`3 STRIKES' LAW CASE RETURNS : HEARING EXPECTED TO BE 1ST OF KIND IN LANCASTER.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

Raymond Hawkins ended up getting arrested when sheriff's narcotics deputies served a search warrant one afternoon last year on a house on 12th Street East in Palmdale where he was visiting.

An unemployed mechanic with two prior convictions for robbery nearly a decade earlier, Hawkins was taken into custody after deputies found him with an auto-brake assembly tube containing rock cocaine.

Hawkins, at 42, was convicted of his ``third strike'' in Lancaster Superior Court and sentenced in March to spend 27 years to life in prison for possessing five pieces of rock cocaine for sale, his defense attorney said.

``With all of his background and his age, it is in fact a death sentence for him,'' said his attorney, Dennis Cannon.

But Hawkins will return Tuesday from prison to Lancaster Superior Court, where he is expected to become the first ``three strikes, you're out'' defendant to have his sentence reconsidered in the Antelope Valley in the wake of a landmark state Supreme Court ruling in June.

In a unanimous decision, People vs. Romero, the state's high court ruled that judges can disregard a prior conviction or ``strike'' to reduce a sentence in the interest of justice. The ruling effectively called for defendants already sentenced under the 1994 law to get new hearings.

The ``three strikes'' law requires a prison term of 25 years to life for a person convicted of a third crime after two previous felonies. Also, a person convicted of a second felony is sentenced to double the usual term.

Cannon said he asked Judge Frank Jackson for the hearing under law giving trial judges about four months in which to review and change a sentence. After that time limit, the defendant would have to file a writ with an appellate court to ask for a resentencing, Cannon said.

A new hearing from the trial judge in the Hawkins case would have been futile before the Romero decision, Cannon said.

``Without Romero - and (with) the judge feeling he didn't have the authority to strike priors for sentencing purposes - there was nothing more to do.''

Now, however, Cannon said he thinks it would be reasonable and fair for Hawkins to get a reduced sentence.

``My argument - in light of what the crime was and his involvement in the charges that led to the strikes and his age - (is) 12 to 13 years is enough.''

Hawkins' 1986 robbery convictions stemmed from two purse snatchings in which he was driving the car while another man committed the thefts, Cannon said. In one incident, a woman suffered a broken arm, Cannon said.

``It's my opinion that when voters voted for (the ``three strikes'' law), they thought the strikes were all serious or violent felonies. They didn't realize a third strike could be anything, like stealing a piece of pizza,'' Cannon said.

Deputy District Attorney Susan Mills, the trial attorney, said she thinks the sentence should remain the same.

``I think the judge should stick by his sentencing because basically the people of California wish that people like this be punished as third-strike offenders. He has got a significant record,'' Mills said.

According to a probation officer's report, Hawkins' criminal record dates back to 1968 when he was arrested at 14 by Los Angeles police on suspicion of battering an officer, court records show.

Since 1973, Hawkins has had convictions for assault, battery and exhibiting a deadly weapon other than a firearm, and he was sentenced to jail time or placed on probation, records show.

More than a year after being discharged from parole for his robbery convictions, Hawkins was convicted in 1989 of transportation and sales of narcotics, records show.

He was sentenced to a year in jail and three years on probation, but his probation was revoked in 1991, and he was sentenced to prison for four years.

It is unclear, however, what will happen Tuesday. Officials say the Romero decision is scheduled to become official Sept. 18, and the state Supreme Court has until that date to modify or clarify its ruling.

``Until it is final, judges are routinely denying the petitions (to reconsider ``three strikes'' sentences) as untimely,'' said Deputy District Attorney John Spillane, head of the Lancaster office. ``Once it does become final, then you can expect many cases to come back.''

Under the ``three strikes'' law, judges had the right to disregard prior convictions only if prosecutors did so. This effectively allowed prosecutors to determine sentences, which the high court said was usurping constitutional powers of judges.

The San Diego County District Attorney's Office and the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office have asked the state Supreme Court to clarify resentencing procedures within the next couple of months.

Manuel Martinez, head of the Public Defender's Office in Lancaster, said his office is re-examining ``three strikes'' cases to see which ones should be reviewed by judges for possible reduction of sentences.

Cases that should be considered, Martinez believes, are those in which the third strike harmed nobody or involved only small quantities of drugs.

``We're not expecting all would be granted,'' Martinez said. ``If it's petty theft, we would certainly ask for it.''

Arrested along with Hawkins in April 1995 was Murriel Murphy. She pleaded no contest to the same charge of which Hawkins was convicted, and she was sentenced in June 1995 to six months in jail and five years on probation.

When Jackson sentenced Hawkins, he told the defendant: ``Mr. Hawkins, in sincerity, I wish you luck. I tried to apply the law as I understand it. It will be up to the appellate courts to determine if my determination is or is not correct.''