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“Homeless Man Served “13 Of 25″ Years For Stealing Food”

The ReadyWriter

Gregory Taylor (Pictured here wiping his tears), served 13 years behind bars for breaking into a church kitchen trying to find something to eat. This man became an example of California’s harsh three-strikes law but has been ordered released from prison.

A Superior Court judge amended Gregory Taylor’s sentence to eight years already served and the 47-year-old, who was sentenced in 1997 to 25 years to life, will be a free man in a few days.

Taylor was arrested in July 1997 while trying to get into the kitchen of St. Joseph’s Church in downtown Los Angeles. He told officers that he was hungry.

The church’s pastor, the Rev. Alan McCoy, testified at the original sentencing that Taylor was often given food and allowed to sleep at the church. The priest described him as a peaceful man struggling with homelessness and crack addiction.

Taylor was convicted of third-strike burglary due to two robbery convictions in the 1980s, once for stealing a purse containing $10 and another time for trying to rob a man on the street. He didn’t use a weapon in either case, and no one was injured.

The three-strikes sentencing policies of the 1990s “produced inconsistent and disproportionate results,” the Judge said.

Taylor was taken back into custody and will be released when his paperwork is completed in the next two days.

I hope Gregory will get himself together and launch a lawsuit against the State of California, for their misappropriated actions of the law!

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Published by The ReadyWriter

Writer, Published Author, CEO of ReadyWriter Production Company and YouTube podcast Radio Host.

75 thoughts on ““Homeless Man Served “13 Of 25″ Years For Stealing Food””

  6. If I was him, I’d be jumping for joy…25 years of free food and a roof over his head all on the taxpayers dole. The US justice system is so screwed up.

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  7. If I was him, I’d be jumping for joy…25 years of free food and a roof over his head all on the taxpayers dole. The US justice system is so screwed up.
    ===========================
    YOU DIDN’T READ THE POST SON! I SUGGEST YOU “READ IT” THEN GO AT COMMENTING AGAIN.

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  8. Three-strikes laws was supposed to the solution to the high crime in the 90s. It’s a huge joke and the only people laughing their way to the banks are those in the privately-run corrections business! Could we be more thoughtful and less reactive the next time we try to deal with crime or any other social problems for that matter?

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  9. Tracy I agree….I hope he thrives – and receives some form of compensation from the state for the grievous injustice.

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  13. God Designed Humans to need food. The crime is the fact he was denied what God made to sustain his life. Hunger is a crime.

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  21. essentially. Even addicted to crack it seemed he knew what he was doing was wrong. No weapons used ever. I hate to beat a dead horse but Lindsey Lohan did sooo much worse and she served virtually no time.The message being sent is difficult to ignore.

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  22. Sounds like the system made a scapegoat of this guy. Granted, breaking/entering and robbery are all serious crimes, but I’ll bet that crimes like these keep real people locked up, while Paris Hilton and Lindsay Low-cut get to repeatedly fly in the face of the law, get sentenced to jail for 3 months, do 9 days, then go to the new celebrity coolspot – rehab.

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  30. So now we will spend 40,000 a year to clothe, house and feed this man because we’ve become so heartless to clothe, house and feed this man.

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  32. “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

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  35. I hope someone offers him a job.

    What’s the saying: “If you give a man some fish, he’ll eat for a day but if you TEACH him to fish he’ll eat for a lifetime”

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  38. “I was naked, and you did not clothe Me. I was thirsty, and you did not give Me drink. Hungry, and you did not feed Me.”

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  44. My God, some murders receive less time and are back out on the street. This judge should be stripped of his bench and made to apologize to this man.

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  45. My God, some murders receive less time and are back out on the street. This judge should be stripped of his bench and made to apologize to this man.
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    The same judge that released him may not necessarily mean, this is the same judge that convicted him!

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  46. Stealing food while powerless, homeless and hungry: Bad idea.
    Stealing millions while privileged, ruthless and greedy: An American success story.
    WTF?

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  47. 100 hrs of community service at a soup kitchen would have taken care of this man’s problem. Not jail time. Got Damn!!!!

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  50. It’s like that old proverb…

    Give a man a fish – he eats for a day. Lock a man up for 25 years in a privately run prison and someone can eat caviar for life.

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  54. Driving whilst intoxicated is a serious crime in my book, and caught doing it on more than one occasion….and if she had run someone over,what would you say then?….

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  56. This case perfectly illustrates the cruel insanity behind the three-strikes law.

    My sincere condolences to Mr. Taylor and his family for the cruel injustice they were subjected to by their own government; and my best wishes for a successful future.

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  57. Congratulations, sir, on surviving a terrible system. This poor man is only the tip of the iceberg. There are thousands of stoners rotting in prison because of draconian laws on marijuana. There are pedophiles, armed robbers and murderers walking the streets but those who steal for food or smoke a bowl are subject to the rest of their lives in prison.

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  60. This is another perfect example of how backwards our “justice” system is. I am sure all the court did was give him a bus ticket and a lame apology. 25 years for a meal, yet drunk drivers get a slap on the wrist for worse. Amazing!

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  64. Lindsay Lohan can drink – drive and gets a pass. This man gets 25 for wanting to EAT!! What a country. Damn!

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  65. He was taken back into custody until the paperwork is done in 2 days.
    ——————

    Release the guy NOW. Hasn’t he been through enough already ?

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  67. It’s a sad day in American when people are imprisoned because they steal to eat. My heart weeps. What have we become?

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  68. this story is hard to read, tears are running down my face. common sense should have prevail. judges have to be allowed to have a say in sentencing.

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  69. The other dismaying sadness about this story, is how some people commit more serious crimes like murder, and get away with doing less time.

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  72. I’m so heartbroken and disgusted by this. This is not how we should treat our hungry citizens. I wonder how involved the church he broke into was in this case.

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  74. Looking at that picture made me want to cry that’s such a sad
    situation. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason ( yes I’m an optimist) maybe he had to get his freedom snatched away so he can live a drug Free life ; I’m not condoning this horrific sentence Im just saying. I’m gonna agree with the blog queen on this I pray that this is a lesson learned.

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