Three-Strikes ‘Reform’ Threatens Public Safety

Re “Dog Beheading Case Illustrates Prop. 66 Battle,” Oct. 9: Three-strikes law aside, the case of James Andrew Abernathy points out the absurdity of our sentencing guidelines. Why isn’t 25 years to life an appropriate sentence for someone who beats a dog with a golf club, shoves a stake through her heart and then beheads her with pruning shears? But for his other crimes, this would normally draw a three-year sentence?

Rather than eliciting a debate about whether three strikes is saving us from this man, or is causing an overreaction to “mere” animal cruelty, why aren’t we talking about why such a crime is considered a fairly minor felony?

Nola Wood

Dana Point

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Law professor Michael Vitiello misleads when he states, “If we’re punishing them for their past, that’s double jeopardy.” The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly rejected claims that punishing defendants for their recidivism violates the double-jeopardy clause. Besides, if the three-strikes law did violate the Constitution, it would have to be voided, not modified, as Proposition 66 would do.

Lawrence Daniels

Studio City

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Re “Vote for Three-Strikes Reform,” editorial, Oct. 5: Proposition 66 goes far beyond limiting third-strike offenses to serious or violent felonies. It eliminates many crimes from being counted as strikes. Felony street gang offenses, virtually every residential burglary, many arsons, many crimes in which the victim suffered great bodily injury would not be a strike under Proposition 66. Reducing the number of serious and violent felonies also means those offenses cannot serve as prior convictions to even qualify for a strike prosecution.

Proposition 66 also requires each prior strike offense to be brought and tried separately. This rule would limit the counting of felony strikes to one strike per prosecution.

The recent conviction of the Long Beach Belmont Shore rapist, who was convicted of raping 14 women in separate incidents over a five-year period, will be only one strike if Proposition 66 passes.

Proposition 66 is retroactive. Almost 2,000 state prison inmates from Los Angeles County would be released immediately, and up to 16,000 inmates within six months. Proposition 66 greatly threatens public safety and is certainly not reform.

Steve Cooley

District Attorney

Los Angeles County