Thomas Butler was sentenced to life without parole in prison in 2010 under Washington’s persistent offender statute, better known as “three strikes.” This law was passed in the 1990s, and requires mandatory life sentences for people repeatedly convicted of certain crimes, including robbery, assault and homicide.
The law needed reform.
In 2020, the nationwide protests over racism in policing and incarceration brought attention to the law, which has resulted in life without parole for many people, including Butler. Black people account for 38 percent of people sentenced under three strikes.
The state legislature has removed robbery in the second degree from the list of crimes included in the three strikes law. This enabled Butler to become eligible for resentencing last year.
After 17 ears in prison, he had quit drugs, joined the Black Prisoners’ Caucus, and signed up for the educational classes available. He thought he would be going home soon.
Instead, the Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed a sentencing brief last year, asking for Butler to get a de facto life sentence.
Meanwhile, he falls under the jurisdiction of Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Haskell, whose wife calls herself a “proud white nationalist.” It has been requested he be removed from the case.
Haskell determined Butler’s new sentence by choosing to stack six firearm enhancements, each of which carries several years in prison, on top of a base sentence of 32 to 42 years.
Butler was convicted of second-degree robbery and spent several months in jail in 2000. In 2002, he robbed a bank and was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison. His third strike came when he attempted to rob a home for drugs.
In prison, he found god. But in 1993, after Washington state lawmakers mandated life without parole sentences after two strikes in certain cases he fell under the law.
Additional years could also be added to a prison sentence The three strikes laws or weapons enhancements don’t really deter crime or improve public safety, yet they remain in place.
Butler remains in county jail where he spends between 22 and 24 hours a day in his cell.
He was resentenced to 30 years.
