For almost six years, debate has raged over the three strikes law.
Answers are elusive.
Law created broad reach, escape route Shortly after 1 a.m. on the longest night of 1998, Charles Hall walked into a Richmond supermarket, so drunk that the next morning he could only dimly recall the chain of events that ensnared him in one of the nation's most far-reaching and misunderstood criminal laws. Some of the most heated debate over three strikes has focused on its role in reducing crime. Carvey Weathersby's third strike offenses Law is used to drive a hard plea-bargain Three strikes and you're out. Critics say the sentencing law is stacked for denial of a defendant's right to a trial, but prosecutors deny abusing it. Prosecutors take a hard line in some cases and bargain in others.