[2] Her late daughter is the namesake for Marsy's Law, the California Constitutional Amendment and Victims' Bill of Rights, which appeared on the November, 2008, ballot as Proposition 9.

[3] On November 30, 1983, Marcella Leach's daughter Marsalee Ann (Marsy) Nicholas was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, Kerry Michael Conley.

Conley was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 17 years to life in prison, where he died in 2007.

[14] In 2008, Marcella Leach was a signatory of the Marsy's Law ballot initiative,[15] which was led and sponsored by her son Henry Nicholas.

They were divorced around 1963 and she moved with her children to Los Angeles and married Bob Leach, who was an American journalist and Hollywood screenwriter.