'3 STRIKES' CLOBBERS COUNTY\Implementation varies across state.Byline: Ann Bancroft For the actress, see . Ann Bancroft (born 29 September 1955 in Mendota Heights, Minnesota) is a United States author, teacher, and adventurer. She was the first woman to successfully finish a number of arduous expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic. Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Two years after passage of the "three strikes, you're out three strikes, you're out n. recent (beginning 1994) legislation enacted in several states (and proposed in many others, as well as possible Federal law) which makes life-terms (or extremely long terms without parole) mandatory for criminals who have been convicted " legislation, California's most populous county is staggering under its impact, legislators were told Tuesday. Representatives of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County told a hearing of the Senate Judiciary, Criminal Procedure and Budget committees that the initiative has caused a crippling backlog in court cases, forced early releases from county jail and caused long delays in civil cases. In that county, where two-thirds of the state's "three strikes" cases are filed, 4,000 second- and third-strike defendants are awaiting trial in jail, said Presiding Judge presiding judge n. 1) in both state and federal appeals court, the judge who chairs the panel of three or more judges during hearings and supervises the business of the court. Gary Klausner of Los Angeles County Superior Court. The county is seeking reimbursement of $169 million from the state for its "three strikes" costs so far. The law requires a 25-year-to-life sentence for a "third strike," or any felony committed by a person already convicted of two or more serious or violent felonies. "Three strikes" initiative author Mike Reynolds blamed Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti for overzealously prosecuting all possible cases under the law, in an effort "to do everything he can to show that 'three strikes' doesn't work." "We have a DA in San Francisco that doesn't want to implement it, and a DA in Los Angeles that is implementing it in the extreme," Reynolds said. San Francisco County Public Defender public defender, governmental official who represents indigent persons accused of crime. U.S. Supreme Court decisions expanding the right to counsel to pretrial proceedings and holding that a person cannot be sentenced to even one day in jail unless a lawyer was Jeff Brown said his county does not suffer badly from "three strikes" because it's not enforced in all cases. "If we were to have filed in all those cases, it would have strangled stran·gle v. stran·gled, stran·gling, stran·gles v.tr. 1. a. To kill by squeezing the throat so as to choke or suffocate; throttle. b. the system," Brown said. Prosecutors from Contra Costa and Sacramento counties said they have managed implementing "three strikes" without the negative impacts reported by Los Angeles. "It's way too soon to panic and cry 'uncle' over 'three strikes,' " said Contra Costa County District Attorney Gary Yancey. "It's going to work, and it's going to work well." |
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