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THIS IS CONSOLIDATED MAILING FROM MULTIPLE INDIVIDUALS. 

August 22, 2023

The Honorable Gary C. Peters Chairman, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and  Governmental Affairs
The Honorable Rand Paul, Ranking Member, Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs
340 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC, 20510

The Honorable Richard Blumenthal, Chairman, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
The Honorable Margaret Wood Hassan, Chairwoman, Emerging Threats, and Spending Oversight Subcommittee
The Honorable Krysten Sinema, Chairwoman,   Government Operations and Border Management  Subcommittee
Distribution List of Honorable Committee and Subcommittee Members

Dear Senate Committee Chairpersons, 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. When the government followed the rights guaranteed to citizens by the 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 Congress funded 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’s unconstitutional prosecutorial overreach. 

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 Chairpersons 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. 

To be clear, we fully support prosecutorial plea-bargaining power when transparency and oversight outside the prosecutor’s agency chain of command exist 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 Chairpersons 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:  (The many names are not listed on this website but are on file.)

cc:  Honorable Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, 322 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510 

Enclosure:  Executive Summary Excerpt, The Problem

Excerpt from Executive Summary
https://wecanbeheroesfoundation.org/executive-summary-

your-probable-imprisonment-reaches-alarming-rate

 

The Florida Problem. (Other States to follow.)

Distribution List in Alphabetical Order

Honorable Thomas Carper, Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, Government Operations and Board Management Subcommittee, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations

Honorable Josh Hawley, Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations

Honorable Ron Johnson, Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Government Operations and Board Management Subcommittee

Honorable James Lankford, Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight Subcommittee, Government Operations and Board Management Subcommittee

Honorable Roger Marshall, Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations

Honorable Jon Ossoff, Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Emerging Threats, and Spending Oversight Subcommittee 

Honorable Alex Padilla, Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Government Operations and Board Management Subcommittee

Honorable Mitt Romney, Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, Emerging Threats, and Spending Oversight Subcommittee, Government Operations and Board Management Subcommittee

Honorable Jacky Rosen, Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight Subcommittee 

Honorable Rick Scott, Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Emerging Threats, and Spending Oversight Subcommittee