Bob Leach

Robert Warnes Leach (December 16, 1914 – March 30, 2008) was an American journalist and Hollywood screenwriter who became a leading figure in California's victims' rights movement after the death of his stepdaughter, Marsalee (Marsy) Nicholas, in 1983.

He was the husband of victims' rights advocate Marcella Nicholas Leach, and the stepfather of technology entrepreneur and philanthropist Henry Nicholas (who was also the co-founder and former co-chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Broadcom Corp).

Leach was born December 16, 1914, in Dupree, South Dakota to businessman Robert Henry Leach and his wife, the former Edna Warnes.

Early life and career

Leach came to Los Angeles as a teenager to see the 1932 Summer Olympics, and moved to the city shortly thereafter to live with his sister. In 1933, Leach graduated from Los Angeles High School, and in 1938, he earned a bachelor's degree in Journalism and received a 2nd Lieutenant's commission from the ROTC Field Artillery Reserves at the University of Missouri. After completing his higher education, Leach began working for United Press International (UPI), and eventually became UPI's assistant editor in Los Angeles. In 1941, Leach he married his first wife, LaVerne Barrick.

During the 1960s, Leach changed careers to teaching, and became an instructor in screenwriting and journalism at Cal State Northridge, Santa Monica College and UCLA. In 1967, three years after the end of his first marriage with LaVerne Barrick, Leach married Marcella M. Nicholas, a divorced mother of two small children who was working on a master's degree in journalism at UCLA. The family settled in Malibu, where Marcella Leach maintained a home until her death in 2015.

Victims’ rights On November 30, 1983, Leach's stepdaughter, Marsalee “Marsy” Ann Nicholas, then a 21-year-old senior at UC Santa Barbara, was lured to the residence of and then shot to death by her 28-year- old ex-boyfriend, Kerry Michael Conley, after she ended their turbulent relationship around the time of Thanksgiving. Minutes after Marsy was shot, Leach received a phone call from Kerry Conley's father, Art Conley, who informed Leach of the emergency, and urged him to come to the scene immediately. Leach arrived at the Conley's residence shortly, and witnessed his mortally wounded stepdaughter lying on a bed and surrounded by paramedics, while a bloodied Kerry Conley was being questioned by deputies about the shooting. The deputies did not believe either Conley's description of events leading up to the shooting or his attempted reenactment of what allegedly happened, and he was arrested thereafter.

Unbeknownst to Marsy's grieving family, Conley had posted his $100,000 bond, and had been released only a few days after he was arrested. At the time, neither law enforcement nor any other officials within the judicial system were obligated to notify victims, or their families, of a criminal defendant's pre-trial release. One week after her murder, a funeral was held for Marsy. Following the funeral, Marcella Leach and her son, Henry Nicholas, went to a market to buy groceries.

In 2008, California voters passed Marsy's Law, the nation's most comprehensive victims' bill of rights, named for Marsy Nicholas.

In addition to numerous awards by three governors, the L.A. DA's office, and the L.A. Sheriff's Department, Leach and his wife Marcella have been honored by the national office of Victims of Crime and two presidents. In 2005, the Los Angeles County Assn. of Deputy District Attorneys gave Leach its first Robert Leach Award, which recognizes leadership in victims' rights.