#marsynicholas

[theythebeloved]

Marsalee Nicholas

Marsalee (Marsy) Ann Nicholas was born on March 6, 1962 in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Marcella and Henry T. Nicholas II. A few years after she was born, Marsy, her brother Henry, and her mother Marcella moved to California. In 1967, her mother married television writer Robert Leach and the family settled in Malibu.

Growing up, Marsy’s kind heart shone through in her love for animals, nature, and people. She would bring home any wounded animal, from birds to dogs. Her fondness of horses led her to become a champion English and Western horseback rider at the age of ten. In Los Angeles County, Marsy qualified as the top junior English rider. At twelve, she traveled to Kentucky and won the Kentucky Equestrian over Fences Championship and qualified for Madison Square Garden.

In addition to riding horses, Marsy was a talented artist who won art contests from the second grade all the way through her senior year of high school.

At seventeen and having worked with blind students in high school, Marsy entered the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) with the goal of becoming a special education teacher. Outside of school, she worked as a fashion model and earned opportunities to model in London and Milan. She spent her junior year at UCSB abroad in England at Richmond College. To finish her senior year of college, Marsy returned to UCSB in California. 

It was prior to her graduation, on November 30, 1983, that Marsy was stalked and murdered by her ex-boyfriend. She was 21 years old.

Only one week after her murder and on the way home from the funeral service, Marsy’s family stopped at a market to pick up a loaf of bread. It was there, in the checkout line, that Marsy’s mother, Marcella, was confronted by her daughter’s murderer. Having received no notification from the judicial system, the family had no idea he had been released on bail mere days after Marsy’s murder.

It took two years for Marsy’s murderer to finally be brought to justice.  Her murder sparked Marsy’s Law, (the California Victims' Bill of Rights Act of 2008) enacted in California as Proposition 9.

At her grave location in Whittier, California is a monument in memory of homicide victims erected by Justice for Homicide Victims.  

[ambivalent-ambivert]

This is Marsy Nicholas. In 1983 when she was 21 years old she was murdered by her ex boyfriend and stalker. "Marsy's Law, the California Victims' Bill of Rights Act of 2008, enacted by voters as Proposition 9 through the initiative process in the November 2008 general election, is an Amendment to the state's constitution and certain penal code sections. The act protects and expands the legal rights of victims of crime to include 17 rights in the judicial process, including the right to legal standing, protection from the defendant, notification of all court proceedings, and restitution, as well as granting parole boards far greater powers to deny inmates parole. Passage of this law in California has led to the passage of a similar law in Illinois and Ohio, and efforts to pass similar laws in Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, South Dakota, Iowa, Oklahoma, Florida, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Georgia." The fact that this law has not passed in every state is appalling. Follow the link in my description and sign the petition. It takes 2 minutes to help save countless lives. If you think this is a waste of time get out of my life. Now. #marsyslaw #marsynicholas https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo-bg8EhcF9/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=vcpn8zg27pmp