3rd Strike for O.C. Woman in $50 Drug Deal

A Tustin woman convicted of selling $50 worth of cocaine became the first Orange County defendant to receive the maximum penalty under the state’s new “three strikes” law Friday when she was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Joyce Demyers, 36, grimaced as she heard the judge pronounce her sentence, and then glanced back at her two weeping daughters. As she was led from the courtroom, she shook her head and summed up her situation this way: “They made an example out of me.”

Demyers is believed to be the first woman in the state sentenced to 25 years to life in prison under the new law.

While her two partners in crime each received four-year prison terms for their roles in the June drug deal, Demyers’ lengthy criminal history prompted prosecutors to seek the toughest sentence possible under the new law, dubbed “three strikes and you’re out” for the life sentence it mandates for third-time felons with prior convictions for serious or violent crimes.

Demyers’ police record dates back to 1978 and includes six felonies, ranging from robbery to burglary to food-stamp fraud--even a murder charge of which she was acquitted--and a larger number of misdemeanor convictions. Her criminal history shows that over the years she has given police at least a dozen aliases and a similar number of birth dates.

Defense attorney Doug Myers pleaded with the judge to show mercy to his client, whom he described as an addict who committed crimes to support her drug habit. He asked Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald to reject the life sentence as “cruel and unusual punishment.”

Myers said his client had only a $5 stake in the $50 drug deal, which took place inside an Anaheim motel room. Prosecutors said Demyers and two co-defendants arranged to sell the drugs to a buyer who turned out to be an undercover police officer.

The defense attorney also questioned the cost-effectiveness of sending Demyers to prison for life. It will cost taxpayers at least $420,000 to house her for the 20 years she must remain behind bars before she becomes eligible for parole, he said.

“I don’t think this is in the interest of justice,” said Myers, adding that some murderers don’t even receive 25-years-to-life sentences.

But prosecutor Jeff Winter argued that Demyers was an apt candidate for the “three strikes” penalty, because she apparently had not learned her lesson from her many previous brushes with the law.

Winter noted that Demyers has spent more than 12 years in prison, and has never paid court-ordered restitution to her victims.

“The court has before it a career criminal,” Winter told the judge. “Every time she gets out she is engaged in criminal conduct.”

Winter also noted that Demyers has been deemed an unfit mother whose three youngest children are in foster care. One child was abandoned at UCI Medical Center and two of her children tested positive for drugs at birth, according to the prosecutor and court records.

Fitzgerald made no remarks as he imposed the sentence.

Outside of court, Demyers’ daughters said their mother did not deserve such a strict punishment.

“She’s sick, she deserves treatment, not prison,” said Shontella Demyers, 19, of Tustin. “We really need our mom.”

Thousands of defendants statewide have been charged under the new law that mandates increasingly longer sentences for repeat felons, and hundreds of defendants have already been sentenced for one or two “strikes.”

But only in recent weeks have statewide law enforcement officials begun to see defendants given 25-year-to-life sentences--the penalty mandated for felony convicts with at least two previous “strikes.”

More than 100 defendants have been charged in Orange County under the “three strikes” law. Only a handful are women.

“Three strikes” legislation was signed into law in March by Gov. Pete Wilson and received overwhelming voter approval in last month’s election. Critics, however, say the measure is overly broad and will cost taxpayers billions in additional prison costs.

After the sentencing hearing, Demyers’ daughter Ebony Olds, 17, of Tustin, stood outside the courtroom and wiped the tears from her eyes.

“I can’t believe she deserves this,” Olds said. “I guess that’s what they call justice.”