First Nonviolent Drug Offender Released Under CA Prop 36

by Phillip Smith

It didn't take long. Voters in California last month approved Proposition 36, which amends the state's draconian Three Strikes law to require that a third strike be a serious or violent felony, and last week, the first person to be released under the initiative walked out of prison.

Kenneth Corley, 62, had been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison in 1996 after being convicted of drug possession for sale. His previous two felony "strikes" were convictions for burglary and attempted burglary. Per Prop 36, he was entitled to seek resentencing, and a San Diego judge resentenced him to 15 years and ordered him released with time served.

Thousands of inmates are doing decades in prison under the state's Three Strikes law, which until it was amended last month by voters, allowed sentences of up to life for a third felony offense even if the crime was something as trivial as drug possession or stealing a pizza.

Not all inmates eligible to seek sentence reductions under Prop 36 will get them. Judges reviewing their cases are required to decide whether releasing them would present a risk to public safety. If so, they will not get a sentence reduction. But the new law should still benefit thousands of other Three Strikes prisoners, as well as preventing people who committed trivial third felonies from being sentenced under the law.

SHARE:

Email This

Latest Tyranny/Police State
- Undercover Narco Befriends, then Busts, Autistic Teenager
- 911 Dispatcher Tells Woman About To Be Sexually Assaulted There Are No Cops To Help Her Due To Budget Cuts
- Released Video From Silva Beating Shows His Last Moments; Video Of Actual Beating Still Missing
- And Then They Came For Me: The Black Bagging of Adam Kokesh
- The Julian Dawkins Case
- Video: City Changes Parking Signs, Tickets Cars That Were Parked Legally
- So It's Come To This: Seven High School Students Arrested For Throwing... Water Balloons
- 'I really thought I was going to die'

No Comments Posted

Add Comment

Add Comment

Name

Comment

* No HTML

Verification *

Please Enter the Verification Code Seen Below

PLEASE NOTE

Please see our About Page, our Disclaimer, and our Comments Policy.

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which in some cases has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available for the purposes of news reporting, education, research, comment, and criticism, which constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (found at the U.S. Copyright Office) and other applicable intellectual property laws. It is our policy to remove material from public view that we believe in good faith to be copyrighted material that has been illegally copied and distributed by any of our members or users.

About Us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy