We criminal defense attorneys need rebranding. In these financially troubled times, maybe we should be calling ourselves "budget cutters," "deficit fighters," or "taxpayer advocates."
Case in point. Last week, the Shasta County Superior Court recalled the 3-strikes, 25-years-to-life sentence for my client Robert Burlew under Prop 36 and resentenced him to the non-3 strikes maximum for receiving stolen property, or time served. People v. Burlew, Shasta County No. 03F1651.
All in all, his release probably saved California taxpayers upwards of a half-million dollars. And he was punished severely. Before his sentence was recalled, Mr. Burlew served more than nine years in custody for his third-strike conviction of receiving stolen property for items found in the trunk of a vehicle during a traffic stop. His prior strike offenses were more than 20 years old.
To paraphrase Attorney General Eric Holder, our country sentences too many people to too much time for no good reason.
On the topic of second chances, today's New York Times has a piece on Shon Hopwood, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison for bank robbery. After success as a "jailhouse" prison lawyer, Hopwood went to law school, passed the bar, and will soon start a stint as a law clerk for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.