Congressional Digest

Supreme Court Debates December 2002 No. 9 Vol. 5
Leandro Andrade

Three Strikes Laws

Mandatory Sentencing and Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Leandro Andrade

Respondent

Erwin Chemerinsky, Counsel of RecordOn November 5, 1995, Leandro Andrade was arrested for shoplifting $84.70 worth of children’s videos from a K-Mart store in Ontario, California. Two weeks later, he was arrested again for a similar crime in Montclair, California. On March 21, 1996, Andrade was convicted of petty theft. As first offenses, these crimes are misdemeanors with a sentence under California law of a fine or up to six months in prison. However, because Andrade was convicted in 1983 on two counts of burglary and had a prior conviction for petty theft, his shoplifting was prosecuted as a felony….

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