Sacramento man convicted of fleeing police sentenced to 25 years to life on third ‘strike’

A Sacramento man was sentenced to 25 years to life in Placer County Friday, after a decades-long pattern of criminal behavior was revealed.

Ronald Eugene Sandwell, 59, was initially arrested in Roseville in October 2016 after fleeing a routine traffic stop at 80 mph earlier that year. During his trial, which ended in December, he was found guilty of evading a police officer.

In the sentencing phase, the judge learned that Sandwell held numerous other felony convictions. Past convictions spanned back to 1980, and included assault with a deadly weapon, sexual penetration by force and other sexual assault, as well as firearm-related charges, according to a news release by the Placer County District Attorney’s office.

Sandwell was sentenced to a 31-year sentence in 1985, and began committing crimes again upon his release in 2005, the District Attorney’s Office said.

Sandwell’s previous convictions count as strikes in accordance with California’s three-strikes policy, which gives defendants a sentence of 25 years to life if they are found guilty of three or more serious felonies.

“The defendant’s criminal history shows that he is a career criminal with extremely violent prior strike convictions,” the DA’s Office said in the release. “The three strikes law was enacted for cases such as Sandwell’s.”

This story was originally published June 21, 2022 at 8:05 AM.