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Violent Crime Victims' Families Rally At Capitol

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - There were hundreds of photos displayed for all to see and emotional outcries from murder victims' families gathering from across the state at the Capitol on Tuesday to speak up for those they've lost.

Supporters of the 23rd annual Victims March stood side by side, many fighting to uphold the death penalty a day after it was announced that California voters will decide its fate in the November election.

Tuesday march was part of National Crime Victims' Rights Week.

"What's wrong with the death penalty is not the budget, it's not the cost," said Harriet Salarno, founder of Crime Victims United of California. "That's all they're going to do and hammer that. It's because we're not implementing it."

"To me death row is a way to make sure we stop the crime," said Lupe Diaz, whose brother Tony Diaz, a Yolo County sheriff's deputy, was shot to death in 2008 by Marco Topete, who was sentenced to death earlier this year.

Sandy Friend's son Michael Lyons was murdered in Yuba City back in 1996, and 16 years later her son's killer is still on death row.

"I really wish there was a better system when it comes to the length of time they stay on death row," she said.

But others have a different message to get across.

"the amount of money that's being spent on death penalty is staggering," Deldelp Medina said.

She was one of a group of loved ones of murder victims fighting for alternatives to the death penalty.

"We hope that life without parole would be the best thing for us," she said.

But so many others Tuesday disagreed with that alternative.

"Look at these people here. Look at the suffering they've gone through. Why are you going to do this to them?" Salarno asked.

For his part, Gov. Brown, who attended Tuesday's rally, didn't say which way he'd vote in November but did say he was glad to see the issue going before all California voters.

"Just like I think it's a good thing that people get a chance to vote on taxes," Brown told the Sacramento Bee. "Death and taxes are things we can't avoid, so it's good that people get to weigh in occasionally."

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