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			    GENERAL-RKBA Digest 317
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) CRIMESTRIKE: Florida Felon Released Early Charged In Woman's Murder 
   by NRA Alerts 
2) FAXALERT: Firearms Owned by Civilians Are The Target by NRA Alerts 
   
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Topic No. 1
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 1997 15:22:50 -0500 (EST)
From: NRA Alerts 
To: general-rkba-real.nra
Subject: CRIMESTRIKE: Florida Felon Released Early Charged In Woman's Murder
Message-ID: 
                        CrimeWatch Weekly
            Breaking news on critical crime-fighting 
                 issues, policies and legislation
 
      Vol. 3, No. 47                          November 25, 1997
 
                   Florida Felon Released Early
                    Charged In Woman's Murder
     In a case that has Florida law enforcement saying "I told
you so," one of 750 prison inmates freed last month under a State
Supreme Court ruling was charged yesterday with first -degree
murder in the brutal killing of a New York woman.
     Micah Louis Nelson, 21, a convicted burglar freed Oct. 24
under the ruling forbidding  the state to deny inmates "gain
time" or early-release credits, is also charged with kidnaping,
grand theft and auto burglary.
     The murder victim, Virginia O. Brace, 78, had arrived from
her hometown of Mayville, N.Y., to winter in Avon Park just days
before she was abducted in the trunk of her own car.
     Nelson led police to her body in an orange grove, last week. 
In addition to choking her and discharging a fire extinguisher in
her mouth, her killer had stabbed the elderly woman with a tire
iron, police said.  
     Nelson was part of the third group of about 1,720 prison
inmates freed over the past year in a trio of court decisions,
two by the state's highest court and a third by the U.S. Supreme
Court.  All involved efforts of state authorities to withhold
early-release credits from prison inmates.
     While a state corrections spokesman said Nelson would have
been released Oct. 24 without the court's  decision, the fact
that he had 383 days cut off his three-year, eight-month sentence
through gain time has infuriated many.  Florida legislators
closed that gaping hole in its criminal justice system by passing
Truth In Sentencing.  It requires violent criminals convicted of
committing crimes after Oct. 1, 1995, to serve at least 85% of
their sentences.
                   Pataki's Ban On Work Release
                   For Violent Offenders Upheld
     New York Gov. George Pataki's executive order prohibiting
criminals serving sentences for violent crimes from getting out
of prison for work release jobs has been upheld by the New York
Court of Appeals, the state's highest court.
     Pataki acted to ban dangerous offenders from work release in
1995 after several were accused of sensational crimes.  Though
his action was immediately challenged in a suit by prison
inmates, Pataki prevailed in a state Supreme Court Appellate
Division decision earlier this year.
     Last Thursday the Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that
Gov. Pataki acted legally.  The court said Pataki was "guided by
consideration for the safety of the community and the welfare of
the inmate" in issuing the order.
     Violent felony arrests of work-release inmates have dropped
84% since Pataki's order, according to state corrections
spokesman James Flateau. He said violent offenders were giving
the valuable program a bad name.
      A spokesman for Atty. Gen. Dennis Vacco, whose office
successfully defended Pataki, said the policy has "certainly
contributed to the dramatic decrease in violent crimes in New
York state over the past couple years."
                 Minnesota Prosecutors Speak Out
     Lenient sentences by judges, and a citizens' panel
recommendation to cap Minnesota's prison population by cutting
sentences for nonviolent offenders, drew an angry retort from the
state's county attorneys association last week.
     "We would actually save money (by keeping prisoners in
prison longer) because of a reduction in the large number of
crimes these offenders would commit if they were back on the
streets," Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom told Associated
Press.  Only North Dakota sentences criminals to shorter prison
terms, he said.
     The Minnesota Citizens Council on Crime and Justice in
September urged capping the prison population at 6,300 inmates. 
The state now has about 5,000 male inmates.
                  Score This One For Megan's Law
     "You are the city's worst nightmare," Philadelphia Common
Pleas Court Judge John J. Chiovero told career criminal Guillermo
Borrero, 38, when he appeared recently  for sentencing for the
kidnap and rape of five girls ages 4 to  8 back in June and July,
1996.
     Judge Chiovero used the state's Megan's Law to  hand Borrero
nine consecutive life prison terms, plus 72« to 145 years, for
what the judge called "cruel and heartless acts."
     Borrero, who had 11 prior arrests and eight convictions,
primarily burglaries and thefts, was charged with four rape
counts, one attempted rape, five kidnappings, five burglaries and
related counts.
               Violent Crime Down In '97, FBI Says
     U.S. violent crime was down 5% for the first six months of
the year, matching the 5% decline recorded for the like period in
1996, the FBI reported Sunday. 
     That report followed by a week a Bureau of Justice
Statistics study, the National Crime Victimization Survey, that
found violent crime down 10% during 1996.      
     The FBI says murder and robbery were each down 9% from
January through June.  The other two elements of violent crime, 
rape and aggravated assault, were down 2% and 3%, respectively. 
=+=+=+=+
This information is provided as a service of the National Rifle
Association Institute for Legislative Action, Fairfax, VA.
This and other information on the Second Amendment and the NRA is
available at: http://WWW.NRA.Org
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