A man who tried to burn his 6-year-old son to death in 1983 was properly sentenced to 25 years to life in prison under the "three strikes" law for two recent weapons convictions, a state appeals court ruled today.The First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco upheld a judge's decision last April that Charley Charles was not entitled to leniency. Superior Court Judge Cynthia Lee said in sentencing Charles that he was the kind of person for whom the three-strikes law was passed.
In today's ruling, the court said Lee had been entitled to consider Charles' admissions to the judge in his 1983 case in concluding that he had been guilty of two separate crimes and should be sentenced for a third strike after his latest conviction. Public defender Gabriel Bassan said he disagreed and would consider an appeal to the state Supreme Court.
Charles, now 67, was known as Charles Rothenburg when, after a custody dispute with his wife, he took his son David to an Orange County motel, gave him at least one sleeping pill, doused him with kerosene and set him on fire.
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