From: PRO-SF [home@prosf.org]
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2007 12:22 PM
To: home@prosf.org
Subject: Can I Get a Witness?: District Attorney Harris Selected to Testify Before
Congress Regarding Witness Intimidation

From: Bilen Mesfin [mailto:Bilen.Mesfin@sfgov.org]
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 2:27 PM
To: Bilen Mesfin
Cc: debmesloh@yahoo.com
Subject: District Attorney Harris Selected to Testify Before Congress Regarding
Witness Intimidation

Contact:
Debbie Mesloh, 415-215-8955 (cell)
Bilen Mesfin, 415-553-1226

been selected to testify before the United States Congress House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, April 24, on improving the safety for witnesses who cooperate with law enforcement to prosecute violent crime. The Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Congressman Robert C. Scott (D-Virginia), invited DA Harris to speak on behalf of the nation s prosecutors.

DA Harris will speak before the Subcommittee on Crime Terrorism and Homeland Security at 2:00 p.m. EST in the Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2141.

Tepidemic, with witnesses who cooperate with the police and prosecutors etargeted for murder and threats of violence against them and their tfamilies.

feyewitnesses to homicide and violent gang crime. According to recent
estudies, prosecutors across the country believe that the issue of witness
sintimidation is the single biggest hurdle
ifacing any gang prosecution.
fMost local and state-level witness relocation programs are temporary,

srecent cases, including one in San Francisco, witnesses have left their
rrelocation areas, returned to their neighborhoods and have been killed.
rDA Harris will urge the members of Congress to support H.R. 933, the

refforts to relocation and protect witnesses. The legislation would also eestablish within the United States Marshals Service a short-term witness eprotection to provide assistance to state and local prosecutors to protect ptheir witnesses in serious criminal cases.

tmembers of Congress to consider funding for more comprehensive, long-term
mand victim-centered approaches to witness relocation and protection.
aJoining DA Harris on the panel to testify include Robert Duffy, Mayor and

Jformer Police Chief of Rochester, New York; Edward Davis, Boston Police fCommissioner; and Laurie Robinson, Director of the Program of Criminology Cat the University of Pennsylvania and former Assistant Attorney General at

tbudget of $3 million to $6 million and also allow greater flexibility so bthat local law enforcement can provide meaningful, long-term relocation tservices to witnesses who face imminent threats to their lives. SB 594, sauthored by State Senator Gloria Romero, would give local law enforcement athe tools to connect witnesses and their families to their new communities tthrough comprehensive relocation services, such as, finding medical care tproviders, schools, vocational or educational opportunities, and other pservices.

TCommittee with an unanimous vote and will next be heard in the Senate
CAppropriations Committee.
ATo confront the problem of witness intimidation in San Francisco, DA Harris

hWitness Relocation and Support Program; staffed the program with veteran Wlaw enforcement officers, including former Department of Justice Special lAgents; and convened the San Francisco s first citywide summit on witness