Judge Upholds Forger’s ‘Strike’ but Assails Law

Expressing deep dissatisfaction with the state’s “three strikes” law, a Santa Monica Superior Court judge has nevertheless let stand the sentence of a check forger facing 25 years to life in prison.

Last week, Judge Leslie W. Light expressed misgivings about the controversial statute and promised to reconsider the sentence he imposed on Michael Leon James, a 30-year-old career criminal convicted in October of attempted check forgery.

On Thursday, Light said that James’ lengthy criminal record made the chances of a new sentence “very, very slim.” But the judge requested further information from prosecutors and used the hearing to conduct what amounted to a 90-minute seminar on what he considers flaws in the “three strikes” law.

Light said he was particularly disturbed that James might have received as little as 32 months in prison if he had accepted an early plea bargain from prosecutors. Instead, the defendant rejected the deal--and got 25 years to life after being convicted at trial. “I’m concerned that the history of this case possibly indicates a flaw of unequal protection of the law,” Light said during the hearing.

Trial judges are increasingly speaking out against the so-called “three strikes” law, signed in March by Gov. Pete Wilson. The new law requires a sentence of 25 years to life for any felony defendant who has previously been convicted of two violent or serious felonies.

Judges have complained that the law has clogged courts with the trials of defendants desperate to avoid a third conviction. At the same time, the Legislature has not provided additional funding for judges since 1987.

Light argued that the law, ostensibly designed to curtail plea-bargain arrangements favorable to violent criminals, has in practice eliminated the discretionary powers of judges and prosecutors, and flooded court dockets with “three strikes” cases.

“We don’t have the resources to try all these cases,” the judge said.

James calmly sat at the defense table with his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Charles Cervantes, but did not address the court. The defendant wept last week when Light first imposed the sentence.

James’ criminal record included convictions for two counts of burglary and one count of assaulting a police officer--all of which were eligible as “strikes” under the new law--plus convictions for auto theft and some juvenile offenses. James’ most recent run-in with the law occurred in June, when he was arrested at a Culver City supermarket on suspicion of attempting to write a forged check and carrying a fake driver’s license.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lori Aiu told the court that prosecutors were unaware of the full extent of James’ criminal record when they offered him the plea bargain last summer. Light ordered her to prepare a memo by Jan. 31 fully explaining why prosecutors attempted to strike a plea bargain with James when they did not have all the facts.

The court has 120 days to revise James’ sentence.