Life term for 29-year-old thief who stole $60, cigarettes
EVERETT, Wash. (AP) - A 29-year-old man can expect to spend the rest of his life in prison after a Snohomish convenience store robbery that netted $60 and eight packs of cigarettes.
Keith Puett was sentenced Wednesday in Snohomish County Superior Court as a three-strikes offender.
The Daily Herald reports he had two previous convictions for assault and pleaded guilty to robbery for the armed hold-up last January.
Keith Puett was sentenced Wednesday in Snohomish County Superior Court as a three-strikes offender.
The Daily Herald reports he had two previous convictions for assault and pleaded guilty to robbery for the armed hold-up last January.
Well, don't steal. J,k, well not really but geez! Judge probably works for Skynet http://www.airsplat.com/Items/AC-APP-MSK-T800.htm
After having been convicted on two previous occasions of felonious assault. he pointed a gun at somebody and threatened to kill him if he didn't turn over the 60 dollars and the cigarettes. The suggestion that his armed robbery didn't net enough loot to warrant a third felony conviction is just stupid. It's not about the value of the property, it's about the violent nature of the act.Â
What is wrong with our justice system. I just don't understand :(
I was under the impression that "3 strikes" was for felony convictions. Though I despise a thief, this doesn't warrant a life term. A better idea would be to hang this habitual loser from a tree and treat him like a pinata each time he is caught.
 @kcsparky He shoved a gun in the employee's face and threatened to kill him. It wasn't some innocuous little shoplifting gig.Â
You've got to be KIDDING me. I voted for the 3-strikes law, and this is entirely NOT what was intended. The law was meant to give life sentences to people found guilty of committing 3 violent crimes: crimes like attempted murder. Assault? Maybe, if the intent was to to maim or kill, under certain circumstances, but not just any old bar fight. Attempted robbery? Maybe if it's with a weapon of some overwhelming force. This case sounds like either we're not being told all the facts, or else the law is being seriously over-used. It's a pity: at 29 years old, the guy surely knew right from wrong, and he surely knew the 3-strikes law (having spent more than a night or two in jail before). Paying for him to spend his life in prison is a waste of money! Pity that his previous crimes made him a pariah to the working world; if he'd had a job, would he have been buying his own smokes?
 @aliceinseattle sticking a gun in someone's face and demanding stuff on pain of death is not 'attempted robbery'. felonious assault is not a simple bar fight. I didn't vote for the three strikes law--but if you did, this is exactly the kind of person you were voting to put away forever. This is not an abuse or an over-zealous application of the law. He's a violent man doing things.Â
29 years old, may live another 40 years in prison. At $40,000 - $80,000 per year that is $1.6 - $3.2 million he is going to cost all of us. That is a lot of law enforcement and teachers aht could be working for our children. Just execute him now. If a law is well known and a person willfully breaks that law then up the penalty. Make three strikes and you are out really mean you are out. Actually off the planet and gone. Why does a career criminal get three meals a day, a warm bed to sleep in, medical and dental services? There are homeless people that by no fault of their own do not have a fraction of the benefits that these criminals receive. Make the justics system a place that people do not want to go and make crimes have real consequences and then crime will go down. The system is soft and giving handouts to people that don't deserve any of it.
 @Original Coyote "Just execute him now." Ah yes. Let's do justice like North Korea. Because murdering a man who hasn't murdered anyone is the right solution to save some money. Greed at it's best.
This enlightened state puts away a young man for "three strikes" and it's over $60? what a misguided judicial system that gives life for this kind of offense but must less for "first strike"rs unquestionably guilty of child abuse.   while i generally agree with the three strike philosophy, certainly some crimes are worthy of only one offense.   we are such a conflicted state when it comes to what our local society tolerates.
I do understand â3 strikesâ. If someone continues to behave this way, they have proven an incorrigible anti-social behavior which society needs to be protected form. However, Powderhound has a very valid point. You can murder someone and get 20 years, 15(?) with good behavior, yet under the 3 strikes program you get an automatic life sentence? Take a life-forfeit a life, oh never mind progressives have no common sense so nothing will change here in the socialist republic of Washington.     Â
@oldster70 After 3 crimes, one would argue that its obvious that this man will not change his ways. Why should we continue to clog our legal system with this yahoo. He's good where he is.
And hopfully the Tub Man Killes all whom are working on thier 4th will get this treatmant..... ooo waight they are black and need our love and hugs not jail time....
And yet you can kill someone in this state with far less punishment. Â WTH? That would be our messed up justice system and govt. at work. Nothing to be proud of here.
Now, if we can just apply the same reasoning to the murderers of Tuba Man.
Oh nuts man I hope those cigarettes were worth it!
Wonder if the cigs were Lucky Strikes? ;) unlucky for this loser anyhow.
it should be 2 strikes you're out
 @mune237 Should be 1 strike and your out!
I have a question. Was the gun loaded? And, if this criminal was armed with an unloaded gun, would he get the same type of penalty? I'm just curious. I'm not saying the gun had no bullets but just wondering if the same penalty applies with or without bullets in this type of case.
 @Koreanman012 It could have been a toy pistol. If the victim believed it was a gun that is all that matters. Pushing a gun in someones face for a pack of smokes or for $10k is still a violent crime.
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I am surprised the feds haven't charged this low-life as Jenny Durkin has promised federal charges for any gun crimes in the W. District of WA.
 @Koreanman012 Doesn't matter, wouldn't matter if he used a finger in his pocket.
RCW 9A.56.200 Robbery in the first degree.
(1) A person is guilty of robbery in the first degree if: Â Â Â Â
(a) In the commission of a robbery or of immediate flight therefrom, he or she: Â Â Â Â
(i) Is armed with a deadly weapon; or    Â
(ii) Displays what appears to be a firearm or other deadly weapon; or
Â
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Thanks for the clarification. It was just something I was very curious about because I know having a gun prolongs a sentence no matter what but was never sure if it mattered whether it was loaded or not.
 @Koreanman012 Yeah, just because the blade on a thieve's knife is really really dull doesn't mean they weren't using it in a life-threatening manner intending to intimidate.
No sympathy at all. He's a three strike violent crime loser and is right where he belongs.
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Can't do the time, don't do the crime. It's not the fact that he is a three strike loser would come as a surprise. The only thing that sucks is we have to pay to keep him fed, sheltered and clothed until he dies.
Don't do the crime, you won't do the time. Sucks to be you.
No KOMO the life term is not for $60 and some smokes.... The life term is for an ARMED ROBBERY preceded by two violent attacks.
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Facts matter much to you KOMO? Apparently not.
 @JCM1776 It's an Associated Press article. But I agree that you have to dig into the article to realize that he was convicted of armed robbery, not simple theft.Â
@lakeview @JCM1776 AP doesn't attach the headline, the website(in this case KOMO) does. Yahoo is very bad at attaching stories to a bogus sensational headline.Â
@lakeview Both websites are from the same source.....
 @Reality Control Then why is it the exact same headline on KATU?
Â
http://www.katu.com/news/local/Life-term-for-29-year-old-thief-who-stole-60-cigarettes-183373221.html
@JCM1776 Good point, the headline says the sentence was for theft. News headlines on the net are often horribly inaacurate and/or sensationalized and end up being completely unsubstantiated in the story.  Â
The unintended consequences of the Three Strikes Law.Â
 @Bianca Nothing unintended about it. It is working perfectly. He has committed, not one, not two, but three VIOLENT FELONY crimes. He is exactly where he belongs.
No, that's exactly the intent.
I know I wouldn't want to be at the end of his gun barrell, and he goes oopsies, didn't mean to have the gun go off. What if during his gun robberies, his gun accidentally goes off and kills a child...any innocent victims. Guns do go off, accidentally or not, I sure do not want my kids to be there when that happens, and how it will traumatized his victims for the rest of their lives. Arm robberies are not jokes, and this criminal is the one holding all the cards and made the choice to commit these crimes. It is not the amount of cash taken, it is the crime itself. Does it make it worst if he takes more money, versus if he takes less money? What is the price cap? There shouldn't be a price cap, a crime is a crime, regardless the amount. He knows right from wrong, and he made his own choice. Bye bye.
Too bad, so sad. Dude is a unrepentant criminal. Three strikes is a fair system. Don't want to go to jail or prison? Don't steal. Can't (or won't) stop stealing? Well, now the problem's solved. Steal from other inmates, get a shortened life sentence.
In some countries, they would have just cut his hands off and let him go. Problem solved. If he survived he would have been lucky! I hate to see us tax payers having to support yet another idiot. Glad to hear the 3-strikes law is actually being executed!
 @Andrea Gearllach I'm not going to support sharia law in the US.
 @Andrea Gearllach Too bad we can't have executions for three-strike criminals.
Why in the hell am I being force to pay to support this guy for the rest of his life for simply having stole $60 and some cigarettes? I'm sorry but this three or even two strike laws have a huge downside, not only does the individual have to serve out the rest of their life in prison, so do we the tax payers. I say leave it up to the judge and get rid of the mandatory sentencing.
@fum, would it be easier to accept if he had robbed someone of a million dollars? The value of what he stole does not matter. He is a habitual criminal and a violent savage. He belongs in a cage
@fumblefacedolt yea and they let him out in a year an she goes out and kills someone during the next robbery we will all look back and say why didn't we just keep him in jail. He had a history of breaking the law and we let him out. He is a criminal, not a one time offender, not a two time offender but three that we know of offender. He belongs in prison, I am glad he gets to stay forever. Good riddance.
 @DeadRabitz  @fumblefacedolt  we do the time too through our pockets. To feed, house, cloth, and look after his medical, dental, mental health cost you and me will spend on average $30,000 a year. When he starts to reach geriatrics age around 55+, that cost is going to sky rocket. He is 29 now so say he lives another 40 years to the ripe old age of 70, that sentence will have cost us the tax payer 1.2 million. I can think of allot other things we could put that money towards like teacher's pay, etc.
 @fumblefacedolt While I understand your sentiment and on a visceral level I agree with you, the numbers do not support your position. There are roughly eight million people (maybe a few more) in Washington state and the trend is for an ever increasing population.
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Using your own number of $1.2 million incarceration cost over forty years the cost per resident is a whopping FIFTEEN CENTS. Not fifteen cents per year but a total of fifteen cents per resident for the entire forty years of incarceration.
@DeadRabitz Also, what will fumblefacedolt think if his next victim is their own self, or someone they love, scared, traumatized, or hurt by this 3 striker let back out to victimize more people because we do not want to put away these never-learned adults who continues to commit crimes. Fine example, the Tubaman killer, yes, the system let this criminal go, and guess what, hurt more people and back to where he should have been in the first place, jail.
@fumblefacedolt or we could spend millions more paying the family of his next victims. He has already shown a propensity for violence and breaking the law. Sure there are always other things we could do with the money. I wish we didn't need to have prisons at all but that's life. He made his choice, he knew what the risks were and now he will pay for it. Let me ask you this, could you face the family of someone who died because you didn't want to spend the money to keep someone in prison, who should be there? Are you gonna give them the whole tax pay speech? Because I don't think they are going to buy it.
WOW! And this was here? Washington State enforcing the law? Oh that's impossible! Guess miracles do happen after all! Maybe when I look out my window, I just might see flying pigs! ;)
What will life in prison end up costing us?
 @NBA_Is_Useless See my post further up the line. It is approximately fifteen cents depending on several factors.
@NBA_Is_Useless Not as much as it would when he kills someone during the next assault or robbery.
 @NBA_Is_Useless Hopefully less than the life of the person he will ultimately kill or injure.
@NBA_Is_Useless Probably less than having to pay for the future trials of all the future crimes he would commit. He has a history of violence... who knows where it would progress (more assaults, manslaughter, murder?)