Yesterday afternoon Stevan Dozier, whose story was featured on Washblog in December 2007, was granted clemency from a 3-Strikes sentence of 777 years Without Parole and released after Governor Gregoire approved the unanimous recommendation of Washington's Clemency and Pardons Board made December 11, 2008. Dozier has served under that sentence since 1994, the year 3-Strikes went into effect. His convictions are all for Robbery 2, a crime in the lowest quartile of criminal seriousness under state law. In 2001, Washington's Sentencing Guidelines Commission recommended removing Robbery 2 from the 3-Strikes list.
Dozier is the first Washington 3-Striker to be released under clemency. Washington is the first 3-Strikes state in the nation.
King County's Prosecuting Attorney, Dan Satterberg, who has acknowledged that prosecutors now rarely request 3-Strikes sentences for people with all Robbery 2 convictions, testified on Dozier's behalf at his clemency hearing.
Also testifying in support of clemency at Dozier's hearing was King County Superior Court Judge Brian Gain, who stated that he would not have imposed Life Without Parole for Stevan's crimes, three Robbery 2s -- if he had not been required to by the state's 3-Strikes law. John Carlson, the conservative talk show host who championed the 3-Strikes ballot initiative in 1993 also testified on Dozier's behalf. Carlson holds that the 3-Strikes law should not be reformed but that Dozier has been a model prisoner and deserves release under the clemency clause written into the law originally. The 3-Strikes law provides for clemency, recommending that it not be granted until at least the age of 60.
Robbery 2 carries a standard sentence range of 3 months to 7 years in prison.
Here's a Seattle Times article with more background. Al-Kareem Shadeed, whose story appeared on Washblog in January, 2008, has a clemency hearing scheduled for June 11, 2009.
If you are from Washington and you agree with 24 faith, civil rights, legal, and other organizations that Washington's 3-Strikes law should be reformed -- at minimum to comply with the 2001 recommendations of the Sentencing Guidelines Commission to remove lower seriousness crimes from the list triggering life imprisonment, YOU ARE NEEDED! Please consider joining joining this email list to receive 1-3 emails per month on key times to contact legislators and take part in other opportunities to advance reform.