Monday, December 10, 2001

California Appellate Ruling Aids Foes of 3-Strike Law
Life imprisonment for a man who shoplifted a screwdriver, an electric razor and a map from a Kmart. The same sentence for one who tried to steal a meat slicer and a mixer from an International House of Pancakes. Twenty-five years to life for a homeless man who broke into a restaurant, only to come away with four chocolate chip cookies — two in his left pocket, two in his right.

Since a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled last month that a 50-year prison sentence for a videotape thief was cruel and unusual punishment, public defenders across the state have been digging up old cases to mount the first broad challenge to California's three-strikes law in years.

In Los Angeles, public defenders are looking through more than 500 cases in which offenders received sentences of 25 years to life for nonviolent offenses like drug possession or petty theft. In rural Kern County, public defenders are hoping to reduce, if not overturn, as many as 350 sentences. And throughout Southern California, where prosecutors have vigorously enforced the state law that puts people with three felony convictions in prison for 25 years or longer, public defenders are selecting a wide array of cases that they hope will be eligible for application of the appeals court ruling.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/10/national/10STRI.html?todaysheadlines&pagewanted=all

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