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3-strikes

From the NY Times:

One day last fall, Norman Williams sat drinking hot chocolate with his lawyer, Michael Romano, at a Peet’s coffee in Palo Alto, Calif. At an outdoor table, Williams began to talk about how he’d gone from serving a life sentence at Folsom State Prison to sitting there in the sun. “After being shut down for so many years. I didn’t believe it,” he said of the judge’s decision to release him in April 2009.

Williams, who is 46, was a homeless drug addict in 1997 when he was convicted of petty theft, for stealing a floor jack from a tow truck. It was the last step on his path to serving life. In 1982, Williams burglarized an apartment that was being fumigated: he was hapless enough to be robbed at gunpoint on his way out, and later he helped the police recover the stolen property. In 1992, he stole two hand drills and some other tools from an art studio attached to a house; the owner confronted him, and he dropped everything and fled. Still, for the theft of the floor jack, Williams was sentenced to life in prison under California’s repeat-offender law: three strikes and you’re out.

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In 2000, three years after Williams went to prison, Steve Cooley became the district attorney for Los Angeles County. Cooley is a Republican career prosecutor, but he campaigned against the excesses of three strikes. “Fix it or lose it,” he says of the law. In 2005, Cooley ordered a review of cases, to identify three-strikes inmates who had not committed violent crimes and whose life sentences a judge might deem worthy of second looks. His staff came up with a list of more than 60 names, including Norman Williams’s.

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  • http://www.blackplanet.com/CaliFemme23/ CaliFemme23

    Its about time….
    Put these ‘petty’ offenders in some programs, help them get straight as opposed to dumping them in prison for life behind being caught 3 times with dime bags of weed….

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/DameDivalicious/ DameDivalicious

    I knew this ridiculous law was working and is one other reason California’s prison system is overflowing. California is like bankrupted now because of this and other problems like illegal aliens.

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  • http://www.blackplanet.com/soulmass/ soulmass

    Face the facts. The prison system is making a fortune for a lot of people and they don’t want this to end.

    The LAPD illegal drugs to entrap black men. Since the LAPD were in possession of illegal narcotics, why aren’t they in prison for drugs? Even when cases can be easily be proven that they were bogus, the judges sided with the police by saying, “the police wouldn’t don anything like this”.

    The judicial system has to be reformed, as well as the probation departments, the public defenders, the D.A.s office, the prison officers union, the scam lawyers, the entire political system. If this isn’t changed and reformed, the system has struck out itself.

    Of course many will fight reforms of any kind. They would be out of a job if the needed reforms passed.

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/jazzwatch/ jazzwatch

    The thieves and other petty criminals MIGHT be rehabilitated; the rapist, sex offender and murderers cannot…….

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/Gatekeepa/ Gatekeepa

    I’ve never been a fan of the (3) strikes and you’re out -given life in prison in Cali. My hope is the law to be reformed to only include violent offenders INVOLVED in rape, murder, molestation, beatings etc.,

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/da_blue_ripper/ da_blue_ripper

    And you still want to be Democrats huh?

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/soulmass/ soulmass

    As long as there are people making $$$$$ off the prison racket, this will keep happening.

    Remember the Latasha Harlins murder.

    A teenager was shot in the back of the head by an overanxious store owner who tried to accuse her of stealing a small bottle of orange juice. This store owner was probably hassling other customers. She shot someone in the back of the head, point blank.

    A video surveillance camera caught the whole thing on camera. Not only did the video prove she did not steal anything, it showed that the store owner pulled out a handgun when the girl walked away, and shot her in the back of the head with no remorse.

    THe D.A.s office intentionally watered down the murder charge to a manslaughter charge, and the store owner was sentenced to five years informal probation. No apologizes or regrets. She smiled and laughed about the whole thing.

    The store owner was Korean. The DA and the cops literally cheered her on. No demand for a retrial or longer sentence.

    If she was black, they would have run the case past excess. In the eyes of the prosecutors, the girl who was shot in the head should have gotten the five years probation. This is the same DAs office that intentionally lost the Rodney King Case, and over-prosecuted all of those bogus crack cocaine cases of the 1980s and 1990s. And the whole three strikes thing was an excuse to disguise a lot of incompetence in the system. A system they made and profitized of and are still doint more of the same. And the police who made the bogus drug cases are still on the force. No three strikes for them, is it?

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/dkhoney/ dkhoney

    About damn time. When you have people serving life sentences for property crimes something is wrong with the system.

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/jazzpast/ jazzpast

    We cannot act like its victory when the man pushing for a progressive reform hasnt been voted in as Attorney General. He needs to be voted in, and then make him accountable for his words and campaign promises.If he champion the reform of the 3 strike law then it is a great change within the justice system. however, as conveyed by others before me. The prison industrial complex is a private institutional system that are used by the corporations to make profit out of us and collecting our taxes. Remember california has built more prisons in the last decade than schools. Also, the governor already negotiating with Mexico to build more prison on the border to house more of California’s prison population.

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/SoularFlarez/ SoularFlarez

    When we understand that the court-system is about COMMERCE, then everything else makes sense

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/odoggz/ odoggz

    3 strikes you’re out, like it’s a damn game. lol

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/Golden-Tongue2/ Golden-Tongue2

    I remember when they put this retarded law into effect. It’s a wonder no one back then foresaw the gross overcrowding of the jails & prisons due as a result of that law. Or maybe someone did, but those reservations were pushed aside due to the amount of money involved in the prison business. Hopefully some of those ridiculous convictions will be nullified and those who deserve it will receive time served.

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  • http://www.blackplanet.com/MZ_KNIGHTOWL/ MZ_KNIGHTOWL

    Man, i hope they do change this,,,my friend has been in jail going on 2 yrs in feb for something he didnt do, but bcuz he has done it in his past, hes facing life. no weapon involved, he didnt cause physical harm. BUT, supposidly theres witnesses that saw him, he had a ski mask on but they saw his eyes and they say it was a black man. This man is a lil darker than me and has hazel green eyes,,,yes hes “black” but how the fk can u tell by his eyes,,,most think hes latino when they first look at him. but see they have no evidence at all against him and thats why he goes to court all the time going on these 2 yrs,,cuz they want to get him. Nevermind that this man has done 12yrs in prison in his past, got out, got him a good job at the oil refinery, got his own place, and 2 cars. Lets just throw his life in the gutter cuz they need to pin the $hit on someone. Sometimes Cali can b a b*tch when it comes to the LAW,,,yeah some will say someones innocent cuz they person told them they are, but if theres proof of the persons where abouts and u were there,,,then how the fk is that not holding any weight,,,im tellin u,,,this $hit is all fkd up,,,getting me mad just thinkin bout it right now. >=|

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