being released from a state mental hospital, where he had been sent instead of prison for molesting a 12-year-old girl.

In June 2006, state records show he molested someone again at a sheltered workshop and his parole was revoked.

[aimeecakes]

What happened to the Roberta's Law that everyone was hoping would pass?
Can it be brought up again if for some strange reason it didn't pass?
This law is very necessary to help save lives!