Three Strikes Not Always An Out

Bam, bam, bam: A woman murdered on Dec. 1, another woman’s house burglarized on Jan. 7 and a man murdered on Jan. 11.

Already convicted in the Jan. 11 murder of Elk-area resident Steve Roscoe and facing trial for the other two crimes, Toby Stackhouse may seem like a perfect candidate for a mandatory life sentence without parole under Washington’s new ‘three strikes’ law.

But he isn’t.

Many who voted for the three strikes initiative may have thought they were slapping a life sentence on anyone convicted of three or more major crimes. The law isn’t that simple, though.

It says at least one of a criminal’s three qualifying convictions must occur before any of the other offenses.

Because Stackhouse’s last alleged crime went to court first, the three strikes law doesn’t apply to him.

Prosecutors around the state have interpreted the law to mean a criminal must get out of prison for one strike before another can be counted.

That gives the person a chance at rehabilitation, according to Spokane County Prosecutor Jim Sweetser and Stevens County Prosecutor Jerry Wetle, who handled one of the first three strikes cases in 1994.

“It needs that complete cycle of crime, conviction and prison for it to count as a strike,” Wetle said. “The idea is that these guys are career criminals.”

The law is vague on that point and, because it was an initiative, there is no legislative history to provide guidance. So prosecutors prefer to err on the side of caution.

“Certainly on this type of law, we don’t want to try and stretch it too far and get the whole thing thrown out on appeal,” Sweetser said, noting other three strikes appeals are pending before the state Supreme Court.

, DataTimes