Second three-strikes case (2010)

In Feb­ru­ary 2010, John Wes­ley Ewell was ar­res­ted on sus­pi­cion of steal­ing from a Home De­pot store. He was charged with second-de­gree com­mer­cial burg­lary and petty theft with a pri­or, 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 second time that the of­fice had used its dis­cre­tion not to seek a pos­sible life sen­tence 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 al­lowed to re­main free on $20,000 bail. He pleaded no con­test to the burg­lary charge in ex­change for a 32-month pris­on sen­tence, but a judge agreed to delay sen­ten­cing so he could un­der­go sur­gery be­fore serving his pris­on time. It was dur­ing that delay that Ewell al­legedly killed four people in a string of home in­va­sion rob­ber­ies.