Prosecutors challenge proposed California sentencing changes

California prosecutors announced Friday that they are seeking to block Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed ballot initiative to reduce the state’s prison population.

The California District Attorneys Association and Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said in a lawsuit that the initiative Brown announced last month was improperly amended onto an existing ballot measure.

They filed a lawsuit asking a Sacramento Superior Court judge to bar Attorney General Kamala Harris from issuing the title and summary that would let Brown and his supporters begin collecting signatures.

The original measure would require judges rather than prosecutors to decide if juveniles should be tried in adult court.

In his initiative, the Democratic governor added provisions to increase sentencing credits for adult inmates who complete rehabilitation programs. It would also allow nonviolent felons to seek parole after they have completed their base sentences.

Merced County District Attorney Larry Morse II has been a co-chairman on the association’s legislative committee. He said he doesn’t have any problem with judicial review but is completely opposed to increasing sentencing credits.

“These are sweeping changes that are taking a chainsaw to more than 30 years of public safety law without any review or consultation of any significance with the major stakeholder – it’s really breathtaking,” Morse told the Sun-Star. “I agree with the governor on many issues, but he’s wrong on this one.”

Morse described the initiative as a “nonpartisan issue of public safety.”

“We support rehabilitation and second chances, but this is too much,” Morse said. “Violent criminals with extensive histories would get a fast track out of prison and get back onto our streets.”

“The governor cut in line, bypassing the normal initiative process,” Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten said in a statement. The association wants Brown and supporters to file a new initiative and go through the normal public review process rather than amending an existing measure, delaying when they can begin gathering signatures.

“It’s perplexing why these DAs would deny the people of California their right to vote on this important public safety measure,” Brown said in a statement.

Harris spokesman David Beltran said he could not comment.

The association opposes the measure Brown is proposing for the November ballot.

Its lawsuit says the measure “effectively repeals nearly four decades of determinate sentencing law, several voter-approved initiatives and would permit the granting of parole to tens of thousands of current adult felons serving terms in state prison.”

This story was originally published February 12, 2016 at 6:14 PM with the headline "Prosecutors challenge proposed California sentencing changes."