03/07/2024
ILLINOIS HB2045
please read Denise and jeff Bartik story.
Denise shared with state representatives. Then join our movement and call legislator and governor to support elder bill.
we exxpect a vote in next weeks. we need 60 votes and we have them now but cant lose any.
Please share widely especially on social media and let me know if want to do
'Let our reformed elders GO!!!
Dear Rep. Williams,
Thank you for taking a few minutes to talk with me and my colleague Bill Ryan about the HB2045 Elderly Parole bill yesterday. I want to share my husband’s story with you.
My husband has a life without parole sentence for a murder he committed over 45 years ago. He was 22 years old and high on drugs at the time. He had remorse and turned himself in to the police when he was not even a suspect in the murder. How many people do that! He turned his life around and now encourages and serves the other inmates by tutoring those who are studying for their GEDs, helping Hispanics understand their legal mail, checking up on sick inmates to see if they need anything, and praying for inmates and their families. He has held a job for most of his incarceration so he has served his community in that way as well. He is respectful to guards. He attends worship services when they are available. He no longer uses drugs or alcohol. He has been rehabilitated and is no longer a threat to society. He has a wife who loves him (me) and would provide for his needs if he were to come home. Four of the victim’s family members have written letters of support for my husband’s release.
Judges have a hard decision at the time of sentencing. They rule at one point in time and have to GUESS whether a convicted person can be rehabilitated. How can anyone GUESS at that person’s future with any accuracy? Judges are human and they can be wrong. That is what has happened to my husband. And due to an omission in his early motions for appeal after his trial, where the Public Defender did not list any arguments he wanted to bring up on appeal, my husband has never been able to appeal his sentence. On top of that, he refused to file a motion of ineffective counsel because he believes that the Public Defender saved his life from a death sentence. He did not want to ruin the guy’s career with a black mark.
So, my husband is stuck. The goal of the State of Illinois is to restore an offender to useful citizenship, per our state constitution.
Illinois needs to remember it's roots.
Illinois is warehousing human beings that have been rehabilitated and pose no threat to society.
Our taxes are paying for lifers’ housing, meals, and the meager medical attention, instead of education, social services, police, and other services.
We are a country founded on second chances.
People change
Denise Bartik
