Gaston

Respondent Keith Ellis Gaston was convicted and sentenced under the “Three Strikes” initiative statute, Penal Code section 1170.12, a measure adopted at the November 1994 General Election as Proposition 184. The ballot pamphlet argument in favor of the proposition urged its adoption, in part, to save taxpayers the costs of “running career criminals through the judicial system’s revolving door over and over again.” (Ballot Pamp., Initiative Statute with arguments to voters, Gen. Elec. (Nov. 8, 1994) p. 36.) Gaston presents one of the clearest examples of a revolving-door criminal we have seen. He is, we believe, what the framers of the proposition had in mind in urging its adoption. We infer the voters shared that sentiment in approving the measure.

Except for a short period in the 1980’s, Gaston has spent almost his entire adult life in state prison, county jail, on parole, or on probation. During a lifelong period of crime, he has been convicted of two crimes classified as serious felonies, as well as some dozen other felonies; he has been in prison on multiple separate occasions, in addition to his return to prison for violation of parole; and he has been in county…