3 strikes law can apply to older crimes

SAN FRANCISCO The 1994 threestrikes law can be used to require an
extended prison sentence for an earlier crime, the state Supreme Court
ruled Thursday.

The unanimous decision affects criminals who got probation and a
suspended sentence before the threestrikes law passed in March 1994,
then committed a crime that was covered by the new law

In that situation, the new crime would be punishable by 25 years to life
in prison, if the defendant had two previous convictions for violent or
serious felonies. In addifion, if probation for the previous crime was
withdrawn, the defendant would have to serve the full sentence for that
crime.

The law before three strikes did not require a full, consecutive
sentence when probation was revoked for a new crime, but instead gave a
judge the choice of letting the defendant serve both sentences at the
same time.

In the current case, a state appeals court had ruled that applying the
new rules to a prethreestrikes crime would violate the constitutional
ban on ex post facto laws, those imposing additional punishment after the
fact. But the state's high court disagreed.