Huntington Beach Postal Worker and Neighbor Hailed for Stopping Getaway by Burglar
As Anaheim burglary criminal defense attorneys, we were interested to see a recent article about a home-invasion burglar who was caught by a postal worker and a neighbor to the home. According to a June 11 story from the Orange County Register, Michael Dean Hester, 50, was arrested June 4 after the mailman for the area, Harold Dade, surprised him in the act of burglarizing the home of Denise Davis. Davis was not home at the time. Dade and neighbor Scott Stone chased down Hester as he left the scene. Hester is now charged with two counts of felony burglary, one count of felony receiving stolen property and one count of misdemeanor resisting arrest. He has pleaded not guilty. Because he has a felony criminal record, the district attorney's office said a conviction could mean a third strike.
Dade told the newspaper that he regularly delivers mail to Davis's home, so he noticed when an unfamiliar bicycle showed up in front. As he approached the front door, he also noticed that the glass in the door had been broken with a brick and realized something was amiss. Then he looked up and saw a man. Dade said he thought each of them scared the other, and ran back to his truck to call the police. On his way there, he noticed Stone in a car slowing down for a stop sign and asked him to call the police. While Stone was making that call, Hester left on the bicycle, so Stone followed him to a local McDonald's. He was able to identify the man for police when they arrived. Davis praised Dade and Stone for being neighborly and involved. She recovered some, but not all, of the stolen goods, and believes that another burglar may be at large with the remaining goods.
Our Whittier burglary criminal defense lawyers are pleased that these neighbors are looking out for one another. However, we'd like to focus on the possibility that Hester will be convicted of a third strike under the three-strikes law, which always means a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. Hester's first felony convictions were for grand theft of vehicles and receiving stolen property. That was in 1991, before the three-strikes law was passed in 1994, but those felony convictions can still count as priors. However, it's not clear that any of Hester's prior felony convictions are "strikes," because strikes are always serious or violent felonies. For example, grand theft auto in itself is not a strike, but it would be if Hester used a firearm or other dangerous or deadly weapon. His second felony convictions in 1995, two counts of receiving stolen property, would not count as strikes. However, the residential burglary charge Hester now faces is a strike, so he certainly needs experienced legal representation.
