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Make three strikes count
The criminal justice system needs a serious “do-over.” Even when the police track down a suspect, the county prosecutor’s office is pleading down sentencing or letting suspects go free by not charging them within the required 72-hour time frame.
The Indian Trail area has seen a huge surge in burglaries, and I am tired of having our cars broken into, items stolen from our garage and property crime treated like it doesn’t matter.
Enough already! It’s time to make the police, the prosecutors and the judges arrest criminals and hold them accountable for their actions. There are hundreds of criminals in Spokane with 10-plus felonies who are pleading guilty to a lesser charge and going back out on the streets right now to burglarize, vandalize and hurt law-abiding citizens.
Think that’s an exaggeration? Check out the July 22, 2010, Spokesman-Review article about Kelvin McCauley, a 14-time convicted felon arrested for attempted rape. How can a man with 14 felony convictions be walking the streets in Spokane? What happened to the “three strikes” law and why isn’t it being enforced?
It’s time for Spokane’s prosecutors and judges to keep criminals behind bars and make three strikes count.
Kelly Sylvester
Spokane