Juveniles facing lifelong terms despite rulings

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By Erik Eckholm
January 19, 2014

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In decisions widely hailed as milestones, the United States Supreme Court in 2010 and 2012 acted to curtail the use of mandatory life sentences for juveniles, accepting the argument that children, even those who are convicted of murder, are less culpable than adults and usually deserve a chance at redemption.

But most states have taken half measures, at best, to carry out the rulings, which could affect more than 2,000 current inmates and countless more in years to come, according to many youth advocates and legal experts.

“States are going through the motions of compliance,” said Cara H. Drinan, an associate professor of law at the Catholic University of America, “but in an anemic or hyper-technical way that flouts the spirit of the decisions.”

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Locking up kids for life?

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By Nancy Gertner
January 19, 2014

Three decades ago, Edward Palmariello, 17, and his 21-year-old friend Bruce Chambers were arrested in the murder of Edward’s mother, Marion. Then a defense attorney, I represented Edward at trial. The jury found both men guilty and the sentence was mandatory — life in prison without any possibility of parole.

The Commonwealth’s story in court was simple: Edward and his mother fought all the time. He had said things to her like “Shut up or I’m going to cut you up and put you into the toilet bowl,” and he once waved an open switchblade at her. On another occasion, while Edward and Bruce were listening to music, Bruce got into the act. When Edward’s mother yelled at them, Bruce countered, “I’d like to take [your] mother and tie her up and gag her and stick her on the first floor just to shut her up.”

On the day of the killing, Edward and Bruce were repairing plaster and painting in the Palmariello home. Another trivial fight started, this time over where the paint can should be stored. As Edward’s mother stood up to grab the paint, Bruce took a cord he was using in his work and threw it over her head. She fell forward, the cord around her neck, and strangled. Edward, because of his threats before her death and his later efforts to cover it up, was charged alongside Bruce in the killing. Their defense, which the jury rejected, was that it had been an accident. Weakened by emphysema, asthma, and pneumonia, Marion Palmariello was especially vulnerable.

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Letter: Opposes life without parole for juveniles

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By Robert Gilligan
Catholic Conference of Illinois
January 19, 2014

The Illinois Supreme Court last week heard oral arguments in the case of Adolfo Davis, who has spent more than two decades behind bars for participating in a robbery that ended up killing two people. He was 14 when he committed the crime in which he never fired a shot, and was sentenced to life without parole.

Davis’ attorneys are asking that the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2012 decision in Miller v. Alabama apply retroactively to Davis and other Illinois juveniles sentenced to life without parole. The justices ruled the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution “forbids a sentencing that mandates life in prison without possibility for parole for juvenile offenders.”

The Catholic Conference of Illinois in August joined other faith-based organizations in an amicus brief to Davis’ case, pointing out the high court noted that juveniles lack maturity, are far more impressionable than adults and still have the capacity to change.

CCI further notes that Davis has accepted responsibility for his actions, attained his General Education Diploma, and works with a Catholic priest to deter at-risk children from criminal activity. Cardinal George of the Archdiocese of Chicago in 2011 wrote Gov. Pat Quinn, asking him to commute Davis’ sentence.

Mandatory life sentences for juveniles at issues before state high court

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By Kim Geiger, Tribune reporter
January 15, 2014

Adolfo Davis was just 14 when he committed the crime that led to the life sentence he’s serving today.

An eighth-grader from a troubled home, he had fallen in with a street gang on Chicago’s South Side and took part in a 1990 robbery in which two men were killed.

Though Davis never fired the gun he wielded, he was convicted in the murders and received a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

More than two decades later, Davis, now 37, is hoping that a 2012 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court could lead the way to his release.

On Wednesday, Illinois’ highest court heard oral arguments in Chicago over whether the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling — which deemed sentences like Davis’ unconstitutional — should be applied retroactively in Davis’ case. The decision by the Illinois Supreme Court could set a precedent for the estimated 80 other inmates in the state who are serving mandatory life sentences for crimes they committed as juveniles.

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Nebraska holds Miller retroactive

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Nebraska has joined a growing number of states that have decided the Miller v. Alabama decision, which struck down mandatory life without parole sentences for children, should apply retroactively to those who were sentenced prior to June 25, 2012, the date the decision was issued. More than two dozen individuals sentenced to die in prison as children in Nebraska are entitled to new, constitutional sentences.

The Nebraska Supreme Court issued the ruling today in State v. Castaneda, State v. Mantich and State v. Ramirez, which ruled unconstitutional the sentences of three Omaha men automatically sentenced as children to life without parole. The Court ordered the cases go back to district court for resentencing.

To date, seven state supreme courts have ruled on Miller retroactivity. Four of those states – Iowa, Massachusetts, Mississippi and Nebraska — have ruled that Miller should be applied retroactively. In addition, a federal court in Michigan held that Miller is retroactive. The order has been stayed pending appeal. State supreme courts in Louisiana, Minnesota and Pennsylvania have ruled that Miller is not retroactive. Federal circuit courts in the 5th and 11th districts have also ruled that Miller is not retroactive. Cases are currently pending before state supreme courts in Florida, Washington and Illinois.

Read the cases:

State v. Castaneda

State v. Mantich

State v. Ramirez

February 7, 2014

Our view: A chance to be smart on crime

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Roanoke Times Editorial Board
January 13, 2014

The crushingly high cost of imprisonment in the U.S. has even law-and-order hard-liners looking to reverse decades of long mandatory minimum sentences.

Virginia lawmakers should keep the trend in mind in giving an open-minded hearing to legislation that would provide juvenile offenders convicted as adults an avenue to seek a reduction in sentence at age 35 or after serving at least 20 years, whichever is later.

SB 142 would apply only to long sentences for nonhomicidal crimes. Long is defined as at least 25 years. And the opportunity for modification would be a narrow one, as laid out in the proposal by state Sen. David Marsden of Fairfax.

Still, it would offer some hope to people who have matured behind bars that they might have a productive life in society one day.

Might – if their conduct and academic, vocational and emotional development while in prison have been good enough to persuade a panel of jurists they no longer are the same people who were capable of the crimes they committed in their youth.

The Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk reports there are at least 22 inmates serving life without parole for nonhomicidal crimes committed as teenagers. In November, the newspaper profiled one: Travion Blount, who at 15 was tried for armed robbery, convicted of 49 felonies and sentenced to six life terms plus 118 years. Two older teens who pleaded guilty received 10- and 13-year sentences.

Blount might be as or even more dangerous in 25 years. But he might be a wholly different and better person. It would be reasonable to allow inmates like him the opportunity to show they have grown into adults worthy of a sentencing review.

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Op-Ed: Growing up behind bars

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By Elizabeth Calvin
Los Angeles Times
January 13, 2014

“It could have been anyone in this courtroom. Your mother. Your lawyer. It could have been me.” The judge drilled down on the random murder of a woman for her car. Edel Gonzalez, a diminutive 38-year-old man, sat shackled in a prison jumpsuit before the bench and nodded in agreement. “It was brutal,” the judge repeated with force.

This was not your typical sentencing hearing. It was a historic moment. As the judge talked to the defendant, whispering in the courtroom stopped. The attorneys didn’t move, and the guard faded back against the wall. This was a conversation between two people: a judge and a man convicted of murder.

But that man was a boy when the murder was committed in 1991. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole. The United States is the only country that imposes life without parole on people under 18, and in California more than 330 such offenders have received this sentence. Edel was 16 at the time of his crime, and in December, he was back in court as the first case under a new California law.

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Stop charging kids as adults

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By Benjamin Jealous and Rosario Dawson
MSNBC
January 8, 2014

Now that the federal courts have spoken on “stop-and-frisk,” many people think teens in our community have less to fear from the criminal justice system.  Unfortunately, it is not that simple. Far worse can happen to a child after being stopped.

In his State of the State address Wednesday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said what needed to be said: New York’s juvenile justice laws are outdated.

Every year, almost 50,000 16- and 17-year-olds are prosecuted as adults in New York State, and more than three-quarters of these charges are for misdemeanors like shoplifting and marijuana possession. Some 70% of the children arrested are black or Latino, as well as 80% of those incarcerated.

As Cuomo reminded us, now is the time for a change. The New York State Legislature needs to Raise the Age of criminal responsibility, and they need to do it this year.

Teens are far from perfect, and they certainly are not always innocent. That’s part of growing up. A teen’s brain develops well into his or her 20s, and as cognitive skills improve, so does impulse control. As a result, teens are often unable to focus on the consequences of their behavior.

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After 36 years in prison, this Philadelphian is using his second chance to help others stay out of trouble

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Newsworks.org
January 8, 2014

If you thought you would die behind bars, what would it be like to suddenly be sprung from prison? One Philadelphia man has found surprises and success over the last two years since his life sentence was commuted.

Tyrone Werts is an ex-offender to whom many people point as proof that someone who was sent to prison can come out and use his experiences to become an asset to the city where he lives.

To see Werts on the street now, you would never guess he spent 36 years in prison — let alone that he lived those years in a cell fully expecting to never get out.

Former Pa. Gov. Ed Rendell commuted Werts’ sentence along with those of two others sentenced to life for roles in murders that took place in Philadelphia in the 1970s. Werts was serving life for acting as the getaway driver in the 1975 murder of a man in North Philadelphia. Werts was 24 at the time.

By the time Rendell commuted Werts’ sentence, and he walked free, he was old enough to be the grandfather of the young man who’d walked into prison all those years ago. While behind bars, Werts vowed that he would use his experiences for good if he were ever released. Those who know his story say he has kept his promise.

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Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Gives Hope to Youths Sentenced to Die in Prison

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By Edward Loughran
Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators
January 6, 2014

Three months ago, the Massachusetts State Legislature voted unanimously to raise the age of criminal court jurisdiction from 17 to 18. In an equally dramatic vote on Christmas Eve, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court struck down life sentences without parole for adolescents (Commonwealth v. Brown and Diatchenko v. District Attorney for the Suffolk District).

The state’s highest court followed reasoning similar to that used by the United States Supreme Court on a death penalty case (Roper v. Simmons) and a life without parole case (Miller v. Alabama); they based their decision on current scientific research that lifelong imprisonment for youths is cruel and unusual because their brains are “not fully developed.”

The court also ruled that the Miller v. Alabama decision should be applied retroactively to every person who received an automatic life without parole sentence as a juvenile.  In a story the morning after the high court’s decision, the Boston Globe reported that there are currently 63 inmates in Massachusetts’ prisons who were sentenced as adolescents to life without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder.

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