Todd Carter Cruz
From prisonerdavid.com
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Todd's Unfair Sentence Under Three Strikes Law
On the same day in 1994, Todd Carter was arrested for two incidents of property theft. The first was an unarmed robbery at a Maria Calender's Resturaunt pretending that his finger was a gun, and the second was a residential burglary at a women's house he had been drinking with the previous night which resulted in a hand full of change.
Several mitigating factors should have affected his sentence including the fact that a) he was under the influence of alchohol and cocaine during the crimes and lacked any specific intent to steal, b) was an invitee to the victim's home, and c) is intellectually and developmentally disabled due to a near-drowning he experienced at the age of three.
However, becuase Todd Carter had three previous property theft offenses on his record-all stemming from his former problems with drug and alcohol abuse, he was handed two consecutive 25 years to life terms under California's Three Stikes Law as well as the imposition of three 5 year enhancement terms under Penal Code section 667 (a). The end result was a sentence of 65 YEARS TO LIFE, in which he is currently serving.
Todd Carter has no record of violence, yet he is serving a sentence two times as severe as one imposed for first degree murder. The cold reality is that Todd Carter will never again be free unless we change the Three Stikes Law. Please read Todd Carter's letters, get to know the man we pay to incarcerate. He is just one of over 4,000 nonviolent three strikes offenders. Then get involved with the Campaign to Amend the Three Stikes Law.
Outside Links
FACTS: Families to Amend the Three Strikes Law
Writings
Contact
Todd can be reached at:
Todd Carter #E80400 California Medical Facility P.O. BOX 2000 P-227 Vacaville, CA 95696-2000