Nov. 11: Freed inmate in Rampart Probe had taken a plea--even though
innocent--to avoid possible 3-strikes penalty.
Demonstrating the powerful hammer prosecutors and police have over
individuals who have prior strikes, the Joseph Jones case demonstrates another
reason why the 3-strikes law needs to be amended.
Jones was lucky that
the Rampart police have come under investigation and an officer involved in his
drug conviction has admitted that Rampart police officers framed Jones. How
many other Jones are still in prison from pleas taken to avoid a life sentence?
How many others are imprisoned to long sentences because it is so easy for the
police to frame somebody when all they have to do is testilie to a simple drug
possession case? Prior to the 3-strikes law, to illegally obtain a life
sentence against somebody it would have been much harder for the police to
conjure up the evidence involving a murder, rape, or other serious injury to
somebody.
Jones, having spent two and a half years already in prison,
was facing six additional years before getting his freedom on Nov. 10th.
Attorney David E. Brockway, who represents Jones, said Rampart police first
tried to recruit his client as an informer, identifying drug dealers the
officers could rob. "When he refused to cooperate, they framed him," Brockway
said.
The Los Angeles Times reported:
"Court papers . . .
also exposed the weaknesses of the criminal justice system when defendants,
regardless of their innocence, face police officers who are willing to lie on
the stand and judges who are accustomed to punishing with stiff sentences those
defendants who decline plea bargains and exercise their constitutional right to
a trial."
"Jones wanted to submit to a polygraph test to prove his
innocence in his drug case and fight what could have been a 25-year prison
sentence. But he was advised by his lawyer to cut a deal."
"His
attorney, Brockway, said that had Jones been convicted of both the charges
against him, he could have been sentenced to life in prison under California's
Three Strikes law, 'With that pressure over his head, and the very convincing
and persuasive officers . . . testifying against you, what were his chances at
trial? You can't fight the police, you can't fight city hall,' Brockway said."
"Inmate Freed as Rampart Cases Unravel," by Tina Daunt and Matt Lait, Los
Angeles Times, 11/11/99.
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Date last modified: 2/28/00.