Why I didn't want my son's killer to spend his life in jail

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By Ronald D. Simpson II
February 10, 2014

My only son, Ronald D. Simpson III, was murdered on Father’s Day 2001. He was 21 years old.

His killer was a 14-year old boy who was under the mistaken impression that my son was physically abusing his sister, who was my son’s girlfriend.

I was heartbroken. But when it was time for the child’s trial, my son’s mother and I advocated for his killer to be processed in the juvenile system. We wanted him tried there, held there after his conviction and treated there to prepare him for release. The judge granted our wishes. The young teen was sentenced in juvenile court and told that he would be released at 21 if he met the court’s requirements and demonstrated his rehabilitation. He succeeded and was released.

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Nebraska holds Miller retroactive

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By the CFSY
February 7, 2014

We’re delighted to share that today Nebraska 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.

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Sentenced young: The story of life without parole for juvenile offenders

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By Beth Schwarzapfel
Al Jazeera America

Jennifer Pruitt can hardly remember a time when she felt safe. She says her father beat her until her eyes were blackened. He beat her mother and brothers. He drank and crashed their family cars, she says, and then he came home and beat them some more. And starting when she was about 10, Jennifer says, Denny Pruitt would arrange some alone time with her in a bedroom. When she told her mother about the abuse, her father called Jennifer a bitch and a liar. When she ran away from home, which she did increasingly often, the police would tell her she should feel lucky she had two parents, and then bring her back home.

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Young offenders and life sentences

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C-Span
January 25, 2014

Cara Drinan talked about whether young criminal offenders convicted of murder and other serious crimes should be spared mandatory life sentences. She detailed the case of Terrance Graham, a juvenile from Florida. Professor Drinan argued that some states were not complying with the spirit of two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that suggest young people deserve a chance to mature and rehabilitate. She responded to telephone calls and electronic communications.

Watch the interview

Jail time and violent juvenile offenders

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On Point with Tom Ashbrook
January 22, 2014

Fighting for life without parole for young offenders. Tough states do not want to back down – or re-open old cases.

Jody Kent Lavy, Director & National Coordinator of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth,  Jeanne Bishop, whose sister was killed by a teen, and New York Times national legal correspondent Erik Eckholm were among the featured guests in this interview segment.

Listen to the interview

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