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Article Last Updated: Friday, November 05, 2004 - 5:55:35 AM PST

OTHER ARTICLES IN THIS SECTION 11/11/2004 - Rapper's funeral stirs chaos - Alameda County schools lose $1M - Al Davis loses suit to partner's heirs - Richmond to sell bayfront land to casino planners - Cameras put Oakland police on best behavior - Fire flares up at ruptured pipeline - Pipes tight at explosion site - One shot in robberies of newspaper trucks - Berkeley confirms female fire chief - Biodiesel station gets pump - CSU graduates record number - Oaklander, globe trekker dies at 94 - Winery hosts open house - Cal basketball game to assist those fighting cancer - Developers eye airfield in Concord Prop. 66 failure dashes hopes of two-strike parolees Unable to vote, participants in East Oakland program kept a close eye on ballot measure By Nick Miroff, CORRESPONDENT OAKLAND -- With two strikes already against him, parolee Paul Scott kept a close watch on the Proposition 66 vote tally Tuesday night, only to have his hopes dashed when the proposal was defeated. Scott is currently on probation, so even though he couldn't vote, he's acutely aware what a third conviction would mean for him. "The last time I went before the judge, he told me that if I even took a jelly bean from Safeway he'd give me 25-to-life," said Scott, 34, who has prior convictions for robbery, home invasion and drug charges but is now trying to get his life back together through an East Oakland program called Men of Valor. Proposition 66 sought to modify California's "Three Strikes" law by requiring that all three felony convictions be violent or serious in nature to trigger its harsh sentencing guidelines. Advertisement To the chagrin of many in the Men of Valor program who wanted the measure to pass but could not vote as parolees, Prop. 66 came up about 600,000 votes short, maintaining California as the only state in the country where nonviolent offenses such as shoplifting can potentially result in a third-strike conviction. "I was really hoping it would pass," Scott said. "It makes me disappointed that they would want to put people away for minor crimes like that." Fellow Men of Valor resident and parolee Robert Earl Coleman agreed. "I'm a convict and a criminal, and I can tell you there are dudes who should never get out," said Coleman, 49, who has spent much of his adult life in the California state prison system. "But there are dudes who are doing time for stealing soap or food to get a fix or just to feed someone." Coleman said he thought voters had been misinformed by the anti-Proposition 66 advertising campaign. "They put the bad guys up there. ... All those killers who would never get out anyway," said Coleman, referring to the violent criminals who Proposition 66 opponents said would be released if the measure were to pass. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger campaigned against Proposition 66. The measure also was widely opposed by district attorneys, law enforcement officials and three former governors, including Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, who plans to run for California attorney general in 2006. On the wall of his office, Men of Valor Director Tom Bowden prominently displays his own criminal past, including mug shots, prison release forms and photos of himself as a pimp in the 1970s, forming an inglorious display for participants to see. Though Bowden served multiple prison sentences, his "four or five" violent felony convictions came before the advent of Three Strikes. "I would have struck out a long time ago," said Bowden, who's now in his 60s and still has a penchant for flamboyance, with a large diamond-studded crucifix twinkling in the folds of his green three-piece suit. Bowden was especially disappointed at the outcome of Tuesday's vote on Proposition 66 and actively campaigns for prison reform. "I think it's turning into a big business and a reversal of slav ery," he said of the state's prison system, "and it's not about black or white ... it's about green." Men of Valor is a program run by the Acts Full Gospel Church, offering classes, counseling, vocational training and lodging to more than 70 residents seeking help with addiction or readjusting to society after parole. "You can't pay me to break the law," said parolee Anthony O'Neal, 44, sounding like a district attorney's dream. With two violent felony strikes on his record for robbery and false imprisonment, and a long history of drug use, O'Neal said he must be especially cautious not to get caught up in a situation that could result in strike three. "When we go in front of that judge, all we are is what he has in front of him on that paper," he said. "So I'm a lot under pressure. I'm fighting to change my life because I don't want to go back."

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