WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court took up California's defense of its three-strikes law Monday, saying it will rule on whether it is cruel and unusual punishment to send a criminal to prison for 50 years for stealing $153 worth of videotapes.
The case, to be heard in the fall, does not threaten the state's authority to lock up for life those who commit several violent crimes. However, the court could reject the state's use of a minor theft or drug possession as a "third strike" that triggers a long prison term. It is the first time the high court will rule on a direct challenge to a three-strikes law.
California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer called the justices' decision "welcome news."
Twice in recent months, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned the convictions of repeat criminals who were given a prison term of at least 25 years for a third strike that was a petty theft.
A Supreme Court ruling will "provide clarification to judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys on how the U.S. Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment applies to California's three-strikes law," Lockyer said.
USC law professor Erwin Chemerinsky, who was asked by the 9th Circuit to represent the two defendants, said it is cruel and unusual punishment to impose a life term for a minor theft. "California is the only state where a misdemeanor shoplifting charge can be the basis for a life prison term," Chemerinsky said.
California's voters approved the three-strikes law in 1994 after the kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas by Richard Allen Davis, a repeat criminal who was on parole from an earlier kidnapping.
Most states impose extra, longer prison terms on repeat offenders, and 26 states have a version of the three-strikes law. But California's law is considered the most severe because it can lead to a life sentence for a criminal who has committed nonviolent offenses, such as shoplifting.
Among the nearly 7,000 California inmates who are serving life terms under the law, 331 are there for a third strike that was a petty theft, according to the California Department of Corrections. An additional 603 were charged with a third strike for drug possession.
The state's judges have consistently rejected challenges to these stiff sentences based on the 8th Amendment.
But in November, the 9th Circuit Court overturned the 50-year sentence given to Leandro Andrade, a heroin addict from San Bernardino County.
