‘Three-Time Loser’ Bid Supported by Lungren : Crime: Initiative would require anyone convicted of a third violent felony to face life in prison. O.C.’s Umberg will offer a bill to achieve the same end.

Reacting to the arrest of a suspect in the Polly Klaas murder, Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren and several prosecutors and sheriffs announced their support Monday for an initiative proposed for November that would send so-called three-time losers to prison for life.

Orange County Assemblyman Tom Umberg, a Democrat who plans to challenge Lungren next year, plans to introduce a bill to accomplish the same thing, putting career criminals permanently behind bars if they are convicted three times on felony charges involving violence.

The main proponent of the proposed “Three Strikes and You’re Out” initiative is Mike Reynolds, whose 18-year-old daughter was shot to death outside a restaurant in Fresno in June by a man who was a career criminal and would have been in prison if the initiative were in effect.

“For the worst repeat offenders, it’s time to seal shut the revolving door in our criminal justice system,” Lungren said.

The initiative would require that anyone convicted of a third felony, whether a crime of violence or not, would face a sentence of at least 25 years to life in prison.

It also would limit plea bargaining for second offenders, double prison terms for people convicted of a second serious or violent felony, remove judges’ authority to give probation to those with two convictions and require second offenders to serve a minimum of 80% of their sentence.

The suspect in the Polly Klaas killing, Richard Allen Davis, 39, a burglar and twice-convicted kidnaper with an 11-page rap sheet, would have been in prison under the initiative, said Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Idhe. His department helped investigate Polly’s abduction from her Petaluma home two months ago.

Pointing out that Davis had been arrested repeatedly, Idhe called him a “law enforcement success,” but “a system failure” because he had been paroled.

Gov. Pete Wilson said he supports the “three strikes” concept, adding that he may endorse the measure after he reads it.

“The only thing we can do as a fit memorial for Polly Klaas is to see that she is the last child to suffer this,” Wilson said. “The only way you can do that is to really put behind bars for life people who are dangerous.”

The initiative--tougher than one of the same name approved by Washington state voters last month--is in the signature gathering phase. It needs the signatures of 385,000 registered voters to qualify for the November, 1994, ballot.

Reynolds, a professional photographer from Fresno, said he hopes to tap into the “energy and momentum” of the volunteers who undertook the extraordinary search for Polly.

His crusade began in June, 1992, when two men on a motorcycle sped up to his daughter, Kimber, 18, and tried to steal her purse. When she struggled, one man shot her in the head.

The shooter, a parolee, died in a gunfight when police tried to arrest him. His accomplice was arrested and sentenced to less than 10 years as a result of a plea bargain.

“I made a promise to Kimber and to myself that I was going after these guys--and in a big way,” Reynolds said. “It wasn’t an idle promise.”

Reynolds said he has received $40,000 from the National Rifle Assn., $50,000 from the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., plus a direct mail effort from the Christian Coalition, television evangelist Pat Robertson’s organization.

The initiative specifies a lengthy list of violent and serious felonies, such as burglary of a home, arson, robbery, rape, some types of drug offenses, child molestation, attempted murder and murder.

The initiative says an adult who commits a crime could be considered a two- or three-time loser if he or she had criminal convictions for serious or violent felonies as a juvenile.

State law says habitual criminals convicted of a felony that causes great bodily injury must receive a mandatory sentence of 20 years to life. On a fourth offense that causes great bodily injury, the criminal is sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The state legislative analyst estimates that the initiative would cost billions of dollars in prison construction and the costs of housing what likely would be an increased number of prisoners.

Assemblyman Umberg (D-Garden Grove) is planning to introduce a three-strikes bill next year that differs from the initiative primarily on one key issue--it seeks to target only the state’s most violent felons, not all career criminals.

While some authorities have predicted the “three strikes” initiative would cause the state’s prison population to double, Umberg predicts his proposal would not create a profound overcrowding problem. Instead, he said, it would stop “the revolving door” that has allowed career criminals to repeatedly enter and exit the state penal system.

“My proposal is pretty ambitious as it is,” Umberg said. “Rather than be too ambitious and try to hit all felons, I’d rather target my bill to California’s most violent repeat offenders.”

Although similar bills were gutted in committee last year, Umberg contends that times have changed, in no small part because of the Klaas tragedy. “I think that horror story sheds a much more intense light on the failure of the system,” he said. “As a consequence, it will help this bill become law.”

Times staff writer Eric Bailey contributed to this story.