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Police arrested Burnett on New Year’s Day at Saks Fifth Avenue, 700 North Michigan. Prosecutors said he took a $1,250 jacket from a display, put it on, and walked out the door. He was also carrying a so-called “booster bag,” which is a bag wrapped in aluminum foil that’s designed to defeat the store’s security measures, according to prosecutors. He’s charged with felony retail theft. Prosecutors said most of his 12 felony convictions are also for theft and retail theft. “There’s not going to be an I-Bond here,” Marubio replied. Instead, using the value of the allegedly stolen jacket as...

Newt Gingrich vowed on Friday to campaign for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination on his own terms, saying he would do “whatever it takes” to remain in the race despite the exodus a day earlier of nearly his entire senior staff. “There is a fundamental strategic difference between the traditional consulting community and the kind of campaign I want to run,” Mr. Gingrich said. “Now we’ll find out over the next year who’s right.” Even as some prominent Republicans, including Gov. Terry Branstad of Iowa, questioned his viability, Mr. Gingrich made plans to deliver a foreign policy speech in Los...

A federal appeals court has overturned the 25-years-to-life sentence of a South Bay man who was caught driving while intoxicated in 1999, six years after a drunken accident that killed a passenger. A Santa Clara County judge based his decision to sentence Rick Wilson under California's "three strikes and you're out" law on findings he made about Wilson's previous crime. That violated Wilson's right to have a jury decide those questions, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said in a 2-1 ruling Tuesday. The court cited a 2000 U.S. Supreme Court decision that entitles defendants to...

Los Angeles -- To hear him tell his story, John Wesley Ewell was the victim of an overly harsh criminal justice system. The South Los Angeles hairstylist complained to journalists over the last decade about the unfairness of the state’s tough three-strikes law, saying he lived in fear that even a small offense would land him back in prison for life. He even appeared on the “The Montel Williams Show” to argue the case against three strikes. A caption that flashed on the screen when Ewell spoke read: “Afraid to leave his house because he has two ‘Strikes.’” But Ewell...

Limbaugh To Wed As Hollywood Flirts With His Life Story Getty – In this file photo, Kathryn Rogers [Pic in URL] and Rush Limbaugh arrive at the Will the fourth time be the charm for Rush Limbaugh? Limbaugh, 59, is set to marry 33-year-old girlfriend Kathryn Rogers on Saturday at the talk radio star's palatial Florida beachfront property. Although Limbaugh never seems at a loss for words, he's been uncharacteristically quiet about the pending nuptials. Fill-in hosts have taken over the show, with his website simply noting that "El Rushbo will be out until Tuesday, June 15th." However, Limbaugh emailed...

The Fort Hood Massacre. Terrorist Strike One. The Christmas Underwear Bomber. Terrorist Strike Two ("The system worked"). The NY Times Square Bomber. Terrorist Strike Three. Three strikes and Janet Napolitano still isn't out. How long will President Obama be able to keep her as Homeland Security Chieftess? We first called for her to step down on December 29th, 2009 and we renew that call today. And the No-Fly List Problems continue despite the year Napolitano has had to fix them!

SAN DIEGO — A man who sneaked a bag of his feces into a San Diego courtroom during his home-invasion robbery trial, smeared it on his lawyer and threw it at jurors has been sentenced to 31 years in prison. -snip- Several days after his request was denied, McGowan pulled out a bag of excrement he had hidden in his clothing, rubbed it on his lawyer and tossed it at the jury, hitting one juror’s computer case.

A Milpitas man with a long history of violence was sentenced Friday to more than 25 years in prison for beating his former girlfriend's cocker spaniel to death with a hammer, a third strike for Alex Castro. Castro, 48, begged the court for mercy, saying such a long sentence was too much for killing a dog, but the judge said he could not ignore the violence Castro inflicted in his life, according to the prosecutor. "I am appreciative that not only did a jury take this case incredibly seriously, as evidenced by their verdict, but also that the judge did,"...

The Los Angeles Times reported that on a campaign stop in Philadelphia, Hillary Clinton proposed a $4-billion-a-year, anti-crime package that would “put 100,000 new police officers on the streets.” She claimed that her husband’s administration “reduced crime to historic lows” in the 1990s, and said “we have to get back to doing what we know works.” If her husband’s 100,000 new police officers scheme reduced crime to historic lows during her husband’s administration, then why not add 200,000, or 500,000 more cops now? Keep reading. Crime dropped to historic lows in the 1990s because Congress and many states adopted sentencing...

In 2003, radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh admitted his addiction to prescription painkillers and underwent 30 days of inpatient treatment. Though he was a first-time offender and got hooked while treating severe back pain, he was persecuted by the mainstream new media and liberal politicians and hounded by prosecutors. After dragging out their inquiry for 30 months, publicity-hungry prosecutors decided they couldn't convict him of "doctor shopping" and agreed to let him off with a $30,000 fine to cover the cost of their investigation. On July 4, the spawn of a pothead from way back was stopped after California police...

Mandatory minimum sentencing schemes do not work, at least not if the goal is to reduce violent crime and improve public safety. In the United States we know that, because we have tried them all. Canadians may therefore be surprised to learn that their government is mimicking this failed U.S. penal model, in the name of getting tough on violent crime.

LINCOLN, Neb. - Kevin Holder's rap sheet is 43 pages long, dating back to 1980, and he just got another entry - his 226th arrest. Police say they caught him Sunday morning after a brief chase and found burglar tools in his possession. "He's very well-known to Lincoln police officers," Police Chief Tom Casady said. Holder's convictions include criminal mischief, marijuana possession, violation of protection order, assault, resisting arrest, assault on an officer, possession of cocaine. Many were misdemeanors, but he also has been sentenced to at least three prison terms for felonies, including a four-year stretch starting in 1996....

An Anaheim man imprisoned after two police officers and a civilian were killed in a 1987 helicopter crash while pursuing him has been charged with selling methamphetamine. Vincent William Acosta, 38, who authorities say is a north Orange County leader of the Mexican Mafia, is also charged with possessing a gun and drugs. He appeared in court Wednesday where a $1-million bond was set. He could receive a 136-year prison sentence if convicted on all counts. Acosta was arrested in 1987 after police helicopters from Newport Beach and Costa Mesa collided while chasing him. He was driving a stolen car....

THE DEFEAT of Proposition 66 at the ballot box last week does not lessen the urgency of the need to reform California's "three strikes" law. Thousands of inmates are serving 25-year-to-life sentences in California's jails for nonviolent crimes. Their continued incarceration runs counter to the intent of the law, which was to lock up murderers, rapists and other violent criminals. No criminal should go unpunished. But we continue to believe that in a civilized society a life sentence should only be imposed only for the most serious crimes. One of the main reasons the initiative was defeated -- by a...

SACRAMENTO - With just days until Tuesday's election, support for a measure curbing the state's "three strikes" sentencing law is falling and giving momentum to opponents, according to a new statewide poll. The San Francisco-based Field Poll released Saturday showed a significant change of heart among many likely voters in late October, resulting in a "late-breaking tide of no votes" on Proposition 66. "As more and more people tune in on Prop. 66, more and more seem to be going to the 'no' side," said Field Poll Director Mark DiCamillo. "This is a very quick move." The telephone survey of...

3-strikes measure loses ground in poll Sacramento -- A campaign blitz mounted in the past 10 days by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and law enforcement officials appears to have shifted opinion against an effort to amend the state's "three strikes" law, according to a statewide poll that had previously shown the initiative winning by a wide margin. In the first sign of what would be a stunning turnaround, Prop. 66 is in trouble with voters, according to Field Poll results released today that may be the most vivid illustration yet of Schwarzenegger's persuasive powers. In polling conducted this week, as the...

Poll: Voters favor softening of '3 strikes' law By Howard Mintz Mercury News With just weeks to go before the election, California voters remain strongly in favor of a ballot measure that would soften the state's tough "three strikes, you're out" law, according to Field Poll results to be released today. A survey of voters earlier this month found 65 percent support Proposition 66, which would require that a defendant be convicted of a serious or violent felony to qualify for a "three strikes" sentence of 25 years to life. Right now, California is the only state that allows a...

Prop. 66 addresses debate -- is the law effective or cruel? Sacramento -- Daniel Ozuna Smith's lengthy rap sheet includes robbery and kidnapping, and he once raped a pregnant woman at gunpoint. Gaylon Ray Shirley has been hooked on heroin and cocaine for years and was last convicted of possession of crack with intent to sell. Both Smith and Shirley are serving 25-years-to-life sentences in California's crowded prisons. Both felons, and thousands of others, are at the center of a debate this year over whether the state's unique "three strikes" law is an effective way to send longtime lawbreakers to...

In a new sign of strain on California's overcrowded prison system, inmates at 14 lockups are being housed in some of the last spaces available to corrections officials — the "dayrooms," or communal spaces where prisoners watch TV, mingle and play cards. The emergency move — outlined in a state Department of Corrections memo obtained this week by The Times — is being enacted as new inmates, primarily from Los Angeles County, continue to flood the prison system despite predictions from corrections officials that the convict population would decrease this summer. For years, state prison officials have found creative ways...

Woman released from life sentence A woman sentenced to life in prison for getting caught with $40 worth of cocaine is now enjoying her freedom. By Corey Rangel KSNT-TV May 18 A woman sentenced to life in prison for getting caught with $40 worth of cocaine is now enjoying her freedom. Gloria VanWinkle had been in prison for 12 years before a Geary County judge ordered she be released for time already served. Last month, the secretary of corrections had reviewed her case and recommended her sentenced be shortened. The judge agreed and freed her. Since then she's already...