One of the state’s leading civil liberties organizations is opposing Issue 1 – the victims’ rights constitutional amendment known as Marsy’s Law.
The ACLU of Ohio’s Gary Daniels worries putting Marsy’s Law into the state Constitution would make it difficult to fix problems. And he says this ballot issue would endanger due process for people accused of crimes by allowing victims to refuse interviews or depositions.
“And there are perfectly logical and reasonable reasons why somebody might seek information from a crime victim when they are being accused of a crime,” Daniels said.
But Aaron Marshall with the Issue 1 campaign says defendants can still get those items with a court’s permission.
“What we are trying to stop are these fishing expeditions that have nothing to do with the case which we are seeing around Ohio,” Marshall said.
The state public defender and the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys’ Association are also opposing the issue, though some individual prosecutors are supporting it.
