Hello all,
I received the following from Dolores Carr:
I am writing to thank you for the support you provided in our successful efforts to keep mass murderer Richard Farley’s death sentence in place.
First and foremost, thank you to the almost forty victims who were willing to revisit the horror of February 16, 1988 and its aftermath, and provide live or written testimony to the judge at the three hearings. I spoke to most of you and know how difficult and draining it was. Special thanks go to Libby Williams Allen, who refused to give up. She spoke eloquently on behalf of all the victims of District Attorney Rosen’s progressive prosecutor agenda.
Without the determination of retired detective Chris Dow, we could not have located these crucial witnesses. As you know, DA Rosen’s office made minimal efforts to notify victims as required by Marsy’s Law. Chris spent countless hours doing the DA’s job, with no assistance from them – poring over the original police reports and using his still sharp detective skill to find people all over the United States.
I cannot be more grateful to Ron Matthias, retired senior assistant attorney general, whose editorials drawing attention to the legal flaws in DA Rosen’s crusade caught my attention, and caused me to come out of retirement to see for myself what was occurring in our criminal justice system. Four of twelve murderers’ death sentences had already been reduced when I attended my first resentencing hearing. It was terrible to sit through, watching murder victims’ families object to the DA’s motion and plead with the judge not to reduce the death sentence of the person who had destroyed their family. All at the urging of the District Attorney. Their pleadings in vain.
We could not have succeeded without James McManis, who took on representing Libby Williams Allen just prior to Farley’s second resentencing hearing in December 2024. Once he heard about the terrible injustice inflicted on the victims of the most heinous murderers in Santa Clara County history, he did not hesitate – and put the resources of his firm behind our efforts, pro bono. His associate Miriam Pieters and paralegal Galenstein Dang were instrumental in assisting Mr. McManis’ preparation and presentation at the hearing.
Finally, my heartfelt gratitude to the Sunnyvale Public Safety Officers Association, the San Jose Police Officers Association, the San Jose Police Benevolent Association, Crime Victims United, and Mothers Against Murder for helping to inform and educate our community about these injustices. And to the almost 100 people who attended the hearings either in person or remotely, thank you. My only regret is that we were unable to prevent justice being stolen in the other dozen cases.
With heartfelt thanks,
Dolores Carr
dacarr6055@gmail.com
Below are links to media coverage in case you missed them.
https://abc7news.com/post/death-penalty-santa-clara-county-court-denies-resentencing-petition-1988-mass-shooter-richard-farley/16065222/
https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/03/21/richard-farley-death-penalty-els-workplace-shooting-resentencing/
https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/survivors-retell-horrors-of-sunnyvale-esl-mass-shooting/
https://www.svvoice.com/ghosts-of-the-past-mass-shooters-victims-get-a-win-after-judge-rules-to-keep-him-on-death-row/
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-da-seeks-rare-change-mass-shooters-death-sentence-life-paro-rcna197149
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/santa-clara-county-da-proposes-resentencing-for-convicted-killer-richard-farley/ar-AA1vqbXo?apiversion=v2&noservercache=1&domshim=1&renderwebcomponents=1&wcseo=1&batchservertelemetry=1&noservertelemetry=1
Ernie Alcantar
PBA President
