Man Gets Life Sentence Under Three-Strikes Law
A Los Angeles man who has been behind bars for all but nine months since 1977 was sentenced to life in prison Monday under the federal three-strikes law.
Perry Scott Stevens, 49, received his sentence under a federal law that mandates a life term for defendants with two or more serious felony convictions.
Stevens pleaded guilty to armed robbery of a Lynwood post office and attempted armed robbery of a Long Beach post office in 1996.
After those crimes, he fled to St. Louis, where he committed two robberies for which he was sentenced to 20 years behind bars.
Stevens was sentenced to 15 1/2 years in prison for the Long Beach and Lynwood robberies by U.S. District Judge Robert K. Takasugi in 1998. But a federal appeals court remanded the case back to the judge for imposition of the mandatory life term.
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