Court Declares State's "Three Strikes" Law Unconstitutional

Under New York Law, third-time felons have faced a minimum of 15 years to life in prison. But that law was judged unconstitutional by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, with Judge Ralph Winter writing that it violates the Sixth Amendment guarantee of trial by jury. The Post reports that the unanimous decision in Besser vs. Walsh could mean four criminals who challenged their life sentences may see them reduced.

The court found fault with the provision that authorizes judges to consider the "history and character of the defendant and the nature and circumstances of his criminal conduct." Judge Winter wrote, "Any fact [other than a prior conviction], no matter how generalized or amorphous, that increases a sentence for a specific crime beyond the statutory maximum must be found by a jury," not a judge. This will send all four cases back to lower federal courts, including the case of Vance Morris, who was sentenced to 15 years to life after violating an order of protection and threatening to kill his girlfriend. His two prior felonies were attempted robbery and attempted drug sale.

There may be some future confusion regarding the decision, as this is the first court to counter the law. Appellate lawyer Richard Mischel said, "The Second Circuit has now run counter to what every state court has held with regard to that law. This is really an unusual occurrence." Only the U.S. Supreme Court can make New York courts obey the ruling.

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By Jaya Saxena in News on April 1, 2010 5:50 PM

Comments [rss]

Kojak

Lets see if the SCOTUS will pick this up.

inoyourider

Fuck that, get repeat criminals off the street for good.

DowntotheTruth

This law has a tendency to be very racist. People are accused of something very innocent (look at the comment below), and those who are more well off have the least amount of times while people who have skin that is just darker, or who have a different family heritage than others, who live in a very racist county (the US), get a longer to life sentence for very minor crimes. Mostly all they need is a little bit of guidance, faith, and chance.
This can also be put on protesters. People who are protesting will be charged of almost anything, and since there is so much to protest about in this country with such a messed up government, this happens often, and if they are active demonstrators or speech- givers, they may be put in jail where they can no longer make a difference.

CaptainMXC

The law is unconstitutional. You should look into what constitutes a felony before being "up in arms".

People sentenced under this law (some to life in prison):

-Gary Ewing for stealing golf clubs

-Leandro Andrade for stealing video tapes

-William James Rummel for refusing to pay for an AC

The case of Rummel is extremely ridiculous because he 1st, stole a credit card and made $80 worth of purchase on it 2nd, forged a check for under $30 and lastly the AC. If you think that a person who murders only once and gets 4-15 years in prison is fair and this guy getting a life sentence is also fair...then I don't know what to say.

Whatever happened to the punishment fitting the crime? This 3 strikes law takes that away.

thefacts

You are absolutely correct. "3 strikes" is an arbitrary number based on baseball stats. Effing baseball!!

Who would base penology and jurisprudence on a sports term?

The fact that it costs something like $65,000 per prisoner per year also is never considered by the law&order types.

Should the state spend millions on non-violent offenders? Is it worth it for a $80 theft? Of course not. Especially not when schools are closing and subway/buses are shutting down!

But self-righteous vigilantism is a human trait that is hard to quell, especially in people who do no wrong themselves. Or so they say.

Petey

Because obviously he learned his lesson after being caught AND convicted of stealing the credit card, AND the forgery of the check. This doesn't include his misdemeanor convictions, or what he got away with.

inoyourider

Fuck that noise, I don't have any sympathy for repeat offenders.

They should do honest society a favor and keep the scum in jail where they belong.

longacre

The decision has nothing to do with the punishment fitting the crime. The court's objection is to judges being given the discretion to send down these extended sentences rather than juries. I suspect lawmakers could come up with some workarounds pretty easily if they had to.