Man in Stun Belt Case Sentenced
A man who was shocked with a stun belt during a court appearance last summer was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years to life in prison under the three-strikes law.
Long Beach Superior Court Judge Arthur Jean sentenced Ronnie Charles Hawkins, 49, after a jury found him guilty in August of petty theft for stealing $250 in painkillers from a Long Beach market, Deputy Dist. Atty. Chris Frisco said.
Hawkins has been convicted of various felonies since 1978, Frisco said. The convictions made him eligible for a third-trike life sentence.
Last summer, another jury found Hawkins, who was acting as his own attorney, guilty of petty theft.
During a subsequent hearing, Hawkins reportedly annoyed Municipal Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani, interrupting her repeatedly and violating her order not to tell jurors that he was HIV-positive and facing a sentence of 25 years to life.
Comparet-Cassani ordered a bailiff to give Hawkins a 50,000-volt jolt from a security belt with which he had been fitted because of earlier violence in jail.
Jean granted a new trial, saying that Hawkins should not have been thrown out of his first trial because he was acting as his own attorney.
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