Victims’ Rights Week Marked by Awards, Speeches and March

Some wept while others sat quietly, remembering the violent crimes they or their loved ones had endured.

More than 100 women, men and children who have fought to regain control of their lives gathered at the Ventura County Courthouse to observe National Victims’ Rights Week on Wednesday. In the backdrop were 600 cardboard silhouettes--each representing 19 of the 11,155 people the county Victim Services Division helped in 1996.

“Crime victims now have the right to be present, heard and informed throughout the criminal justice process,” said Debbie O’Neill, director of the Victim Services Division, an offshoot of the district attorney’s office. Duties of the division’s advocates include accompanying victims to court, referring them to counselors, and even assisting with burial arrangements.

O’Neill told the crowd, including survivors of domestic violence, rape or assault and relatives of murder victims, that they were part of a nationwide observance. About 8,000 similar events were held in the United States.

“One violent crime is committed every 18 seconds, one woman is battered every 15 seconds, . . . six children are abused every minute and three children die each day from abuse or neglect,” said Kevin McGee, chief assistant district attorney. “Crime statistics in our country are staggering and frightening. . . . We’ve gathered to show a commitment to fighting crime in our community.”

McGee presented awards to individuals and organizations for exceptional commitment and sensitivity to crime victims’ needs in the county, including Henry McGrath, from the California Youth Authority’s Ventura School, California Highway Patrol Sgt. Anthony Viaropulos, Sgt. Dave Williams with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Major Crimes Division, and the Ventura County Elder Abuse Council.

O’Neill then returned the focus to those in the crowd.

“You are the faces that make the ones on the cardboard real--you were victims and you became survivors,” O’Neill said before everyone engaged in a symbolic walk around the government center. “I thank you for facing a criminal justice system that is not victim-friendly.”

Surrounded by children and grandchildren, the mother of 18-year-old slaying victim Gloria De la Cruz of Oxnard said through tears: “My daughter was murdered one year ago next Wednesday, April 23. I’m here to support victims like myself.”

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The family, who wore T-shirts with a picture of the woman and the words “In Memory of Babash,” Gloria’s nickname, said they were frustrated because the accused killer’s trial has been postponed three times.

Police arrested Cory Len Robinson, 26, of Oxnard in February as the principal suspect in the slaying of the aspiring mariachi singer, whose body was found in a trash bin in Los Angeles.

“I will be there every day as soon as the trial starts,” said De la Cruz’s mother, who is also named Gloria. “I’m not giving up until this man never walks the streets again. When it’s over, I don’t know what I have to do, but I want to change the law.

“When someone rapes anyone, they should never walk the streets again because when it’s the second time around--it’s not just rape, it’s murder. If he would have been kept the first time, my daughter would still be alive today.”

The mother’s brother was also killed, five months after Gloria was killed. Manuel Anaro, 46, was shot in the Colonia neighborhood of Oxnard. The case remains unsolved.

This is the 12th year for the Victims’ Rights Week.

“The tide is changing every year,” O’Neill said. “There is legislation coming into effect that will protect crime victims’ rights, and there’s been a constitutional amendment proposed to protect their rights as well. . . . California is a leader in victims’ rights legislation.”

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Also making the walk were relatives of Jack Sexton, a 26-year-old Oxnard man who was fatally shot by an off-duty sheriff’s deputy in Port Hueneme in January. Although the district attorney’s office is still investigating the case, family members said they wanted to join with others who have been affected by violence.

“I have a photo album with loving photos of Jack with his two nephews,” Sexton’s mother, Joey, said through tears. “Now they will never see their uncle again. And no matter how much I cry, my son is never coming home.”

According to police accounts, Sexton was drunk, combative and acting irrationally when he was shot in the back and killed by the off-duty deputy after entering the home of an 81-year-old widow.

Family members, who wore T-shirts that read “Justice for Jack,” dispute that account.

To get help if you have been the victim of a crime, or to volunteer to be a victims’ rights advocate, call 654-3919.