Orange County's Octavio Ruiz Trejo already accumulated two strikes under California's “Three Strikes” law when in 1998 he further padded his rap sheet with charges of terrorist threats and battery upon a police officer.
Superior Court Judge Craig E. Robison used the “Three Strikes” statute to punish Trejo with a term of 25 years to life in prison.
Great news occurred for Trejo in November 2012, when state voters enacted Proposition 36, which blocked judges from employing “Three Strikes” in certain conditions.
Or so the convicted felon hoped.
]
In prison, he filled out a form claiming that he was entitled to a sentence reduction under Proposition 36.
Late last month, a three-justice panel at the California Court of Appeal in Santa Ana almost laughed Trejo's appeal out of their building.
In an opinion that is barely longer than a single page of text, the justices noted that the legislature specifically did not exempt Trejo's terrorist threat conviction from “Three Strikes” sentencing.
Upshot: Trejo, 47, will continue to serve his prison punishment inside Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe.
(For unknown reasons, a judge sealed Trejo's last case file from public view.)
Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
Email: rs**********@oc******.com. Twitter: @RScottMoxley.
CNN-featured investigative reporter R. Scott Moxley has won Journalist of the Year honors at the Los Angeles Press Club; been named Distinguished Journalist of the Year by the LA Society of Professional Journalists; obtained one of the last exclusive prison interviews with Charles Manson disciple Susan Atkins; won inclusion in Jeffrey Toobin’s The Best American Crime Reporting for his coverage of a white supremacist’s senseless murder of a beloved Vietnamese refugee; launched multi-year probes that resulted in the FBI arrests and convictions of the top three ranking members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; and gained praise from New York Times Magazine writers for his “herculean job” exposing entrenched Southern California law enforcement corruption.
CBD exceeded my expectations in every way thanks https://www.cornbreadhemp.com/blogs/learn/how-much-cbd-oil-do-i-give-my-dog . I’ve struggled with insomnia looking for years, and after demanding CBD pro the first mores, I finally knowing a complete nightfall of restful sleep. It was like a arrange had been lifted mad my shoulders. The calming effects were merciful yet intellectual, allowing me to roam off logically without sensibility punchy the next morning. I also noticed a reduction in my daytime desire, which was an unexpected but welcome bonus. The cultivation was a flash lusty, but nothing intolerable. Comprehensive, CBD has been a game-changer in compensation my sleep and solicitude issues, and I’m thankful to procure discovered its benefits.