One strike's worth something

Could California try to be a little consistent, just for the fun of it? Or just for the sake of justice.
We were struck by the announcement that the L.A. prosecutor who won a conviction against actress Winona Ryder for shoplifting $5,500 worth of clothes from a department store said afterward that Ryder need not worry about having to do time.
Apparently it doesn't matter that the prosecutor's office spent hundreds of thousands of dollars investigating and presenting this case. Or that Miss Ryder fought prosecution vigorously and never acknowledged wrongdoing. Little Winona gets a pass.
It is not that we are convinced that first-time offenders should never get breaks. The system is virtually designed to give them breaks. This is the kind of case that is routinely plea-bargained down, the kind that a defendant who shows remorse and little prospect of recidivism would routinely walk away from with community service and maybe a fine.
No laughing matter
But Miss Ryder didn't choose that route. She chose to go on "Saturday Night Live" and joke about her arrest. She chose to wear "Free Winona" T-shirts. She chose a jury trial, during which she testified unconvincingly that she wasn't shoplifting, she was practicing for a future movie role.
Had she not taken the stand and lied -- at least in the opinion of the jurors -- and had she spared the County of Los Angeles the time and money involved in her prosecution, leniency would be in order.
She gambled, and she lost. She should not get the same consideration as someone who had been honest enough to seek out the prosecutors, admit to having some kind of shoplifting problem and pledge to get treatment for her sticky fingers.
She should do time.
As for consistency, it is worth noting that the state of California earlier this week vigorously defended its three-strikes law before the Supreme Court of the United States. Under that law, one guy is doing life in prison on his third strike, the theft of three golf clubs worth less than the $750 shirt Miss Ryder pilfered. Another's third strike was stealing some videos.
If three little strikes are worth life for them, Winona's one big swing is worth something.