Recently, Senator Marsden introduced SB239 and it has made it out of its first committee with 100% support. But the Senate has never been our problem. Our stumbling block has always been the House of Delegates. So we are launching an effort to try to win the House to our side. We will be pinging three Delegates: Kirk Cox (R), Speaker of the House http://www.kirkcox.com/contact/ Todd Gilbert (R), Majority Leader http://www.delegatetoddgilbert.com/contact/ David Toscano (D), Minority Leader DelDToscano@house.virginia.gov Please ask these men to support SB239. The reasons are simple, we need to protect the victims of crime and their families. The Jones case is fatally flawed because if a Judge isn't aware that they have a power, then how can they ever exercise it? No judge in the Norfolk circuit was aware that they had that authority, a fact that is part of the record of the Majeed resentencing. Second, the Federal courts are trending toward declaring all juvenile life without parole sentences to be unconstitutional with the exception of extraordinary circumstances. And finally, there is no child that has never grown up. SB239 is not a "25 and done" law. It only says that if a juvenile lifer has served two and a half decades of their incarceration, they will be allowed to apply for parole. The bill also includes instructions for the parole board about how to determine demonstrated maturity and reformation. The bill is supported by the Attorney General, the Commonwealth's Attorney's Association, and the Catholic Church and it is one that should have bipartisan support. Justice is not served by demanding that a changed heart be forever imprisoned and the capacity for a juvenile to change is unequalled. A fact that we all know well from personal experience. I remember who I was at age 17 and there is no comparison to who I was then and to who I am now. A quarter century is enough time to pass in order to go back and take a second look. Please be respectful of these men and polite. You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar, as my grandma used to say. ;-) Thank you for all that you do and all that you have done. God bless, Bill