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Another Ruling by this judge
He failed to rule under the "Three Strikes and you go to Jail for Life.". Instead he ruled that this muliple violent felon be given some months of Jail time with parole for good behavoir. His ruling was over turned by the 9th Circuit of Appeals that stated that the MANDITORY LIFE SENTENCE for the Three-Strikes RUle must be maintained.

April 3, 2000

POST OFFICE ROBBER SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON UNDER FEDERAL THREE-STRIKES LAW

A 49-year-old Los Angeles resident was sentenced today to life in federal prison pursuant to the federal “three-strikes” law, United States Attorney Alejandro N. Mayorkas announced.

Perry Scott Stevens becomes only the second person in the nation's largest federal judicial district to receive a life sentence under the federal three strikes statute, 18 U.S.C. § 3559(c), which mandates a life sentence for defendants with two or more prior serious violent felony convictions.

Stevens pleaded guilty in the February 16, 1996 armed robbery of a post office in Lynwood and in the March 20, 1996 attempted armed robbery of a post office in Long Beach. Stevens pleaded guilty before United States District Judge Robert M. Takasugi on October 22, 1997.

Judge Takasugi sentenced Stevens today, finding that the defendant had previously suffered three serious violent felony convictions -- or strikes. The prior convictions included a 1976 robbery that included the use a firearm; a 1979 rape, oral copulation and robbery with the use of a razor; and a 1988 robbery that also involved a firearm. According to Assistant United States Attorney Ray Jurado, Stevens has a 26-year history of criminal convictions. Since March 1977, Stevens has been incarcerated for all but nine months, Jurado added.

In issuing the life sentenced today, Judge Takasugi noted that Stevens committed the robbery and the attempted robbery of the post offices within six months of being released into the community on parole for his prior 1988 conviction. Judge Takasugi further stated that after committing the post office robberies, the defendant fled to Missouri where he was convicted of committing two additional armed robberies. Those crimes, which were committed in St. Louis in December 1996, led to a sentence of 20 years. (Judge Takasugi ordered that the Stevens' life sentence be served concurrent to his 20-year Missouri sentence.)

Stevens was first sentenced in this case on March 19, 1998. At that time, Judge Takasugi sentenced Stevens to 188 months in prison. The United States Attorney’s Office appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which on October 27, 1999 remanded the case to the District Court for imposition of the mandatory life sentence.

“We are gratified this violent offender can no longer terrorize and intimidate innocent victims, including postal employees,” said Acting Inspector in Charge Kathleen Roberts of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. “The federal three-strikes sentencing law has ensured Mr. Stevens will be imprisoned for the remainder of his life.”

This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service.

The first life sentence in this district under the federal three-strikes statute was given in December to an Inglewood man who participated in the armed, takeover-style robbery of an Orange County bank that netted the participants only $588. Tran Damone Monroe, 30, was sentenced by United States District Judge Alicemarie H. Stotler in Santa Ana after he pleaded guilty to robbing the Tustin bank.

Release No. 00-066