Susan Bustamante is not giving up.
The 71-year-old, once incarcerated for decades, has repeatedly made the long drive from Orange County to Sacramento to press state lawmakers to pass a bill she believes would give other survivors of domestic violence a fairer chance when they face criminal charges.
Each time, legislators appeared receptive — only to quietly shelve the measure before it reached the finish line.
Bustamante is hoping this fourth attempt turns out differently.
She is once again backing legislation, opposed by law enforcement and prosecutors, that would allow survivors of human trafficking, domestic violence and sexual abuse to raise their history of victimization as a legal defense when charged with violent crimes — with an exception for most murder cases.
People already convicted would also be allowed to ask a judge to vacate their convictions. If approved, their arrests and convictions would be treated as though they never happened. Records would be sealed and destroyed, and any outstanding fines or victim restitution tied to the case would be forgiven.
“I’m willing to fight for the people who aren’t in the position I’m in right now, so I can use my voice… and fight for this,” Bustamante told CalMatters in an interview Friday.
Bustamante was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 1987. Prosecutors argued she had hired her brother to kill her husband, Steven Bustamante, and helped dispose of his body in exchange for a $100,000 life insurance payout she split with her sibling.
Bustamante says that during her two-day trial, she was never allowed to tell jurors about the repeated beatings and death threats she says she endured from her husband. She maintains she only asked her brother for help.
“It never crossed my mind that he could kill Steven,” she told lawmakers last month. “Afterward, he called to tell me Steven was dead. He threatened to call the police and say I had planned it. He blackmailed me into giving him Steven’s insurance money. I was afraid I’d lose my daughters, so I gave in.”
Former California Gov. Jerry Brown commuted Bustamante’s sentence in 2017 after learning her story and reviewing her clean record behind bars. She was released the following year, after three decades in prison.
Bustamante said she would not qualify to have her own case overturned under the bill she is now championing.
California law already allows defendants to testify about abuse they suffered and to bring in expert witnesses who can explain how that trauma shaped their actions. Judges may also weigh a defendant’s history of trafficking or domestic abuse during sentencing. This bill would go further, allowing survivors to use that history as an actual legal defense against violent crime charges.
State law already lets people convicted of nonviolent offenses seek similar relief through the courts.
Budget committees have quietly killed the bill before
Since her release, Bustamante has worked with nonprofit organizations that help survivors of abuse and incarceration rebuild their lives after leaving prison.
She first testified before the Legislature about the need for this bill back in 2023.
In each year since, at least one of the Legislature’s two public safety committees has advanced similar legislation, only for one of the two budget-focused appropriations committees to quietly kill it.
Twice a year, those appropriations committees convene to swiftly reject hundreds of bills, often without debate or explanation.
As CalMatters has previously reported, powerful interest groups, the governor’s office and state agencies frequently lobby behind closed doors to get committees to shelve certain bills. Legislative leaders also use the committees to block politically sensitive measures they’d rather not have members vote on publicly.
The Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to take up the latest version of the bill, authored by Assemblymember Mia Bonta, an Oakland Democrat, next month.
State Sen. Sabrina Cervantes, a Riverside Democrat who now chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, declined to comment through a spokesperson.
Why prosecutors and police are pushing back
Law enforcement groups worry that Assembly Bill 910 could open the door for violent offenders — including rapists, kidnappers and child abusers — to flood California’s already overburdened court system with petitions seeking to overturn their convictions.
Opponents describe it as a troubling example of progressive Democrats continuing to soften consequences for dangerous offenders while giving too little consideration to victims.
“Allowing them to essentially walk away from a violent crime is bad policy,” said Greg Totten, a former Ventura County district attorney who now leads the state’s district attorneys association.
Totten noted that defendants already have the right to raise abuse or trafficking history during sentencing hearings.
Bonta did not respond to a request for comment, but told the Senate Public Safety Committee last month that “AB 910 is a second-chance bill — a dignity bill.”
“Survivors shouldn’t spend their whole lives paying for the abuse they suffered,” she said.
According to the CalMatters Digital Democracy database, at least 17 organizations — including ACLU California Action and the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office — support the bill.
Supporters argue that virtually no one convicted of a violent crime would actually qualify for relief under the proposal.
For the small number who might, backers say it would be far less costly to let survivors reintegrate into society without a criminal record working against them as they search for jobs, housing and other support.
“If even one person gets help because of this bill, it will have paid for itself,” said Leigh LaChapelle, director of policy and advocacy for the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking.
Original source: CalMatters
