Marsy’s Law for Tennessee this month presented State Rep. Patsy Hazlewood of Signal Mountain with the Champion of Victims’ Rights Award for her dedication in the Tennessee General Assembly to protecting the rights of crime victims.
State Sen. John Stevens of Huntingdon also received the award.
“We couldn’t ask for better advocates for Marsy’s Law in the general assembly than Sen. Stevens and Rep. Hazlewood,” says Marsy’s Law for Tennessee State Director Bonnie Brezina. “Their concern for victims and their commitment to ensure crime victims have equal rights to those accused means a great deal to the thousands of survivors and families in Tennessee who fall victim to crime every year.”
Brezina and other Marsy’s Law for Tennessee team members presented the award July 16 in the lawmakers’ offices in the Cordell Hull Building in Nashville.
Stevens and Hazlewood both sponsored Marsy’s Law for Tennessee – a law designed to ensure victims of crime have rights on the same level as those accused and convicted of crimes – in the 111th General Assembly that was cut short due to COVID-19.
“It’s an honor to be recognized as championing a cause that’s important to Tennesseans,” Stevens says. “We will do everything in our power to see that victims of crime have equal, constitutional rights.”
“With so much emphasis on the offenders, crime victims are often forgotten and left to feel invisible,” Hazlewood says. “I’m honored to fight for crime victims’ rights.”
Marsy’s Law is named after Marsalee “Marsy” Nicholas of California, whose ex-boyfriend stalked and killed her in 1983. One week after her death, Marsy’s mother and brother, Dr. Henry Nicholas, walked into a grocery store, where the accused murderer confronted them.
The family, which had just visited Marsy’s grave, was unaware the accused was out on bail.
In an effort to honor his sister, Henry Nicholas made it his mission to give victims and their families constitutional protections and equal rights. He formed Marsy’s Law for All, which provides resources to victims’ rights organizations nationwide, in 2009.
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Source: Marsy’s Law For All