7 Years Too Large of a Tab for Theft of 2 Pizzas, Court Rules

A state appellate court Tuesday set aside a seven-year prison sentence imposed on a San Diego man for robbing a deliveryman of two pizzas.

The thief, Lennie Eugene Morris, 24, said he stole the pizzas in July, 1983, after he and his pregnant girlfriend had gone for two days without any food, except corn flakes and Kool-Aid.

A three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal ordered San Diego County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Johns to reconsider the stiff sentence. In February, 1984, Johns had imposed a two-year sentence for the pizza theft, but added a five-year enhancement, citing Morris’ conviction in 1980 for a residential burglary.

The court said Johns failed to exercise his discretion by appending the five-year term to Morris’ sentence.

“He asked for salami and cheese and got the works!” Judge Edward Butler wrote in the eight-page opinion.

The justices did not consider whether the seven-year sentence was cruel and unusual punishment for the offense but said they could review that issue if the case returned to them after Morris’ resentencing by Johns.

Morris is serving the seven-year sentence at the California Institution for Men in San Luis Obispo.

At the initial sentencing hearing, Morris’ attorney, Francis Bennett of San Diego, asked Johns not to add the five-year enhancement to Morris’ sentence. However, the judge refused, noting that the extra prison time was designed to send a message to repeat offenders.

“If it’s to do any good, then it has to be enforced,” Johns said.

Johns also ordered Morris to pay $40 in restitution to Little Joe’s Pizza Restaurant.

Court records say Morris, a native of Carbondale, Ill., had two other previous convictions, one involving a theft of some doughnuts. He was unemployed and on probation for two of the earlier offenses, when he was arrested in the pizza case.