PHOTOS: OC DA hosts annual march for victims and survivors, as families remember loved ones and demand rights
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Steve Herr spent years going through trials and hearings before his son’s killer, Daniel Wozniak, was finally convicted and sentenced.
“Over the course of the many hearings you will constantly be reminded of the many rights of the accused,” Herr said to a crowd at the annual Victims’ Rights March and Rally in Santa Ana. “Yet rarely are the rights of the victims ever even mentioned.”
Herr was among about 150 people — families, victims and survivors — who gathered Monday to recall their healing but to also to decry legislation that they believe is stripping away the rights of victims.
When Wozniak’s sentence was death, Herr and his wife thought the ordeal was over and they could begin to heal.
“A few weeks ago, however, our healing crashed,” Herr said. “I was notified that Governor Newsom placed a moratorium on the death penalty.”
Herr, along with other speakers including Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, focused on the death penalty during the event and argued that killers getting a reprieve is unfair.
“These families have expectations. They have waited decades for justice,” Spitzer said.
Both criticized Gov. Newsom’s actions during the event, which is organized by the District Attorney’s office every year. It coincided with National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.
During the ceremony the group marched to the Old Orange County Courthouse, some holding flowers and wearing buttons commemorating their loves ones. Some smiled while others cried, such as the mother of Juri “Julie” Kibuishi, who was Wozniak’s second victim.
Family members carried photos and wore their loved ones’ faces, many echoing that they wanted the departed to still be recognized.
When asked why she attended, Faby de Santiago, said: “To give a voice to my brother and know justice was made and he won’t be forgotten.”