Transient Acquitted, Avoids Life Behind Bars Conviction On Robbery Charge Would Have Put Man In Prison For Life Under ‘Three Strikes’ Law

A Spokane transient who admitted clocking a buddy with a whiskey bottle and stealing $180 narrowly avoided a life sentence Wednesday.

Mark R. Linza, 52, was found not guilty Wednesday of second-degree robbery after a two-day Superior Court trial.

Had he been convicted, Linza faced a mandatory life sentence under Washington’s “Three Strikes You’re Out” law.

The 1993 law requires mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole for criminals convicted three times of certain felonies, ranging from robbery to murder.

“He was very aware of the consequences of a conviction,” said Linza’s attorney, public defender Kenneth Knox.

Linza originally had agreed to plead guilty to the charge in exchange for the prosecutor’s recommendation that he serve 43 months in prison.

He withdrew his plea after a background check revealed a handful of robbery and assault convictions - one dating back 34 years.

Deputy Prosecutor Larry Steinmetz said he offered Linza the deal before learning about a 1964 robbery conviction in Nevada.

“I think (life in prison) is highly appropriate,” Steinmetz said.

The jury was not told of the original plea bargain.

Prosecutors believe Linza was the seventh Spokane County criminal to be tried under the “three strikes” law. Two other cases are pending.

Wednesday’s verdict stemmed from a January 1997 altercation, during which Linza was accused of putting a knife to friend Paul E. Jensen’s throat and demanding all his money.

Jensen told police he thought Linza was joking, and laughed. He said Linza grabbed an antique whiskey bottle and hit him in the head, then made off with the money.

Jensen’s wound required stitches, but he wasn’t seriously injured.

Knox said the case boiled down to Jensen’s word against Linza’s. He tried to characterize Jensen as an untrustworthy alcoholic.

Jurors said there were too many unanswered questions to warrant a conviction.

Linza, an admitted alcoholic and cocaine user, has been in trouble with the law since age 10, according to court records.

He served five years in prison after a robbery in Clark County, Nev., and spent eight years in prison after a 1980 assault conviction in Spokane.

Since then Linza has been in and out of jail - mostly on robbery charges.

In 1991, he was sentenced to 20 months in prison after he seriously injured a Spokane bicyclist while driving under the influence of drugs.

Probation and parole officers describe him as a likable guy who hasn’t followed through on court-ordered drug and alcohol treatment programs.

While on parole, Linza was arrested in May 1991 by Pend Oreille County sheriff’s deputies who found him sitting outside a bar in a stolen car and drinking a beer from a case on the seat, court records indicate.

In 1994, he violated parole again when police spotted him on East Sprague smoking crack from a pipe fashioned from a crumpled beer can.

Washington’s “three strikes” law has been controversial since voters adopted it by a 3 to 1 margin in 1993.

Critics contend so many crimes are covered by the law that it sends away more transients and drug users than violent criminals.

Robberies make up more than half of the first and second offenses committed by people now serving life under “three strikes” convictions.

Supporters maintain the law has done what it was designed to do - put away career criminals.