OLYMPIA — For the first time, a person sentenced to life in prison under Washington’s first-in-the-nation “three strikes” law has been set free.
Thursday afternoon, Gov. Chris Gregoire granted a conditional commutation for Stevan Dozier, a purse-snatcher given a life sentence in 1994. Shortly thereafter, Dozier was released from Monroe Correctional Center, and was met in the parking lot by his wife.
“It was, by staff accounts, very emotional,” said Chad Lewis, spokesman for the state Department of Corrections.
Dozier, 47, is the first person sentenced under the state’s Persistent Offender Accountability Act to be released.
The act, passed overwhelmingly by voters in 1993, was the nation’s first three-strike law. It called for life imprisonment without parole if a person was convicted three separate times of one of about 40 different felonies, from attempted second-degree assault to murder.
In December, the state clemency board voted 4-0 to recommend letting Dozier out. Many had supported his release, including the judge who sentenced him and the King County prosecutor. Even one of the authors of the three-strikes law — conservative talk-radio host John Carlson — had argued that Dozier deserved another chance.
Gregoire said she relied heavily on the recommendation of King County prosecutor Dan Satterberg.
“Mr. Dozier has now served more time in prison than what he would have been sentenced to if he were convicted of his crimes today,” Gregoire said in a written statement Friday.
He will be under community supervision until May 2011. He must report regularly to a community corrections officer, submit to random drug testing and participate in community service programs, among other conditions.
If he violates any of the conditions of his release, he will be sent back to prison.
“I don’t make these decisions lightly,” Gregoire said. “I certainly considered the pain and suffering of Mr. Dozier’s victims. My heart goes out to each of them. Knowing the lasting impacts his crimes will have on those he hurt made my decision more difficult.”
Dozier received an automatic life sentence after he was convicted of second-degree robbery in 1994 for an attack on a 69-year-old woman as she was walking into her north Seattle apartment. He knocked her to the ground, punched her in the face and grabbed her wallet. Dozier had two earlier convictions for second-degree robbery.
Dozier’s attorney, Jeff Ellis, said his client is going to “try to live his life in the best way possible, but in a quiet way.”
Ellis said that Dozier will live in Seattle and will work as a janitor for the janitorial service his wife owns.
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