Anne Gearan
Associated Press
Mar. 6, 2003 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON - In a case that could shield state "three strikes" laws, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a sentence of up to life in prison is not too harsh for a repeat criminal caught swiping three golf clubs from a California pro shop.

The court also said a term of 50 years to life is not out of bounds for a small-time thief who shoplifted videotapes from Kmart. The tapes, including Batman Forever and Cinderella, were worth $153.

Both men were sentenced under California's toughest-in-the-nation law for repeat criminals. By votes of 5-4, the court said the law does not necessarily lead to unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment.

Gary Albert Ewing had prior felony convictions for burglary when a clerk at an El Segundo golf shop noticed him trying to make off with golf clubs stuffed down one pant leg. He was convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. There is no possibility of parole before 25 years.

"Ewing's sentence is justified by the state's public-safety interest in incapacitating and deterring recidivist felons and amply supported by his own long, serious criminal record," Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote in the main opinion in that case.

In dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer said the Ewing case is a rare example of a sentence that is so out of proportion to the crime that it is unconstitutional. He was joined by Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Outside California's three-strikes law, a 25-year prison term is more the norm for someone convicted of first-degree murder, not shoplifting, Breyer wrote.

"Ewing's sentence is, at a minimum, two to three times the length of sentences that other jurisdictions would impose in similar circumstances," he wrote.

Breyer read a summary of his dissent from the bench, a step justices usually reserve for cases in which there is strong, often ideological, disagreement.

At least 7,000 people have been sentenced under the California law, including more than 300 such as Ewing and Leandro Andrade, the men at the heart of Wednesday's cases. Both received long sentences when the courts treated a relatively minor crime as a third-strike felony.

Andrade will not be eligible for parole until 2046 at age 87.

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