14286-19 Beach Blvd., #120
Jacksonville, Florida 32250
904-373-8817
https://WeCanBeHeroesFoundation.org
August 4, 2023
The Honorable James Comer, Chairman, House Oversight and Accountability Committee
2157 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member, House Oversight and Accountability Committee
The Honorable Pat Fallon, Chairman, Economic Growth, Energy Policy and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee
The Honorable Pete Sessions, Chairman, Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee
The Honorable Lisa McClain, Chairwoman Health Care and Financial Services Subcommittee
The Honorable Nancy Mace, Chairwoman, Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee
The Honorable Glenn Grothman, Chairman, National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee
The Honorable Brad Wenstrup, Chairman, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Dear Congressional Committee Chairs, Ranking Members and Members:
Thank you for your service to support and defend the Constitution.
Background.
1) America has more U.S. Codes than can be read in a lifetime, yet we are responsible to obey each one. Various sources report the average American commits three felonies each day without even knowing it. When we had the rights guaranteed by Sixth Amendment, Americans did not worry about being imprisoned unjustly. We were pleased to have the options of jury trials or plea-bargaining with prosecutor oversight and transparency. A fair plea-bargaining process gave Americans the option to settle charges speedily and get on with their law-abiding lives. However, this changed when the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued unfair and non-compliant procedures and Congressional funding of unconstitutional government work. Details of the problem, cause, and solution are shown in the Executive Summary referenced below. The overcriminalization of Americans personally affects everyone.
2) We Can Be Heroes Foundation honors heroes and provides educational forums on America’s founding values and the Constitution. Extensive research by various U. S experts on the Sixth Amendment abuses led many volunteers to request you and each Committee Member place an Emergency Legislative Pause on government unconstitutional prosecutorial overreach.
Page 1 of 4
The Legislative Pause should allow you time to enact fair and reasonable Sixth Amendment Constitution-compliant measures through your bureaucracy without causing future harm to the Americans you serve.
The Chairs and Committee Members are respectfully requested by the undersigned to: Please take emergency action to protect the Constitution Sixth Amendment rights of my family and community to defend ourselves against prosecutorial overreach without oversight and transparency. This is a respectful demand for the protection of my family as well as yours that you place an Emergency Legislative Pause on 1) prosecutor unfairly engaging in plea-bargaining without oversight, transparency, and right to appeal; and 2) the power to sentence to transfer from judges to prosecutors. This abusive government overreach created the over-criminalization of Americans as shown in the below-referenced reports and is widely known as “The Trial Penalty”.
The power to sentence must be restored to judges. The unilateral DOJ Sentencing Commission Mandatory Minimum Sentence Guidelines should not dictate mandatory sentences. An unbiased judge should be permitted to consider a person’s history, culpability, and responsibilities to sentence as justice dictates. It appears DOJ Sentencing Commission Mandatory Sentencing Guidelines are designed to imprison our population with ever-increasing mandatory imprisonment time. These “Guidelines” with prosecutor sentencing authority have not reduced crime in my community.
Please review the enclosed Executive Summary on The Problem, and the online reports referenced below for your necessary due diligence to restore our Sixth Amendment rights to defend ourselves. This request is simple. My family, as well as others, are simply requesting you and each Committee member place an emergency pause on the above two horrific government overreach powers affecting the freedom of all Americans and violating the letter and the spirit of our Constitution.
All plea-bargaining lacking proof and admissible or legally obtained evidence in grand jury and other criminal cases must be stopped and de-funded immediately. This abusive government prosecutorial misconduct makes a mockery of our liberty and the Constitutional intent of grand juries. Please note the Executive Summary referenced below suggests you re-think and redefine the necessity, use, and validity of abusive grand jury indictments lacking prosecutors’ oversight, admissible evidence, and withheld evidence.
Page 2 of 4
To be clear, we fully support prosecutorial plea-bargaining power when transparency and oversight outside the prosecutor’s agency chain of command exists and when an unbiased judge has the authority to waive the DOJ Sentencing Commission Mandatory Minimums. Plea-bargaining compliant with the spirit of the Sixth Amendment serves our community in the speedy resolution of cases.
We are sharing this urgent request to sound the alarm for the Chair and Committee Members, your constituency, and Americans across the country. Please reply with your plan of action. We trust you will stop funding unconstitutional work of prosecutors and the DOJ. May God grant you the speed and courage to act responsibly with haste to save lives and freedom.
References:
The We Can Be Heroes Foundation Constitution Reports:
https://wecanbeheroesfoundation.org/executive-summary-your-probable-imprisonment-reaches-alarming-rate;
https://wecanbeheroesfoundation.org/your-probable-imprisonment-reaches-alarming-rate/ and
The prestigious National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers complete report for download at https://www.nacdl.org/Document/TrialPenaltySixthAmendmentRighttoTrialNearExtinct
Very respectfully,
Beth Heath
and the parties named below choosing to consolidate their request to you with this one mailing to alleviate the burden on your office to handle each request individually:
(This list is on file.)
Page 3 of 4
cc: Honorable Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, 2468 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
Enclosure: Executive Summary, The Problem
Page 4 of 4
Executive Summary – The Problem
https://wecanbeheroesfoundation.org/executive-summary-
your-probable-imprisonment-reaches-alarming-rate
- You have a 1 in 3 probability of getting a criminal record.
- An average person commits up to 3 felonies a day without knowing it.
- America has more U.S. Codes, statues, and laws than can be read in a lifetime.
- You are required to follow U.S. Codes even though you were never notified of the law.
- America has 20% of the world’s prison population, yet only 5% of the world’s population.
- Prosecutors are the most powerful officials in the American criminal justice system.
- In 97% of cases, citizens lost their Sixth Amendments rights.
- America, “the former land of free,” significantly leads all Communists, Islamic, Dictatorships, and other countries in incarcerating its people.
- The United States incarcerates its people five times that of NATO countries as shown below:
- Holding hands, Americans with arrest records could circle the earth three times.
- More Americans have a criminal record than a college degree.
- Rights to defend yourself enumerated by the Sixth Amendment are near extinction.
- 6 out of 10 Americans in State Prisons are brown or black.
- 6 out of 10 Americans in Federal Prisons are white.
Enclosure Page 1 of 2
Executive Summary – The Problem, Continued
- Numerous scholars have examined plea-bargaining and estimate up to 27% of Americans who plead guilty may factually be innocent.
- Government left the majority of incarcerated Americans in prison during COVID-19 and violated government demands for social distancing, quarantines, and increased healthcare.
- African Americans convicted of murder are 50% more likely to be innocent than other convicted murderers.
- FBI reported arrests for 2020 are 32% aged 26 to 35, 73% male, 27% female, 68% white, 27% black, 5% other or unknown races.
- Over 5 million Americans were forbidden from voting in 2020 due to felony conviction.
- Most crimes reported to the police go unsolved.
The Florida Problem. (Other States to follow.)
- The State’s Department of Corrections is largest agency in the state and the third largest state corrections system in the United States.
- Florida’s 2021 incarceration rate is higher than national average, with 367 per 100,000 compared to the national average of 300 per 100,000.
- Black-to-white imprisonment ratio is higher than national average, with ratio: 4.1
- Duval County population is 4.5% of the State, whereas Duval’s inmate population is nearly double with 8% of the State Prison population.
- Florida is shown with lowest number of 2021 crimes committed in the U.S., but studies show the State reported only 0.3 percent of their crime data to the FBI.
- Failure to understate crime data could create mistrust in Florida reports.
Enclosure Page 2 of 2
Distribution List Alphabetical Order, Page 1
Honorable Representative Kelly Armstrong, House Oversight Committee, National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Ami Bera, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Honorable Representative Andy Biggs, House Oversight Committee, Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee, National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Lauren Boebert, House Oversight Committee, Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee, Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Shontel Brown, House Oversight Committee, Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee,
Honorable Representative Tim Burchett, House Oversight Committee, Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee, Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Eric Burlison, House Oversight Committee, Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee, Health Care and Financial Services Subcommittee, Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Cori Bush, House Oversight Committee, Ranking Member Economic Growth, Energy Policy and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee, National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Greg Casar, House Oversight Committee, Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee, Health Care and Financial Services Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Michael Cloud, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Honorable Representative Gerald E. Connolly, House Oversight Committee, Ranking Member Cybersecurity, Information Technology Subcommittee, and Government Innovation Subcommittee, Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee
Distribution List Alphabetical Order, Page 2
Honorable Representative Jasmine Crockett, House Oversight Committee, Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee, Health Care and Financial Services Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Debbie Dingell, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Honorable Representative Byron Donalds, House Oversight Committee, Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee, Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Chuck Edwards, House Oversight Committee, Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee, Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee, Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Pat Fallon, House Oversight Committee, National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Virginia Foxx, House Oversight Committee, Health Care and Financial Services Subcommittee, National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Maxwell Frost, House Oversight Committee, Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee, National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Russell Fry, House Oversight Committee, Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee, Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee, Health Care and Financial Services Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Robert Garcia, House Oversight Committee, Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee, Ranking Member National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Honorable Representative Dan Goldman, House Oversight Committee, National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee
Jimmy Gomez, House Oversight Committee, Health Care and Financial Services Subcommittee, Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Paul Gosar, House Oversight Committee, Health Care and Financial Services Subcommittee, National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee
Distribution List Alphabetical Order, Page 3
Honorable Representative Marjorie Tayor Greene, House Oversight Committee, Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee, Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Honorable Representative Glenn Grothman, House Oversight Committee, Health Care and Financial Services Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Clay Higgins, House Oversight Committee, Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee, National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Ronny Jackson, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Honorable Representative Jim Jordan, House Oversight Committee
Honorable Representative John Joyce, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Honorable Representative Ro Khanna, House Oversight Committee, Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee, Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, House Oversight Committee, Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee,
Honorable Representative Nick Langworthy, House Oversight Committee, Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee, Health Care and Financial Services Subcommittee, Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Jake Laturner, House Oversight Committee, National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Summer Lee, House Oversight Committee, Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee, Health Care and Financial Services Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Debbie Lesko, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Honorable Representative Anna Paulina Luna, House Oversight Committee, Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee, Health Care and Financial Services Subcommittee, Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee
Distribution List Alphabetical Order, Page 4
Honorable Representative Stephen Lynch, House Oversight Committee, National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee, Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Nancy Mace, House Oversight Committee, National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Nicole Malliotakis, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Lisa McClain, House Oversight Committee, Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee,
Honorable Representative Rich McCormick, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Honorable Representative Kweisi Mfume, House Oversight Committee, Ranking Member Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee, Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Kweisi Mfume, House Oversight Committee, Ranking Member Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee,
Honorable Representative Marionette Miller-Meeks, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Kweisi Mfume, House Oversight Committee, Ranking Member Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee,
Honorable Representative Jared Moskowitz, House Oversight Committee, National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee, Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton, House Oversight Committee, Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee, Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, House Oversight Committee, Health Care and Financial Services Subcommittee
Distribution List Alphabetical Order, Page 5
Honorable Representative Gary Palmer, House Oversight Committee, Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Scott Perry, House Oversight Committee, Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee, National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Katie Porter, House Oversight Committee, Ranking Member Health Care and Financial Services Subcommittee, National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Deborah Ross, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Honorable Representative Raul Ruiz, Ranking Member, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Honorable Representative Melanie Stanbury, House Oversight Committee, Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee, Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee
Honorable Representative William Timmons, House Oversight Committee, Government Operations, and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee, Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee
Honorable Representative Jill Tokuda, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Honorable Representative Mike Turner, House Oversight Committee
#
End