Cruel and Unusual Punishment or Justice?

[j7wild]

Oregon Man Gets Life Sentence For Unwanted Kiss

February 18, 2006 8:01 a.m. EST

Yvonne Lee - All Headline News Staff Reporter

Salem, Oregon (AHN) - The Oregon Court of Appeals upheld a decision on Wednesday that sentenced a man to life in prison for planting an unwanted kiss.

Nicholas Meyrovich received the punishment under the state's 2001 three-strikes law, which punishes habitual offenders, reports The Associated Press.

In his appeal, Meyrovich said that a life sentence for the kiss constituted cruel and unusual punishment, a violation of Oregon's Constitution.

In 2003, the 60-year-old was inspecting a woman's home in Salem when he grabbed her and kissed her. The woman pushed Meyrovich away, but he held her again and sucked on her neck.

He was convicted of first-degree sexual abuse. Oregon law defines this as the forcible touching of the "sexual and other intimate parts" of another person.

Meyrovich said the neck is not an intimate part of the body, but the court disagreed, reports the AP.

"In ordinary social intercourse, one adult does not touch the neck of another adult outside of intimate relationships, at least not without some unusual but reasonable justification," Judge David Schuman wrote. The court said the sentence was not cruel and unusual because the three-strikes law does not consider the gravity of the crime, only whether the accused are repeat offenders.

Schuman wrote that Meyrovich had been found guilty of nine sex offenses prior to the kiss.

Only four inmates, including Meyrovich, are serving life sentences under Oregon's sex offender three-strikes law.

[Gaumont]

the whole 3 strikes thing is insane in a civilized country, specially one who so often call to arms for "freedom & justice"

[wirm]

Nine sex offenses in the past?

It's time he encounters it for himself in prison.