Fourth three-strikes case (2010)

In Au­gust 2010, John Wes­ley Ewell was ar­res­ted on sus­pi­cion of steal­ing from a Home De­pot store, the third time he had been ac­cused of theft that year. The fol­low­ing month, pro­sec­utors charged him with grand theft of per­son­al prop­erty and second-de­gree com­mer­cial burg­lary, felon­ies that made him eli­gible for a 25-years-to-life pris­on sen­tence un­der the three-strikes law. The Los Angeles County dis­trict at­tor­ney’s of­fice did not seek the max­im­um sen­tence, the fourth time that the of­fice had used its dis­cre­tion not to pur­sue a pos­sible life sen­tence for Ewell un­der the three-strikes law. The de­cision con­formed with the of­fice’s policy of not seek­ing life terms for people ac­cused of minor crimes. Ewell was re­leased from jail on $20,000 bail, far less than the court’s re­com­men­ded bail amount for someone with Ewell’s crim­in­al re­cord. However, a pro­sec­utor did not ob­ject to Ewell re­main­ing free on the same bail.