State Senate OKs Bergeson’s ‘1-Strike’ Bill : Crime: The measure is sent to the Assembly on a 33-0 vote. If enacted, it would slap first-time child molesters and some rapists with sentences of 25 years to life.

Reacting to election-year public ire over crime, the Senate on Monday night unanimously approved an Orange County lawmaker’s bill that would slap first-time child molesters and some rapists with sentences of 25 years to life.

The Senate voted 33-0 to send the so-called “one-strike” legislation carried by Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) to the Assembly.

Bergeson began carrying the bill at the behest of Gov. Pete Wilson, who has made the rape measure a centerpiece of his election-year fight on crime. She portrayed the measure as the strongest effort to deal with sexual predators in years.

“Three strikes is too many--their first strike should be their last,” Bergeson said, adding that “it is time to portray rapists and child molesters for what they are--dangerous felons who should not be allowed to repeat their crimes.”

When first proposed, the bill called for a blanket sentence of life without the possibility of parole for nearly all sex offenses. That tough stance drew broad attacks from civil libertarians and other groups, including some district attorneys and women’s organizations, who said the measure was so harsh it might actually hinder prosecutions or prompt rapists to kill their victims.

After an abortive attempt to push the measure through committee in April, Bergeson redrafted the bill to delete all references to sentences of life without parole, substituting a penalty of 25 years to life for most serious offenses.

As now drafted, a rapist or child molester could get the maximum sentence of 25 years to life only if one of the following circumstances applied: The victim was kidnaped; he or she suffered great bodily injury; the rape was committed during a burglary; a deadly weapon was used; multiple victims were attacked, or the rapist had a previous felony conviction for a sex offense.

Under current law, the penalties for various sex crimes range from three to eight years in prison, but most prisoners are paroled after serving about half their sentences.

Bergeson’s measure could face tough scrutiny in the Assembly’s Public Safety Committee, a longtime burial ground for tough anti-crime legislation.

Her bill also will be competing against one sponsored by Assemblyman Bob Epple (D-Cerritos), who chairs the Assembly Public Safety Committee. Epple’s measure would apply a life sentence only when rape was committed during a kidnaping or residential burglary at the same time that a weapon was used or a victim suffered great bodily harm.