three strikes law

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Good News for Man Arrested Over 43 Cents of Mountain Dew

Felony theft charge against Joseph Sobolewski has been dropped

(Newser) - Pennsylvania prosecutors have dropped a felony theft charge against a man who underpaid for a bottle of Mountain Dew by 43 cents. In August, Joseph Sobolewski went into an Exxon in Duncannon and saw a sign advertising two 20-ounce Mountain Dew bottles for $3, he said. PennLive reports the 38-year-old...

Man to Be Freed After Serving 36 Years for Stealing $50

Alabama man was sentenced to life without parole

(Newser) - An Alabama man who has served close to 36 years in prison for robbing a bakery with a pocket knife will be free within days. Alvin Kennard was 22 when he was sentenced to life without parole for the 1983 crime, in which nobody was injured and he made off...

After 23 Years, Man Freed From Sentence for Joyriding

He got life under Calif.'s old '3 strikes' law

(Newser) - A California man was freed from prison after serving 23 years of his life sentence on a joyriding conviction, including eight years in solitary confinement for possessing a banned book. His attorneys say it's unconscionable that he was set to die in prison for nonviolent crimes. Kenneth Oliver, now...

Trump Supports Sweeping Criminal Justice Reform Bill

'Did I hear the word bipartisan?'

(Newser) - "Did I hear the word bipartisan?" President Trump asked Wednesday as he announced his support for a major reform of prison and sentencing laws. The First Step Act, which the AP calls the "first major rewrite of the nation's criminal justice sentencing laws in a generation,"...

NRA Prisons, 3-Strikes Laws 'Gave Us a Headache'
NRA Prisons, 3-Strikes Laws 'Gave Us a Headache'
mother jones
Feb 9, 2013 4:58 PM CST

NRA Prisons, 3-Strikes Laws 'Gave Us a Headache'

'Mother Jones' takes CrimeStrike program to task

(Newser) - Wayne LaPierre tossed off a line at the Senate gun-control hearings : "We've supported prison building." In fact, the NRA backed stricter sentencing and more prisons in a perfect storm of lobbying that Mother Jones says led to a larger and harsher culture of incarceration in America. It...

California Puts 3-Strikes Law Up to Vote

Proposition 36 would limit 'strikes' to serious, violent crimes

(Newser) - Along with a proposition to repeal the death penalty, California is considering another big change on Nov. 6: amending its three-strikes law, Mother Jones reports. If approved, Proposition 36 would only allow hefty sentences to criminals whose third offense is a serious or violent crime. So those convicted of stealing...

Scammer of Homeowners Gets Life in Prison

Three-strikes law takes down white-collar criminal who preyed on elderly

(Newser) - California's three-strikes law has produced an unusual result in Orange County: A non-violent, white-collar criminal has been sentenced to 25 years to life, reports the Los Angeles Times . But Timothy Barnett may not be getting much sympathy, given that he was convicted of swindling the elderly out of their...

Alex Trebek Burglary Suspect Faces Life Sentence

She's in trouble over 'three-strikes' law

(Newser) - A not-so-lighthearted footnote to the Alex Trebek burglary case: The woman accused of pilfering stuff from his hotel room faces 25 to life because of California's three-strikes law, reports the San Francisco Chronicle . Lucinda Moyers, 56, has two previous burglary convictions, and prosecutors consider the Trebek charges a violent...

Chihuahua Killer Faces Life
 Chihuahua Killer Faces ... Life 
May 20, 2011 2:19 AM CDT

Chihuahua Killer Faces ... Life

Puppy's death could cost con big time under Three Strikes Law

(Newser) - A California man accused of fatally slamming his wife's Chihuahua against a wall during a domestic dispute could be sentenced to life in prison, according to authorities. Bud Wally Ruiz gave the 6-week-old puppy, Teddy, to his wife for Mother's Day. His wife called police just days later...

Calif. '3 Strikes' Convict Freed

Homeless man got 25 years to life for attempted break-in

(Newser) - A homeless man sentenced to 25 years to life for trying to break into a church soup kitchen to find food has been freed by a Los Angeles judge. Gregory Taylor received the stiff sentence under California's 'three strikes" law in 1997 because he had two felony convictions for a...

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