3 Strikes Law

A day after California voted to soften its three-strikes sentencing law, defense lawyers around the state Wednesday prepared to seek reduced punishments for thousands of offenders serving up to life in prison for relatively minor crimes. The process of asking courts to revisit old sentences could take as long as two years and benefit roughly 3,000 prisoners. They represent about a third of incarcerated third-strikers. Proposition 36 garnered about 69% of the vote. The initiative won in all 58 counties, amending one of the nation's toughest three-strikes laws, one that had overwhelming voter support when it was approved in 1994 amid heightened anxiety over violent crime.

A day after California voted to soften its three-strikes sentencing law, defense lawyers around the state Wednesday prepared to seek reduced punishments for thousands of offenders serving up to life in prison for relatively minor crimes. The process of asking courts to revisit old sentences could take as long as two years and benefit roughly 3,000 prisoners. They represent about a third of incarcerated third-strikers. Proposition 36 garnered about 69% of the vote. The initiative won in all 58 counties, amending one of the nation's toughest three-strikes laws, one that had overwhelming voter support when it was approved in 1994 amid heightened anxiety over violent crime.

Re "3 Strikes and You're Out of Room," George Skelton's column, April 25: The first report issued by the Council on Crime in America, co-chaired by Griffin Bell and William Bennett, determined that the cost of criminal victimization in this country is $486 billion per year. The report also contends that Americans are "plagued by revolving-door justice. . . . The justice system imprisons barely one criminal for every 100 violent crimes." The report also contends that a large fraction of all violent crime is committed by a relatively small group of repeat criminals.

Death row inmate Richard Allen Davis, whose 1993 kidnap and murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas led to California's three-strikes law, overdosed on opiates in his San Quentin Prison cell but was revived, officials said Monday. San Quentin Prison spokesman Vernell Crittendon said Davis was found unconscious in his cell at 5:13 p.m. Sunday.

As soon as I saw the March 8 headline, "Families of Inmates March in Protest of 3-Strikes Law," I knew what was coming. Sure enough, a few paragraphs later was the quote from one of the protesters: "This is one of the most racist laws there is." The law supposedly discriminates against blacks and Latinos, because 70% of the criminals sentenced under the law are black or Latino. The solution is simple: If you don't commit the crime, you don't go to jail! The relatives of these protesters who are sitting in prison made a conscious decision to break the law, so they are now paying the price for that decision.

Ted Westerman's Sept. 28 Column Right continues the misinformation campaign that duped the voters into enacting the three-strikes law to begin with. The bottom line: Three strikes is predominantly filling the prisons with petty crime and drug offenders, for life sentences, and pilfering taxpayer dollars. Judges and district attorneys are imposing the full brunt of the law for political self-interest reasons rather than fairness considerations. Westerman argues that three-strikes opponents are misinformed when they claim the new crimes for which offenders are doing life sentences are nonviolent crimes.

The author of California's three-strikes law on Wednesday accused incoming Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley of preparing to "let career, serious and violent criminals off the hook" if their third felonies are nonviolent. "It's just a matter of time," California Secretary of State Bill Jones said, "before one of these violent career criminals who could have been removed from our neighborhoods for a nonviolent felony will be released to rape, rob, molest or murder innocent Californians."

A parolee convicted in a crime spree that included holding a gun to the face of a sheriff's deputy was sentenced Monday to more than 115 years in prison. James Jay Hunt, 42, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Richard W. Luesebrink to consecutive terms under the state's three-strikes law for several felony convictions, including assault with a deadly weapon.

The landmark "three-strikes" sentencing law passed by California voters in 1994 costs the state $500 million annually in prison expenses -- far less than originally predicted -- but there remains no consensus on whether it has made the streets safer, according to a study to be released Thursday. Prepared by the nonpartisan legislative analyst's office, the study found that one-quarter of the state's prisoners -- or about 40,000 men and women -- are serving time for a second or third strike.

Two weeks before election day, a ballot measure to substantially roll back the state's three-strikes sentencing law is leading by almost 3 to 1 among likely voters, while some other high-profile measures remain locked in close contests, according to a new Times poll. Enough California voters remain undecided on several health-related measures to sway the outcome in either direction -- making the final days crucial for opposing sides.

An insurance company owner has spent $1.56 million to foster a ballot initiative that would change California's three-strikes sentencing law -- and could free his son from Folsom prison, where he is serving eight years for crashing his Lexus while intoxicated and killing two passengers. Jerry Keenan, who owns a Sacramento insurance brokerage, spent the money to gather signatures to place the measure on the November ballot, campaign finance reports show.

California's three-strikes law, the nation's harshest measure for repeat criminal offenders, came under challenge at the Supreme Court on Tuesday -- but it appeared to have more defenders than critics among the justices. At issue is whether the state can send petty thieves to prison for life or whether such an extreme penalty for a minor crime amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, which is banned by the 8th Amendment.

Re "3-Strikes Sentence Is Ruled Cruel," Nov. 3: My praise to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for having the intelligence and sense of justice to rule that a theft of videos did not warrant a third-strike sentence of 50 years, determining that it was cruel and unusual punishment and did not fit the crime. (He had no prior violent crimes.) As we all know, the three-strikes law was voted into law to keep violent repeat offenders in prison for many years, not drug addicts and petty thieves.

The author of California's three-strikes law on Wednesday accused incoming Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley of preparing to "let career, serious and violent criminals off the hook" if their third felonies are nonviolent. "It's just a matter of time," California Secretary of State Bill Jones said, "before one of these violent career criminals who could have been removed from our neighborhoods for a nonviolent felony will be released to rape, rob, molest or murder innocent Californians."

In one of their most freewheeling debates, the two candidates for Los Angeles County district attorney butted heads Monday night over enforcement of the three-strikes law. Incumbent Gil Garcetti was booed by the crowd when he said the law should not be amended. But the same crowd later cheered when he accused challenger Steve Cooley of not taking a strong position before the three-strikes law was passed.

In another sharp, frequently hostile debate, the two candidates for Los Angeles district attorney offered strongly differing views on the three-strikes law, gun control and crime-prevention programs. Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti went after challenger Steve Cooley, accusing him of waging a "negative, negative, negative" campaign. Cooley did little to deny that charge.