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Article Excerpt
On March 5, the Supreme Court rejected constitutional challenges to life sentences that had been imposed on shoplifters in two different cases under California's three-strikes law. For almost a century, the Court has held that grossly disproportionate sentences are cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. (1) After the Court's 5-4 decisions in both Ewing v. California (2) and Lockyer v. Andrade, (3) it will be extremely difficult to successfully challenge any punishment as "grossly disproportionate." Moreover, the Lockyer ruling significantly narrows federal courts' ability to grant habeas corpus relief to state prisoners. For these reasons, the two decisions are likely to have an impact far beyond California.
Disproportionate sentencing
California's three-strikes law was enacted by the state legislature in 1994 and passed as a voter initiative that same year? The law provides that if a person has been convicted of a "serious" or "violent" felony, a second such conviction is punished by "twice the term otherwise provided as punishment for the current felony conviction." (5) If the defendant has two prior serious or violent felonies, then a third felony of any type--even a felony that does not meet California's definitions of serious or violent crimes--is punished by life in prison with no possibility of parole for at least 25 years. (6)
Gary Ewing, the plaintiff in Ewing v. California, had a long history of prior offenses, including thefts, battery, possession of drug paraphernalia, burglaries, and a robbery. In March 2000, he was caught trying to steal three golf clubs--each worth $399--from a pro shop in El Segundo. Theft of more than $400 worth of merchandise or money is deemed grand theft in California. Ewing was convicted and sentenced under California's three-strikes law.
Ewing...
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