I TAUGHT THE LAW: LEGAL HORROR STORIES
This Army Vet and Father of Three Got Two Life Sentences for Stealing Movies for His Kids
Leandro Andrade served his country in the U.S Army for nine years. When he got out, he had a drug habit. That drug habit caused him to get into some trouble. In 1983 he was arrested for a string of burglaries. But he mostly stayed out of trouble until 1995. Then a KMart rent-a-cop caught him cramming five VHS tapes down his pants (Snow White, Casper, The Fox and the Hound, The Pebble and the Penguin, and Batman Forever). Two weeks later, he was caught stealing four more movies from a different KMart (Free Willy 2, Cinderella, Santa Claus, and Little Women). The combined videotapes were worth around $150.00 total. Andrade, a father of three, snagged the movies for his kids.
Not only did his kids not get the movies, but they lost their dad. Because of Andrade’s prior burglaries, his petty thefts were converted from misdemeanor offenses to felonies. And since that made three felonies, that put Andrade within the coverage of California’s infamous three strikes law. He ended up with two life sentences, each without the possibility of parole for twenty-five years. The sentences ran consecutively, which means that Andrade wouldn’t be eligible for parole for fifty years. Governor Gray Davis, later recalled and…
