Letter from Tony and Elise Hagmann

Please send your letter of Support before Tues. March 17, 2007. It can be just a quick please pass SB476. Senator.Romero@senate.ca.gov

Kyle Hagmann was slipped GHB with out his knowledge and died. With the Statute of Limitations for Manslaughter only 3 years the deadline was missed by just 12 days. His death went unpunished.

Dear Senator Romero,
We are writing this letter in strong support of Senate Bill 476 to extend the statute of limitations for manslaughter from three years to ten years in the state of California. Three years for law enforcement to gather facts and investigate crimes is often just not enough time. As in the Brian Gillis case, sadly, we know this to be very true from a personal level.

On April 24, 1999 we lost our only son, Kyle Hagmann, from an overdose of the drug GHB, gamma hydroxy butyrate, provided unknowingly to him by Timothy Meacham. Kyle was an honor student with high aspirations and goals. He was attending California Lutheran University on an academic scholarship and was just awarded an additional departmental scholarship for his high academic standards. He held a 3.9 GPA in his major, Athletic Training and Sports Medicine. Our son was the pride and joy of our lives and had such a bright and promising future.

A lengthy three-year investigation was conducted by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Homicide Department regarding our son’s death. The following statement by the District Attorney summarizes the conclusion of this investigation.

This is a direct quote from Senior Deputy District Attorney James D. Ellison; “California Penal Code 801 provides that any prosecution for an offense punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for less than eight years shall be commenced within three years after commission of the offense. In 1999 possession of GHB carried a three-year maximum sentence, furnishing GHB carried a four- year maximum sentence, and involuntary manslaughter also carried a four-year maximum sentence. Since Kyle died on April 24, 1999, charges needed to be filed by April 24, 2002. The case against Mr. Meacham was submitted to the District Attorney’s Office for review on May 6, 2002, twelve days after the deadline. We are thus precluded from filing any of these charges.”

It has been heart wrenching for us to accept this outcome, knowing that the person directly responsible for our son’s death, would have been held accountable for his actions if this case was submitted twelve days earlier. We feel failed by the system, but more sadly the system also failed Kyle.


We believe Timothy Meacham is also a victim of a failed system. With no consequences for his actions from either the authorities or the university, he had a heavy burden to carry knowing he was responsible for Kyle’s death. He struggled for years, was suicidal and we knew he needed help. In March 2005 he was found dead in his apartment. We and many others believe his death is directly related to his involvement in Kyle’s death.

It is too late for our family and the Gillis family to find justice. We will forever be victims of a system in need of reform. Extending the statute of limitations for manslaughter is a small but important step. Please support Senate Bill 476 so no other family will ever have to be told it’s too late to prosecute a criminal responsible for their child’s death.

Respectfully yours,

Anthony Hagmann
Elise Hagmann

Please send an email in support of this bill to:
Senator.Romero@senate.ca.gov
and
Senator.Hollingsworth@senate.ca.gov

We Need Your Help! Yes You!

Californians, please Support SB 476

I'll make this easy: There's an important hearing in Sacramento on Tuesday (April 17) at 9:30 regarding SB 476, a measure to extend the Statute of Limitations for manslaughter from three years to 10 years. Dems are attempting to stonewall the bill, but anyone interested in law, justice and rational responses to crime should support it.At the bottom of this post, I'll put a sample letter and an email address to send it to. Do it right away because the hearing is Tuesday.

Here's why it's important, as explained by Thomas A. Smith, a professor at the University of San Diego Law School:

I am writing this letter to express my strong support for SB 476. Extending the statute of limitations [SOL] for manslaughter to 10 years, as SB 476 would do, is an important reform of the criminal law in California and is long overdue.

While it would not lead to the incarceration of many criminals in absolute terms, those that would be imprisoned under this law would be particularly dangerous offenders from whom California's citizens should be protected. A three or five year SOL for manslaughter is a relic from an earlier time. In a world where people move quickly within the state and around the country, the model of investigation in which everyone who knows about a crime can be quickly interviewed and the truth arrived at, is obsolete.

Furthermore, the crowded dockets of the courts and the increasing complexity of the civil laws mean that easily years can elapse before civil suits, which may reveal facts crucial to criminal homicide investigations, are settled or completed.

This happened in the case of Brian Gillis, whose tragic homicide is the motivation for this bill. The facts in his case only emerged as a result of the civil litigation, which lasted nearly three years. The office of the district attorney with jurisdiction over this case assured Brian's mother that they were waiting for the civil suit to be completed before they pursued the criminal investigation. Evidence did in fact emerge in the civil suit which could have been the basis for a manslaughter or even a murder prosecution, but by this time, the statute had nearly lapsed.

With limited resources, and little time left on the statute, the DA elected not to pursue the case. Facing such short time limits, law enforcement officials have the incentive to give up pursuing difficult cases even when serious offenses such as homicides are involved. Such short statutes of limitation also give defendants and witnesses implicated in wrongdoing every incentive not to cooperate with any investigation, civil or criminal.

That is what appears to have happened in Brian's case, and why his killers may now relax, confident in their belief that the State of California cannot touch them. Brian's mom can tell you who killed her son, but they are now beyond the reach of the criminal law. Unless SB 476 is passed into law, there is no reason to think the same thing will not happen again to some California mother.

Manslaughter is a catch all provision that covers all but the most culpable homicides. The facts in Brian's case suggest crimes on the border between manslaughter and Second Degree Murder. For crimes such as these, ten years in an entirely appropriate statute of limitations, because of the gravity of offenses involved. While criminal defendants deserve speedy justice, crime victims deserve justice as well. Extending the statute of limitations for manslaughter is a small but important step in that direction.

It is also, frankly, the very least that the State of California can do for a grieving mother who lost her son, and whose killers are free, even as the record of the civil trial explains who are responsible for Brian's death. The bill will not help in Brian's case, but at least it will make it more difficult in the future for those guilty of manslaughter to avoid justice by running out the clock.

There's more to this: It's important to support SB 476 in order to tell Democrats like Senator Gloria Romero, who chairs the committee hearing the bill, to stop holding up any bill that could impact prison overcrowding. Unless you agree that the message criminals should get is that they should go ahead and commit crimes because you they be prosecuted and jailed, and unless you agree that people like the killers of Brian Gillis should go unpunished,

Send in the letter below:

Senator Dennis Hollingsworth, Senator.Hollingsworth@senate.ca.gov
Senator Gloria Romero, Senator.Romero@senate.ca.gov
R.E: Support Senate Bill 476

Dear Senator Hollingsorth and Senator Romero:

I am writing to urge your support for the enactment of SB 476, which would extend the statute of limitations for manslaughter to 10 years. While the bill will not lead to the incarceration of many criminals in absolute terms, those that would be imprisoned under this law would be particularly dangerous offenders from whom California's citizens should be protected.

Two phenomenon argue for a longer statute of limitations for manslaughter. First, today's society is extremely mobile, making it harder for investigators to track down witnesses and suspects. Second, crowed civil court dockets delay these cases, which can turn up evidence that can support manslaughter charges, beyond three years.

We must put the citizens of California and the victims of crime first, well ahead of concern about prison overcrowding. Support SB 476!

Water Intoxication

Here is the News today about a woman who died from drinking too much water! What I wonder about this is was The Wii Company in any way behind this contest? Did they know this was going to be done?

No charges in deadly water intoxication case
By Christina Jewett - Bee Staff Writer
Published 5:18 pm PDT Monday, April 2, 2007

The Sacramento County District Attorney's office has declined to file any criminal charges in the water-drinking death of a Rancho Cordova mother of three.

Jennifer Lea Strange, 28, died after participating in a "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest in the break room of 107.9 KDND (The End). During the contest, she drank nearly two gallons of water, placing second in a contest to ingest as much water as possible and refrain from urinating.

After complaining of light-headedness at the radio station, she was found dead in her home hours later. Sacramento coroner's officials determined that she died of water intoxication.

A press release from the prosecutors office says the behavior of the radio station staff did not rise to the level of criminality and noted that Strange was free to leave the contest site.

"There were no observable indications or symptoms that Jennifer Strange was experiencing a serious medical emergency which would have required station employees to seek or administer medical aid to her," the statement says.

Civil attorney Roger Dreyer said he will continue to go forward with a lawsuit seeking wrongful death damages from the radio station.