Victims' Rights Advocates File Signatures In Ballot Push

Backers of a proposed constitutional amendment to provide additional legal protections to crime victims and their families on Thursday submitted nearly twice the required number of signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot. A total of 563,556 signatures were submitted to the secretary of state's office in an effort to place "Marsy's Law for Ohio" on the ballot this fall. The proposed constitutional amendment needs 305,591 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.

The measure is backed financially by Henry T. Nicholas, who has amassed a fortune of more than $1 billion as the CEO of Broadcom Corporation. The proposed constitutional amendment is named after his sister, Marsy Nicholas, who was stalked and killed in 1983 by an ex-boyfriend. Following a visit to her grave, her mother and Mr. Nicholas saw her accused murderer at a grocery store after he had been released on bail without th