Nov. 18: Man facing '3 Strikes' sentence found dead with girlfriend
A man facing a possible life sentence in prison was found dead along
side his girlfriend in an apparent double suicide, Sacramento County Sheriff's
deputies said.
The two were found in the garage of their house after
friends grew concerned when the 46-year-old man failed to appear in court. He
was to face a possible life sentence under the ``three strikes and you're out''
law.
He and his 45-year-old long-time girlfriend were found Wednesday
in the back of a van in a locked garage, said Sheriff's Sgt. Tom Sweeney. Their
names were being withheld until relatives are notified.
There was no
suicide note, but the situation was consistent with death by carbon monoxide
poisoning, Sweeney said.
The man was facing charges of possession of
less than an ounce of marijuana and .07 grams of methamphetamine, plus a
weapons violation, said his lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Gayathri Murthy.
``They'd offered him 120 days in jail for a guilty plea,'' Murthy
said. ``But then the district attorney informed me they'd found these priors
and were going to have to file under the 'three strikes' law.''
The
law requires that the three-strikes charge be filed whenever prior convictions
are discovered, although they can be dismissed later if the situation warrants,
said Albert Locher, assistant chief deputy district attorney.
In this
case, the man had four convictions in Michigan from 1976 for armed robbery,
Locher said.
His record since then had been clean until the recent
arrest, Murthy said.
Sacramento--AP
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Date last modified: 2/28/00.