LA judge frees thief who got 25 yrs on 3rd strike (he stole food)

[babylonsister]

http://www.salon.com/wires/us/2010/08/17/D9HL4OOO0_us_food_thief_prisoner/index.html


TUESDAY Aug 17, 2010 04:48 ET

LA judge frees thief who got 25 yrs on 3rd strike
By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON, Associated Press
AP


After 13 years behind bars for trying to break in to a church kitchen to find something to eat, a man who became an example of the harsh sentences allowed by California's three-strikes law has been ordered released from prison.

A Superior Court judge amended Gregory Taylor's sentence to eight years already served and the 47-year-old, who was sentenced in 1997 to 25 years to life, will be a free man in a few days.

Tears streamed down Taylor's face and Judge Peter Espinoza asked a bailiff to get him a tissue.

"I thought I was going to cry too," said law student Reiko Rogozen, who started working on the case in January as part of Stanford Law School's Three-Strikes Project, which filed a writ of habeas corpus seeking freedom for Taylor. "He was scared up until the last minute that it wasn't actually going to happen."

The district attorney did not oppose the group's move.

Taylor quietly thanked the court and his lawyers for "giving me another chance ... and my family for sticking by me."

Taylor was arrested in July 1997 while trying to get into the kitchen of St. Joseph's Church in downtown Los Angeles. He told officers that he was hungry.

The church's pastor, the Rev. Alan McCoy, testified at the original sentencing that Taylor was often given food and allowed to sleep at the church. The priest described him as a peaceful man struggling with homelessness and crack addiction.

more...

http://www.salon.com/wires/us/2010/08/17/D9HL4OOO0_us_food_thief_prisoner/index.html

[exboyfil]

1. Kind of reminds me of the musical Les Mis

Now bring me prisoner 24601
Your time is up
And your parole's begun
You know what that means.


Yes, it means I'm free.


No!
It means you get
Your yellow ticket-of-leave
You are a thief


I stole a loaf of bread.


You robbed a house.


I broke a window pane.
My sister's child was close to death
And we were starving.


You will starve again
Unless you learn the meaning of the law.


I know the meaning of those 19 years
A slave of the law


Five years for what you did
The rest because you tried to run
Yes, 24601.


My name is Jean Valjean


And I am Javert
Do not forget my name!
Do not forget me,
24601.

[Hannah Bell]

2. you mean the us is like pre-revolutionary france in the severity of its law

to punish the poor & powerless?

[malaise]

3. Ding ding

We have a winner

[elleng]

4. California.

Speak for your own jurisdiction.

[Hannah Bell]

5. because california is so much worse than say, arizona or mississippi.

or even -- new york.

[elleng]

7. 3 strikes

[Hannah Bell]

8. 24 states have 3 strikes laws.

[elleng]

9. During an appeal,

a dissenting state Supreme Court justice said Taylor was a 20th-century version of Jean Valjean, a character imprisoned for stealing bread in Victor Hugo's novel "Les Miserables." . .

When running for office in 2000, District Attorney Steve Cooley often used the case as an example of how unfair he believed the three-strikes law was. Cooley said if the third strike wasn't serious and wasn't violent, three strikes should not apply.

Cooley said Gregory Taylor's release is "justice long overdue" because his crime was a minor offense.

But Cooley said the three-strikes law doesn't need to be repealed as long as prosecutors apply it "proportionally," taking into account the nature of the offense and the defendant's previous criminal record.

[exboyfil]

6. In the case of drug laws and non-violent property crimes

Yes.

I think many drugs should be legalized, and the three strike law was a reaction to a problem at the time (failure to give sufficiently harsh sentences to those who physically hurt other people). Because of the inequities this type of law introduces, the underlying crimes and pardon/parole system should have been addressed instead of saying three felonies and you are eligible for a life sentence. This sentence was ridiculous on its face, and, if I was in the jury box at the time and knew he was in jeopardy on three strikes, I would have practiced jury nullification.

Obviously if this clown had been a Hollywood star he would never have been sentenced to life even if he broke in for some food. (remember the case of Robert Downey Jr. falling asleep in a stranger's house (actually in a child's bed)- if he had been this guy he would have been serving 10 years, but being a Hollywood star he gets some rehab etc.