Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

There are several provisions of Proposition 9 (officially titled the Victims' Rights and Protection Act of 2008, but commonly known as Marsy's Law) that pertain to inmates.

If an inmate is serving a life sentence and parole is denied, one provision of the law allows the parole board to make them wait up to 15 years before getting another parole hearing. It would also restrict the ability of parole violators to have appointed attorneys and question witnesses at parole hearings.

Unfortunately, like most California initiatives, Proposition 9 was badly written and leaves many questions unanswered... including its retroactive application to inmates convicted before it passed.

We will probably have to wait several years until the California courts -- and possibly the U.S. Supreme Court -- give us a firm answer.