Cops Who Killed Suspects Hides Identities Under Victim’s Rights Law

A victims’ right law passed by referendum in South Dakota in 2016 allows crime victims to control whether information about themselves is released publicly. So far two policemen have exercised their rights under the law to hide their identities after they fatally shot suspects, claiming that they were the victims. “Marsy’s Law,” is named after Marsalee Nicholas, sister of California billionaire Henry Nicholas, who was murdered by an ex-boyfriend in 1983. Nicholas has been bankrolling efforts to introduce such laws, which were approved by ballot initiatives this past November in Florida, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina. The laws have clauses giving people identified as victims control over being interviewed or deposed, rights that extend to withholding information in criminal cases. The rights of police to withhold information from defense counsel under the law have yet to be tested.