3-Strike Stories: Pamela Martinez
W-23969 MB123L
California Institution for Women
Frontera, CA 91720
Dear FACTS:
Thank you for your most recent update on our fight to get this insane law
amended. It really helps the "moral" for those of us trying to hang
in there. I do honestly know in my heart that someday we WILL be successful.
Enclosed are two more informational sheets concerning strikers, for your
internet project. One of them is mine because it has recently come to my
attention that mine is not on the internet. I don’t know why, but
possibly, it’s because of your move.
I want to thank each and every one of you for assisting in our fight. I
realize you donate your time in order to further our cause, and I cannot thank
you enough.
Name and Family History:
PAMELA CLEETON MARTINEZ: Grew up with a wonderful mother, father, and older
brother. Strong emphasis on the family unit and moral upbringing. Married
Alberto Martinez in 1980, and had a wonderful marriage until he pasted away
March 9,1998. Other than my older brother who is living in another state, my
family has all passed away.
The "Strikes"
1st Strike: robbery, 1978. Plea bargain of 2 years by Judge Rittenband,
Santa Monica.
2nd Strike: robbery 2nd degree, 1987. In actuality, a petty theft from a
Sears store in which I was advised and accepted a plea bargain of three years.
Judge Rappe, CCB,LA.
3rd Strike: PETTY THEFT, 1995. I was convicted by jury trial of petty
theft. I Was sentence on July 9, 1996, to 25 years to LIFE by Judge Dudley
Gray, Torrance.
The Story
My life has been torn apart. I have what amounts to, a death sentence for a
crime that is basically a misdemeanor - 25 FLAT YEARS, which far exceeds
someone’s sentence for murder. I was arrested in February 1995, the day
after my husband was released from his first trip to the hospital diagnosed
with liver failure. I was unable to care for him, but still he fought along
side of me in an attempt to understand this insane interpretation of
"JUSTICE". He died March 9, 1998. Our 12 year old son, who is living
with a cousin in Missouri, will now never see is Father again and, quite
possibly, his Mother. It hurts my heart to think that society, my society,
would throw away my life for a crime that is neither non-violent nor
serious. I was a paramedic on ski patrol in Aspen, Colorado for many years,
during which time I saved many lives. Yet society seems not to remember the
contributions, but only the failures in life! My heart and mind refuses to
accept that this is what the voters intended when they were presented with the
three strikes law.
Comments:
Education is the key, yet the public’s focus is on incarceration and
the BIG business ($) of building bigger and more "productive"
prisons. Was it the wheels of JUSTICE, or the wheels of political machinery
that DUPED the voters into believing that the three strikes law would all but
eliminate vicious and heinous crimes? My sentence far exceeds that of someone
convicted of murder and, in some cases, DOUBLE MURDER. My life has been taken
away by a law analogous to a baseball game. Please help amend this law!!!
Please send questions or comments to facts@mediaone.net.
Everything on this web site can be distributed to the general public,
reprinted, or reposted without permission of Families to Amend California's
3-Strikes.
Date last modified: 11/4/98.