California 3 Strikes Law

In California, if you have a previous criminal conviction on your record, any case you pick up may be accompanied by a “strike.” If you have one strike on your record, your sentence may be doubled; if you have two strikes, you may be facing life in prison.

The courts have defined what crimes qualify as “strike offenses” to include both violent and non-violent offenses, and a strike on your record may have serious sentencing consequences on your current case, even if the strike offense happened years ago. At Spiga & Associates, our skilled trial attorneys have handled hundreds of cases where the California 3 Strikes Law was in play, and have successfully prevented the attachment of a strike to a conviction on many occasions.

The California 3 Strikes Law essentially provides a way for eager prosecutors to get around the judicial sentencing guidelines by allowing them to viciously increase (or threaten to increase) the potential sentence for an offense by epic proportions. For example, the prosecutor may drop an attempted murder charge down to a simple assault because they know you have a previous “strike” conviction and that you’ll be going to prison for the long haul regardless. Reducing the charge gives them an easier case to prove in the legal sense while leaving you at risk of devastating consequences upon sentencing.

When an offense is categorized as a strike, it may also have an impact on sentencing in any future cases you may have, and will more than likely be used as leverage against you. Contact Spiga & Associates if you have any questions about the 3 Strikes Law and its potential effect on your case.

California 3 Strikes Law case results:

Not Guilty of Assault Charges by Unstable Girlfriend (Case # PA032964):  The defendant in this case was charged with aggravated assault on his girlfriend. Because he was a "second striker,” if convicted, he was looking at around 15 years in state prison. Carlo Spiga beat the case through exacting cross-examination of the girlfriend and testimony from neighbors about the girlfriend’s erratic and unpredictable behavior. The jury came back with a verdict of Not Guilty on all counts and the defendant was set free.

3rd Striker Acted in Self-Defense (Case # VA074689-01): Here the defendant was a three-striker who was looking at life imprisonment over the stabbing of two brothers who attended a party at his house. Carlo Spiga obtained a Not Guilty verdict by proving that the defendant was in fact acting in self-defense and was not deserving of a criminal conviction. Representation by Spiga & Associates saved this young man from spending the rest of his life in prison.

Corrupt Cops Cause Case to Crumble, 3rd Striker Not Guilty (Case # LA055298): This defendant was a three-striker, again looking at life in prison after police found several guns in the bedroom closet of his home. Carlo Spiga won this case by showing the jury the corrupt and over-reaching behavior of the LAPD and convincing the jury that their testimony could not be trusted. Once again, the verdict was Not Guilty on all counts.

3rd Striker Not Guilty Thanks to Cross-Examination King (Case # BA340970):  Here, the defendant was a three-striker who was looking at life in prison because a repo agent had accused him of ramming her car with his high-powered truck. Carlo Spiga won this case through his cross-examination of the complaining witness and the prosecution’s accident reconstruction specialist. The jury returned a verdict in less than an hour finding the defendant Not Guilty on all counts.