[LexBaird]

I don't give a damn what the "root causes" are. Agonizing over past mistakes or blaming it on unresponsive and anonymous judges isn't going to get career criminals off of the street.

This thug isn't being sentenced for "lying". He's being sentenced for two different violations: first, attempting to get an official identification by fraud, and second, for pursuing a felonious criminal career. The good people, in their wisdom, have decided that conviction of three felonies is ample proof of the latter, and that such continued and persistent actions are deserving of 25 to life.

[thoughtomator]

Considering the guy went 18 years without committing a crime, I wouldn't call that a career. This isn't the kind of person the law was intended to take off the street permanently. You are clearly driven by emotion and not any reasonable analysis of the situation.

Murder = 7 years. Burgulary + Armed Robbery + ID fraud = 32+ years? That's ridiculous and out of proportion in the extreme.

Whatever the good people of California may have decided in this case, it does not trump the basic rights enumerated in the Constitution. That's the difference between a republic and a democracy - a democracy is mere mob rule. A 26-year sentence for ID fraud meets every and any reasonable test of "excessive" as spelled out in the 8th Amendment.