And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 4.1 >Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 11:00:33 -0500 >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >From: "John V. Wilmerding" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Washington Post Article >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Court Declines Shoplifter's '3 Strikes' Appeal > >By Joan Biskupic Washington Post Staff Writer >Wednesday, January 20, 1999; Page A6 > >Touching on the controversial "three strikes, you're out" laws that >have swept the nation, the Supreme Court yesterday let California >impose a 25-year prison sentence on a man who stole a bottle of >vitamins from a supermarket. > >Michael Wayne Riggs was caught taking the pills from a store display >rack and putting them in his jacket pocket. If this had been his first >offense, he would have gotten a fine or, under the most harsh >circumstances, six months in jail. But because Riggs had a record of >drug crimes, robbery and other felonies, California law required that >he spend at least 25 years behind bars. > >Riggs appealed through state courts, and although the California Court >of Appeal described his crime as "a petty theft motivated by >homelessness and hunger," it upheld the stiff sentence. Last year the >California Supreme Court refused to hear the case, leaving Riggs to >petition the U.S. Supreme Court for a hearing. > >Had he gotten four justices to agree to hear the dispute, Riggs would >have had another chance to make his case. But yesterday the court >turned him down. Only one justice, Stephen G. Breyer, said the appeal >should have been heard, questioning how the state could possibly apply >such a penalty "to what is in essence a petty offense." In an unusual >move, three other justices also noted concern that such tough >mandatory sentences can so disproportionately punish a repeat criminal >that they violate the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual >punishment. > >"While this court has traditionally accorded to state legislatures >considerable (but not unlimited) deference to determine the length of >sentences for crimes . . . classifiable as felonies," Justice John >Paul Stevens wrote, "petty theft does not appear to fall into that >category." > >But as much as Stevens, joined in his statement by Justices David H. >Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, voiced constitutional worries about >California's three-strikes law, the three justices did not vote to >take up Riggs's case. Rather than joining Breyer, they said that the >particulars of Riggs's criminal record were not clear and that they >would rather wait until lower courts had established a more definitive >record on California's three-strikes law. > >But in declining to accept the case, the three justices also may have >wondered whether they could have gotten the requisite fifth vote from >any of the rest of the more conservative justices to build a majority >opinion against a tough three-strikes law. > >In a climate of rigid law enforcement and longer sentences, the >justices have never taken up the question of whether a three-strikes >law can be cruel and unusual punishment, particularly when the third >offense is relatively minor. In past cases, the high court has said >states may punish a repeat offender more severely than a first-time >offender, but it also has said a sentence cannot be "grossly >disproportionate" to the crime. > >Over the past decade, more than two dozen states and the federal >government have enacted laws that require lengthy prison sentences >after a third felony. California's 1994 law, mandating at least 25 >years for the third offense, is among the toughest in the nation. >Stevens said the state is the only one that allows a misdemeanor >offense to qualify for such a severe sentence. > >In his roughly typed pauper petition to the Supreme Court, Riggs >quoted from past court cases and said, "The state, even as it >punishes, must treat its members with respect for their intrinsic >worth as human beings. Punishment which is so excessive as to >transgress those limits and deny that worth cannot be tolerated." > >But California officials, urging the justices to reject the case of >Riggs v. California, asserted that the state court had based its >ruling on past Supreme Court decisions and its general rule of >declining to second-guess state sentencing laws. The California >attorney general's office emphasized Riggs's criminal history: >convictions for car theft, two counts of possession of a controlled >substance, two counts of forgery, two counts of receiving stolen >property, attempted burglary, passing a check with intent to defraud >and four counts of robbery. > >The state appeals court said Riggs had spent most of the past 15 years >behind bars and has had a recurring drug problem. When he was arrested >a syringe was found hidden in his sock. > >Separately yesterday, the justices also spurned an effort by Operation >Rescue to revive a defamation lawsuit against Sen. Edward M. Kennedy >(D-Mass.), who described the antiabortion group as engaging in >firebombing and murder. Lower courts had ruled that Kennedy, as an >employee of the government, is protected from such a lawsuit. > >� Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company > >-- >To subscribe to the CERJ E-Mail distribution list, simply send >an E-mail message to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. Please include your name >and your state, province, or country of residence. Thank you! >-------------------------------------------------------------- >John Wilmerding, Gen'l Secretary | E-Mail: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >=================================| Web: http://www.cerj.org >*CERJ* International Secretariat | ICQ Number: 18723495 >---------------------------------+============================ >Campaign | 217 High Street | For | A >for | Brattleboro, VT | Justice | AR >Equity- | 05301-3018 USA | that | ART >Restorative | Telephone & FAX | Restores | EAR >Justice | [802] 254-2826 | Equity | HEAR >================================================= HEART >Work together to reinvent justice using methods | EARTH >that are fair; which conserve, restore and even | HEARTH >create harmony, equity and good will in society | >>>|CERJ|<<< >============================================================== >We are the prisoners of the prisoners we have taken - J. Clegg > &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
