3-Strike Stories in the News |
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Lost among the thousands of crime stories on TV and in the newspapers
that overly-focus on the titilatting aspects of murder, assaults and sex-crimes
(while ignoring the billions of dollars involving white-collar crime) are the
few stories that show the consequences of a society that wants to overpunish or
is too apathetic to learn about some of the laws that have been passed. Every
now and then, there are a few reporters that have a conscience and realize the
criminal justice system is more than just listening to police scanners and
running off to emotional crime scenes. If you keep an eye on the third or
fourth pages, tucked away in a corner, perhaps even on the TV once every couple
of months, sometimes you can find the press covering the consequences of the
3-strikes law.
Homeless man's three-strikes sentence upheld for
food burglary
A state appeals court has upheld the 25-year-to-life sentence of a
homeless ex-con who tried to pry open the kitchen door of a church, where he'd
been fed in the past, and steal some food.
A dissenting justice on the
2nd District Court of Appeal likened Gregory Taylor's case to Les Miserables.
But a spokesman for state Attorney General Bill Lockyer said the case was
within the spirit of California's three-strikes law. Taylor, now 37, was
spotted by security guards in July 1997 using a board to try to open a screen
over the kitchen door of St. Joseph's Church in Los Angeles between 4 and 4:30
a.m. The door was slightly damaged.
Taylor told a policeman he knew a
priest at the church and was trying to enter the kitchen to get something to
eat. In addition to food, the church had such valuable items as chalices and
alms boxes, the court said. At the trial, a pastor, Father Allan McCoy, said he
had known Taylor for about nine years and would often find Taylor waiting for
him outside the church when he left for work around 5:40 a.m.
Taylor
usually asked for a ride and sometimes for food, and McCoy would usually
accommodate him, he said. Taylor had also been allowed to sleep in a church
building in the past, but not for the previous six to 12 months, the court
said.
Taylor was convicted of burglary for entering the kitchen to
steal. He had two previous robbery convictions, in the 1980s, and a 1988 parole
violation, said Deputy Attorney General Chung Mar.
He was sentenced
under the three-strikes law, which requires a term of 25 years to life for any
felony committed by a defendant with two previous serious or violent felony
convictions. Superior Court Judge James Dunn declined to use his authority to
disregard one or both of Taylor's past convictions, which would have lessened
his sentence. He said the jury must have concluded Taylor meant to steal the
church's valuable possessions. The dissenting justice, Earl Johnson, disagreed,
noting that McCoy opposed a three-strike sentence for Taylor, and several
jurors offered to testify for a lighter sentence. SFGate, 4/26/99.
The lawyer for a homeless man sentenced to 25 years to life under the
three-strikes law for trying to break into a church to steal food said
Wednesday he will appeal to the state Supreme Court.
Unfortunately,
the appeal won't be able to address the ``absolute obscenity'' of the
application of three strikes to Gregory Taylor's case, said attorney Howard J.
Specter. He said he would be limited to the issue addressed by the appellate
court that upheld the conviction last week: the trial judge's refusal to let
the jury decide whether Taylor believed he had the church's permission to take
the food. SFGate, 4/28/99.
The "pizza thief"
Probably the most famous 3-strikes case is the pizza thief case. Jerry
Dewayne Williams, at the age of 27, was sentenced to prison for 25-years-life
for stealing a slice of pepperoni pizza. His crime was a petty theft, but,
because of California state law and because of his prior record, Williams theft
was classified as a "felony." Williams prior convictions were for robbery,
attempted robbery, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and possession of a
controlled substance. See Eric Salter, Pizza Thief Receives Sentence of 25
Years to Life in Prison, LATimes, Mar. 3, 1995, at 9B.
Manic depressive with IQ of 70 receives 3rd
Strike
Duane Silva, a 23-year-old manic depressive with an IQ of 70, received
a 3rd strike (a 30 years-to-life sentence) for stealing a video recorder and a
coin collection from his neighbors. His priors were for setting fire to trash
barrels and the glove compartment of a car. See Eric Salter, Pizza Thief
Receives Sentence of 25 Years to Life in Prison, LATimes, Mar. 3, 1995, at
9B.
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3-Strikes.
Date last modified: 5/8/00.
