Taylor was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison RELATED VIDEO CNN's Jennifer Auther looks at the controversy surrounding the three-strikes law Windows Media 28K 80K

April 29, 1999
Web posted at: 9:30 p.m. EDT (0130 GMT)

In this story: Burglary conviction Dissenting judge cites 'Les Miserables' Movement to amend law RELATED STORIES, SITES

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Calling 25 years to life an obscene sentence for a homeless man's attempted theft of food from a church, attorney Howard Specter vowed to appeal the case to California's Supreme Court.

Unfortunately, the appeal won't be able to address the "absolute obscenity" of the application of the state's three-strikes law to Gregory Taylor's case, Specter said.

He said Wednesday the appeal 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.

"I'd like to see this law revised completely," said the Rev. Alan McCoy of St. Joseph's Catholic Church.

Burglary conviction

Taylor, 37, was arrested in July 1997 after being caught trying to pry open a screen over the kitchen door of McCoy's church in July 1997.

Taylor

He said he was trying to get something to eat. A prosecutor said Taylor may have been trying to steal valuable items such as chalices and alms boxes.

McCoy had testified Taylor had often been given food at the church and had sometimes been allowed to sleep there.

Taylor was convicted of burglary. That conviction was upheld last week by an appellate court that agreed with the trial judge's refusal to instruct the jury that the crime would be only trespassing and not burglary, if Taylor believed he had the right or permission to take food from the church.

Although Taylor may have believed that the priests had consented to his past acceptance of food, he could not have held a good-faith belief that he had the right to break into the church, the court said.

Dissenting judge cites 'Les Miserables'

The dissenting judge compared Taylor to Jean Valjean of "Les Miserables" because Valjean was imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread.

Superior Court trial Judge James Dunn had also refused to use his authority to disregard one or both of Taylor's past convictions, which would have lessened his sentence.

Court records show neither of Taylor's two prior robbery convictions involved weapons. But under California's three-strikes law, any third felony conviction could mean a mandatory life sentence.

"My duty is to protect the community," said Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti. "If my lawyers believe that a person has earned the right to be in prison the rest of his life because he is a continuing danger to the community, then I'll back them."

Movement to amend law

The case illustrates California's struggle to apply the voter-approved three-strikes law. And the case may become a banner for the movement under way to amend the law.

"California is unique in using a three-strikes, mandatory, indiscriminate sentence against non-violent offenders," said Stuart Cox of Families to Amend California's Three Strikes.

A recent study found that of the 25 states with a three-strikes law, only California and Georgia enforce theirs frequently.

All of the states with three-strikes laws, other than California, specify that a defendant's crime be a violent or serious felony to qualify as a third strike.

California State Sen. Tom Hayden is pushing for that same language. The state Senate is set to vote on Hayden's amendment in May, but it doesn't appear Hayden has the two-thirds vote necessary for passage.

Correspondent Jennifer Auther and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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