Article of Interest

Juvenile Life Sentences Without the Possibility of Parole In Violation of the Eighth Amendment Applied Retroactively
By:  Jonathan Garcia

In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court held that “mandatory life without parole for those under the age of 18 at the time of their crimes violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on ‘cruel and unusual punishments.’” Miller v. Alabama, 132 U.S. 2455 (2012). The decision stemmed from two consolidated cases involving the sentences handed down against two 14-year-old juveniles convicted of murder. 

One of the cases concerned a young man by the name of Kuntrell Jackson. In 1999, Jackson and two older youths went to a video store in Arkansas with the intent to rob it. Jackson stayed outside while the two older youths went into the store. During the robbery, one of two youths in the store shot and killed the store clerk. Jackson and the other two youths were caught and arrested. Because of the mandatory sentencing laws in place at the time, upon finding Jackson guilty of murder, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.  

The other case arose from an incident in Alabama in 2003. In that case, Evan Miller and an older youth spent an evening smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol with a 52-year-old neighbor. When the neighbor appeared comatose, Miller attempted to steal money from him, but in the process the neighbor regained his senses and retaliated. Miller reacted by hitting the neighbor with a bat, leaving him unconscious in his trailer. Miller and his friend lit the trailer on fire to cover any evidence left at the crime scene. The neighbor died from his injuries and smoke inhalation. Like the Jackson case, Miller was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. This sentence was handed down without the court taking into account Miller’s home life and the fact that he had alcohol and drug problems and even attempted suicide several times.

On appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the court held that the application of a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole for someone under the age of 18 was cruel and unusual punishment. Now, the court must decide whether this decision applies retroactively. The court will decide this issue in Montgomery v. Louisiana, 135 U.S. 1729 (2015). That case concerns a murder that occurred in 1963, when Henry Montgomery, a 17-year-old, shot and killed a police officer. Now 69, Montgomery has served about 40 years in prison, and will spend the rest of his life there unless the Supreme Court clarifies its decision in Miller. Because, while some states have found that the Miller decision applies retroactively, Louisiana refused to find that to be the case. Thus, it is up to the U.S. Supreme Court to decide Montgomery’s fate, and the fate of many others in the same position.

This is an important matter that the court is about to decide because 1) rulings are rarely applied retroactively in criminal law, and 2) it would require all states to review all cases in which juveniles are facing life without the possibility of parole.

Jonathan Garcia is a prosecutor with the Webb County District Attorney’s Office.