BAUGH DROPS 3 STRIKES ANALYSIS

Newly elected Assembly Republican leader Scott Baugh, in the first
fund-raising stop of his fledgling reign, dropped into the Valley Wednesday
with a surprising announcement:

He is dumping his own proposal to study potential problems with the "Three
Strikes and You're Out" law. The Orange County lawmaker believes it has, at
times, sent criminals to prison for life unjustifiably. He cited low-level
crimes such as petty burglary and drug violations.

He says it isn't his job as the new GOP leader to champion a potentially
contentious fight to change Three Strikes.

"The legislation divides the caucus, and my new job is to unite the GOP
caucus," Baugh said Wednesday. A day earlier, he ousted Rod Pacheco,
R-Riverside, to become the Assembly minority party leader.

Baugh's effort to review Three Strikes drew vehement opposition from GOP
leaders who backed the original initiative and law, including Secretary of
State Bill Jones, Fresno Mayor Jim Patterson and its original author, Mike
Reynolds - all Fresno Republicans.

Jones has said Three Strikes doesn't warrant more study. He touted the law
this year for revolutionizing "the way we fight crime in this country."

Baugh said he strongly supports the 1994 law.

"I still believe that Three Strikes is the greatest criminal justice tool
that California has ever seen," he said. "But as a tool, it has produced a
handful of unjust applications."

His concerns have been echoed by judges and a few prosecutors across the state.

Baugh did say he would support the legislator who adopts his study proposal.

Reynolds said he has heard all the arguments for changing the Three Strikes
law. But he remains convinced that any attempt to modify the law won't
succeed. "I'm not worried."

In early March, Baugh called for a study of Three Strikes after he saw
California Department of Corrections data that showed that the highest
percentage of Third Strikes convictions were for burglary. Drug possession
also ranked near the top.

Three Strikes progressively awards longer sentences for the first and second
felony convictions and then a 25-years-to-life term for a third conviction.
A bill by state Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Santa Monica, would require that the
third strike be a violent offense. Baugh doesn't support that bill.

"We've had about 43,000 Three Strikes convictions in this state," Baugh
said. "About 800 of those potentially are unjust, for life terms. But that
doesn't mean we should revamp the law. Hayden's bill takes a hatchet to it."

Three Strikes, which has evolved into an international movement, began in
Fresno in 1992 after a repeat felon killed the 18-year-old daughter of
Reynolds, a wedding photographer, during a robbery attempt.

Reynolds reacted to the death by pressing for changes in criminal law that
would put repeat felons away for decades. Armed with the catchy "Three
Strikes and You're Out," moniker and fueled by the 1993 death of 12-year-old
Polly Klaas at the hands of a repeat offender, state voters approved a
ballot measure that became law in 1994.

But critics - before the law was passed and since - said the cost of longer
prison terms is substantial. In addition, the automatic penalties don't
allow judges to consider specific crimes and situations of the accused, and
it prevents judges from using their discretion to make sure the third,
life-sentence strike is a serious and violent offense, not a drug violation
or petty theft.

Baugh shares those concerns. He irritated Valley conservatives this year by
suggesting that the state should study who is convicted under a third strike
and if the penalty should be limited to violent offenses.

Critics often cite a Southern California case in which a two-time felon
received his third strike after stealing a piece of pizza.

Mayor Patterson, who is considering a run for higher office, vows to fight
any attempt in Sacramento to "roll back" the Three Strikes law.

"It would be ill advised for anyone to attempt to abort or weaken this law,"
Patterson said.

"We don't want to see anyone tinker or toy with something that has made
Fresno safer for everyone."

The bottom line, Reynolds said, is: "If you are not prepared to lock up
criminals, you are not prepared to stop crime."

Bee staff writer Louis Galvan contributed to this report.

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