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High court reviews three strikes
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The nation's highest court is taking up a tough "three strikes" sentencing law. Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard two California cases involving men who received steep prison sentences for relatively minor thefts. Justices questioned whether a California law mandating harsh sentences for three-time felons amounted to cruel and unusual punishment when it applied to the men's latest crimes -- the theft of videotapes in one case and the theft of golf clubs in the other. California's law, a novel idea when enacted eight years ago, provides for mandatory prison terms of 25 years to life for career criminals convicted for the third time of a felony. But under the law, offenses such as petty theft and shoplifting can put offenders with prior criminal records behind bars for life. That's because those misdemeanors can be upgraded to felonies if the accused has two prior felony convictions for the same type of crime. Leandro Andrade was given two consecutive 25-years-to-life sentences in 1995 for stealing videotapes in two southern California stores. While in most cases the crimes would have been tried as misdemeanors, Andrade's prior felony burglary convictions turned them into felonies, his third "strikes." A federal appeals court found the sentence "grossly disproportionate," violating the Eighth Amendment's ban against cruel and unusual punishment. State officials then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Unfair treatment?In Tuesday's arguments, Andrade's attorney, Erwin Chemerinsky, told the justices his client had been treated unfairly under the law. "No other state would impose this kind of sentence," Chemerinsky said. But State's Attorney Douglas Danzig said Andrade's prior record of theft and burglary "demonstrated beyond any doubt he is a habitual offender" which he said was the intent of the California law. In the other case, Gary Ewing is serving 25 years to life for stealing golf clubs from a Los Angeles country club. The prosecutor had the option of charging Ewing with a misdemeanor but chose to try the case as a felony, citing his prior criminal record. The California Supreme Court had rejected Ewing's appeal of his sentence. His lawyer said Ewing has AIDS and expects to die soon. Justice Antonin Scalia called Ewing "a very good candidate for that [three strikes] law," and "precisely the kind of person you want to get off the streets." Ewing's public defender, Quin Denvir, disagreed. "There are limits to how much aggravating factors shoplifting three golf clubs can be," he said. Popular lawThe "three-strikes" law passed in 1994, after a voter referendum got 71 percent support. The ballot measure was prompted by the 1993 abduction-murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas in Petaluma. The killer, Richard Allen Davis, was a twice-convicted kidnapper who had been on parole after serving only half of a 16-year prison term for the second kidnapping. Davis remains on California's death row. Supporters of the measure hoped the tough sentencing law would send a message to career criminals and give so-called "lenient" judges less discretion in sentencing. Opponents say violent crime has not been reduced because of the law, and that crimes normally prosecuted as misdemeanors should be not be allowed to put a person away for life in prison. They claim about 350 prisoners are currently in the same situation as Andrade and Ewing. The total number of three-strike criminals in California prisons has grown to about 7,100, with the law requiring them to serve their full sentences without parole. The Supreme Court in the 1980s split on the issue of life sentences for minor, non-violent felonies, in cases in Texas and South Dakota. In 1991, justices upheld a life sentence for a Michigan man with no prior criminal record accused of possessing 1.5 pounds of cocaine.
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