Leniency Requested, But Denied Robber Sentenced To Life Without Parole

Fri., Oct. 13, 1995

Associated Press

A Vancouver man pleaded guilty to his third robbery in six years, hoping for leniency and drug treatment, but became the first in Clark County to receive a life sentence under the state’s “Three Strikes law.”

Ronald Henry Blum’s lawyer said the law shouldn’t apply to people like Blum, a small-time robber and cocaine addict, and he will appeal.

“I know the law has a lot of romance to it,” attorney Michael Foister told Superior Court Judge Tom Lodge. “I think it probably conjured up ideas of Charles Manson and Westley Allan Dodd.”

Blum, 41, pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree robbery for holding up a convenience store.

Foister advised his client against the plea, but Blum wrote a letter last month to county Prosecutor Art Curtis saying he wanted to bring his case “to a swift and just end.”

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