FREEMASONS HUMAN TRAFFICKING -3 strikes is meant for the poor -After facing 400 years to life in prison, the DA offered me a plea deal of 11 years 8 months. I turned down the deal and negotiated for a longer prison sentence.. In April 2005, I was arrested for four counts of felony possession of stolen property. Because I had nine strike priors from a single arrest in 1999 (1st degree burglaries), I was eligible for a life sentence under California's 3 strikes law. Each felony carried 25 years to life in prison, so I was initially facing 100 years to life. After search warrants and police investigations, more charges were added and some charges were enhanced to burglary. I was charged with 16 felonies. With a potential of 25 years to life for each felony, I found myself facing 400 years to life in prison for a combination of 1st degree burglary, 2nd degree burglary, possession of stolen property, and drug possession. For the beginning of my time in the county jail, the district attorney refused to budge on the life sentence and wanted to go to trial. After a year inside, mitigating circumstance came to light. I was visited in jail by the press and stories ran in the newspaper about my case, about what I had discovered in a stolen safe. This is the story that forced the hand of the DA, eventually leading to his willingness to offer me a plea bargain. The initial plea deal was 11 years 8 months. I would have to serve 80% of that sentence, equating to roughly 9 years 4 months in prison. The earliest I could be released from prison would've been in the summer of 2014. I turned down the plea deal. I wanted to go to fire camp once I got to prison. Fire camp is where prisoners fight wildfires for the state of CA. I wanted to go to fire camp because prisoners there were eligible to serve 33% of their sentences. One problem: People in fire camp who were sentenced to serve 80% of their sentences weren't eligible for 33% credit - only folks serving 50% of their sentences were allowed to receive 33% credits. I needed to convince the DA to sentence me with 50% time served crediting. I asked my attorney to inquire and the DA simply said that he didn't care what the sentence structure was "so long as Hahn served 9 years in prison". This meant that I could accept a deal of 18 years served at 50%, but in order to do so the DA would have to be willing to waive my prior strikes (which is the reason I was supposed to serve 80%, another element of 3 strikes law). There was one other problem. People who went to prison in CA Dept of Corrections with sentences of 15 years or more were placed on something called closed custody. It meant that I wouldn't be allowed out of my cell at night for the first 5 years of my term, and I wouldn't be allowed in minimum security. Fire camp is a minimum security facility. This also meant I wouldn't be allowed in fire camp for 5 years, making the period of time I'd be serving 33% of my sentence far too short to have an impact. I needed to get to fire camp faster than that. I needed to take a plea deal of less than 15 years AND it had to be served at 50%. But the DA wanted me to serve 9 years... how could I make the math work? The answer came in the form of time already served in the county jail. I'd been in jail for more than 14 months at the time and county jail credits were 66%, which meant I had credit for 21 months of time served. I could give the court permission to waive my time served credits, essentially making it look as if I had just been arrested, and then accept a plea bargain of less than 15 years to be served at 50%. I wouldn't mention my hope for fire camp to the DA. The district attorney agreed. In the fall of 2006, I waived my time served, the DA waived my strikes, and I accepted a plea bargain of 14 years 4 months. When considering my arrest date in April of 2005, I was slated to serve 8 years 8 months, getting out in December of 2013. On paper, the DA was happy. He got the appearance of a longer sentence (14 years instead of 11) and had me serving almost 9 years. But I still got the best of the situation, because I would not be serving almost 9 years... I spent a couple of years in maximum and medium security prisons (earning 50% credit), working down my security clearance until I became eligible for fire camp. Once I arrived in fire camp in March of 2009, I started serving 33% of my sentence instead of 50%. My release date immediately went from December of 2013 to April of 2012. Because I was originally sentenced to 50% credit, I was also eligible for "milestone" credits. I completed some college classes and received bonus credits, moving my date to February 2012. I paroled on February 9, 2012. In summary, after facing 400 years to life in prison: My original offer: 11+ years / released summer 2014 My negotiated plea deal: 14+ years / released Feb 2012 The DA wanted life in prison and settled on 9 years served. He got just under 7 served, instead. Knowing the system is everything. Nearly twenty years later, in 2024, all of my criminal convictions were expunged. Six cases, four misdemeanors, eighteen felonies... all erased or reduced to misdemeanors. I am no longer a felon.