He has two strikes under state’s ‘Three Strikes’ law and was denied parole
A 51-year-old Modesto man who is serving 35 years to life in prison for an attempted robbery of a Wells Fargo in 2002 was recently denied parole, Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager announced.
Dewitt Mitchell, who had two previous convictions and “strikes” under California’s “Three Strikes” law in the early 1990s, entered a Wells Fargo bank in Modesto on Aug. 5, 2002, and handed a teller with a note that read “ ‘this is a robbery I got a gun give me all $100 $50s’.”
The teller reached for the money drawer but also pushed the alarm button and Mitchell fled the scene.
After his arrest and sentencing, Mitchell has had at least eight violent disciplinary rules violations, with the two most recent occurring in 2019.
A prison psychologist also noted Mitchell has failed to address his impulsive, violent behavior or his substance abuse issues.
The board denied his parole for at least the next seven years. It was Mitchell’s first parole hearing.
