PORT ANGELES — The three-strikes rule was invoked when Alvin Leslie Witherspoon, 35, of Port Angeles was sentenced to life in prison Monday.
He will not have the possibility of parole, according to court documents.
He was convicted last month of second-degree robbery, which was his third of the eligible convictions in the law to automatically render a life sentence.
The action by visiting Judge Craddock Verser, who serves in Jefferson County, made official what sentencing guidelines assumed when he was convicted April 12.
Witherspoon had earlier strike convictions for first-degree burglary and residential burglary armed with a firearm. Strike convictions include more than 40 felonies considered the most dangerous offenses.
Witherspoon was convicted of burglarizing a Red Deer Drive residence on Nov. 12 at about 2:40 p.m.
Witherspoon was found guilty of second-degree robbery, residential burglary and witness tampering in Clallam County Superior Court.
In addition to the life sentence on the robbery charge, the other two charges rendered 128 months of prison time.
Witherspoon’s attorney, Loren Oakley, requested a new trial. Verser denied themotion, saying it was baseless.
When the homeowner returned unexpectedly, Witherspoon came around the house with one arm behind his back, according to the charging documents.
He told the homeowner he had a pistol. The front door of the home had been pried open, court documents said.
Before Witherspoon sped away in a maroon car with his pregnant girlfriend, the homeowner recognized two items from inside her house.
The homeowner gave chase at speeds of up to 85 mph and reported the license number to dispatchers.
During the trial, his girlfriend testified that Witherspoon took off the gloves he was wearing and she threw them out the window. They were later found by a defense investigator.
Five days after the incident, Witherspoon phoned his girlfriend from inside the Clallam County jail and tried to persuade her to fabricate a story about a fictitious hitch-hiker burglarizing the home, court documents said.
Witherspoon also had prior convictions for misdemeanor assault, theft, possessing stolen property, eluding police and other burglaries.
