An ex-convict who had been off parole for just seven months when he robbed a Kearny Mesa gas station last year was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years to life in prison plus 16 years.
Marlon Franklin Beason, 38, was sentenced under California’s “three strikes” law after his conviction this year for robbery.
Beason said he is a “good, productive member of society” who had made his share of mistakes. He said his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Jessica Marshall, didn’t listen to him and “told me things that were irrelevant.”
The defendant’s father said he was just getting to know his son after being estranged his whole life.
“He needs help, your honor,” the father told Judge Carolyn Caietti, asking the court to show mercy on his son.
The prosecutor said Beason stole a gun from a thrift store nearly 20 years ago and served three years in prison.
Later, the defendant was convicted of having a loaded firearm in his car and went to prison for 32 months.
Beason was also convicted in 2008 of breaking into a home at 5 a.m. in San Diego and holding a man with what looked like a real gun, said Deputy District Attorney Melissa Vasel.
Vasel said the defendant has shown a “continuing pattern of violence” for the past 18 years.
“These are beyond mistakes,” the prosecutor said.
Caietti — in denying the defense motion to strike one of the defendant’s felony strike priors — said Beason’s case is what the “three strikes” law is designed for.
— City News Service
