Friday, September 12, 2014

Schinkel v. Superior Court (Cal. Ct. App. - Sept. 12, 2014)

Prisoner Larry Schinkel wants to recall his three-strikes, 25-to-life sentence under Proposition 36, and the question is whether he was convicted of a serious or violent felony and hence disqualified from relief under the statute.

Schinkel has six prior convictions for burglary.  He then got arrested and convicted of four counts of sexual intercourse with a minor.  And after he was arrested on those charges, he solicited someone to kill the minor so she couldn't testify against him.

That's why he got 25-to life.  Once on the charge of solicitation of murder and twice more on two of the sexual intercourse with minor charges.

That's all you need to know.  You know where this one's going even before you get to that part of the opinion in which the Court of Appeal says that "defendant is one of the truly dangerous criminals that the voters meant to exclude from the resentencing provisions of Three Strikes Reform Act."