Parts 1 & 2

This post includes part 2 & 3 in this NPR series…..

by Ina Jaffe

 

Rick Bowmer/AP

Erwin Chemerinsky, attorney for Leandro Andrade, chats with reporters outside the Supreme Court in 2002. Under the three strikes law, Andrade was put away for 50 years to life after stealing videotapes from two different Kmart stores. Chemerinsky challenged the case, and it went all the way to the Supreme Court.

 

October 30, 2009

California’s three strikes law has imposed some very long sentences on some very dangerous people.

A third strike carries a sentence of 25 years to life and that sentence can be imposed for any felony, not just a violent one. Some people have challenged the law — but the results have been mixed.

The Leandro Andrade Case

Take, for example, Leandro Andrade.

His last offense was stealing $153 worth of videotapes from Kmart stores in San Bernardino, according to Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at the University of California, Irvine.

Now, Andrade had had his run-ins with the law. He was a drug addict, and he had committed some residential burglaries years before. So when he stole those videos, it was a third strike, which could mean 25 years to life in prison.

But because Andrade grabbed the videos from two different Kmarts, he was prosecuted for two third strikes. As a result, says Chemerinsky, Andrade was sentenced to life in prison with no parole for 50 years.

Crime Locale Is Key In California’s 3 Strikes Law Oct. 29, 2009

Two Torn Families Show Flip Side Of 3 Strikes Law Oct. 28, 2009

Chemerinsky represented Andrade before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which agreed that a sentence of 50 years to life for shoplifting was cruel and unusual punishment.

But the Supreme Court overturned that ruling on a 5-to-4 vote. The majority found that Andrade’s sentence was not disproportionate because there was still the possibility of parole — though he won’t be eligible until he’s 87 years old.

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