cannabisnews.com: Calif. Three Strikes Law Threatened





Calif. Three Strikes Law Threatened
Posted by FoM on February 08, 2002 at 07:55:17 PT
By David Kravets, Associated Press Writer 
Source: Associated Press
In a serious blow to California's three-strikes law, a federal appeals court has ruled that life in prison for shoplifting is cruel and unusual punishment. Thursday's decision by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to overturn the sentences of 340 people serving life terms for shoplifting. It also may spark appeals from inmates serving life for other nonviolent offenses in California, one of a number of states where ``three-strikes'' laws permit long sentences for criminals convicted of a third felony. 
The California law is the harshest of those repeat offender statutes. It lets judges sentence defendants to 25 years-to-life for any felony conviction if they have already been convicted of two serious or violent felonies. A serious felony could include burglary of an unoccupied house or shoplifting. The first case decided Thursday involved Richard Brown, who was sentenced to life after being convicted of stealing a $25 car alarm in San Joaquin County. Brown's first felony was for robbery in which he used a knife and injured a victim. His other conviction was for hitting a woman with a pistol. The other case involved Earnest Bray, who has four Los Angeles County robbery convictions, some of them with force. He was given a life term after shoplifting three videotapes. ``Our decision does not hold the California three strikes law unconstitutional, only its application to mandate a 25-year-to-life sentence for petty theft offenses,'' Judge Marsha Berzon wrote for the panel. The ruling comes three months after a different three-judge panel from the same circuit ruled the three-strikes law could produce unconstitutionally cruel and unusual sentences. The November ruling overturned a 50-year-to-life term for a San Bernardino County shoplifter. But that opinion - the first time any court declared a sentence unconstitutional under California's three-strikes law - remained silent on the politically charged question of whether all defendants sentenced to life for shoplifting could be affected. The appeals court on Thursday clarified that question, expressly stating that shoplifters could not get a life term under the statute. Erwin Chemerinsky, a University of Southern California legal scholar who argued the two cases decided Thursday, said the decision will spark a flood of new legal challenges. ``I think what you'll see by the defense bar is lawyers arguing that other nonviolent crimes used for a life sentence is unconstitutional,'' Chemerinsky said. ``The punishment has to fit the crime.'' California prosecutors, who can opt not to charge a third strike under the stiff sentencing guidelines, vigorously fought to uphold the sentences. They argued that voters had approved the law and the defendants in the two cases decided Thursday had violent pasts. ``It is a blow to the law, yes,'' said Stephanie A. Miyoshi, a deputy attorney general who argued one of the cases. In the three-strikes case decided in November and the two cases decided Thursday, the judges did not indicate what sentence would be considered constitutional for shoplifting. That means more litigation will follow to determine what the appropriate sentences are for California's 340 shoplifters serving life terms. ``We can only guess,'' Miyoshi said. The state is considering appealing the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, she said. California voters and lawmakers approved the three-strikes law amid public furor over the 1993 kidnap and murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas of Petaluma. Richard Allen Davis, a repeat offender on parole at the time of the kidnapping, was convicted of murdering Klaas and sentenced to death. Last month, some lawmakers and activists said they were considering floating a statewide voter initiative that would make the three-strike rule kick in only for violent felonies. Newshawk: SoberStoner Source: Associated PressAuthor: David Kravets, Associated Press Writer Published: Friday, February 8, 2002Copyright: 2002 Associated PressRelated Article:3 Strikes Targets Less Violent - Older Offendershttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10702.shtml
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