IP: Three Strikes sentence thrown out in California

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> http://www.uniontribune.com/news/state/20011102-1451-threestrikes.html

Federal court throws out 50-year 'three-strike' sentence for shoplifter in 
California

By David Kravets

ASSOCIATED PRESS November 2, 2001 SAN FRANCISCO – A federal appeals court 
Friday threw out a shoplifter's 50-year sentence under California's "three 
strikes" law as overly harsh – a ruling that could lead to hundreds of 
challenges from defendants who received near-life terms for petty crimes. 
In a 2-1 ruling, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said 
Leonardo Andrade's sentence violated the Constitution's ban on cruel and 
unusual punishment. It was the first federal court ruling declaring that 
California's sentencing law, the nation's toughest, could produce 
unconstitutionally harsh sentences.



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