Ruling affects Pennsylvania lifers sentenced as juveniles

The ruling, which overturns a Michigan Supreme Court decision in 2014, means that almost 350 Michigan inmates charged and sentenced to life without parole for committing a murder before their 17th birthday will have a chance to argue for parole. In Miller, the court held that mandatory sentences of life without parole for juvenile homicide offenders violate the Constitution.

S. Kyle Duncan, a lawyer representing Louisiana, argued that in Miller, the Court had left sentences of life without parole on the table, and said that if the Court were to apply the case retroactively, it would require the re-litigation of facts that over time have been lost.

“Life without parole is an excessive sentence for children whose crimes reflect transient immaturity”, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote.

Montgomery’s case highlights some of the problems that inmate advocates say plague the criminal justice system generally.

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange blasted the high court’s ruling, saying it will have a devastating effect on the families of murder victims who thought they already received closure in murder cases often going back decades.

As a result, Kennedy added, “a hearing where “youth and its attendant characteristics” are considered as sentencing factors is necessary to separate those juveniles who may be sentenced to life without parole from those who may not”. In 2010, the justices prohibited sentences of life without parole for juveniles’ crimes short of murder. Progress on juvenile sentencing has been made outside of the judiciary as well. That’s under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling handed down Monday.

But Justice Antonin Scalia, wrote in his dissenting opinion, that the majority’s opinion had only one intent.

“Those prisoners who have shown an inability to reform will continue to serve life sentences”, he wrote. Still, prior to Monday’s decision, some seven other states had decided that the Court’s decision did not apply retroactively.

When he was 17, Montgomery shot and killed a deputy sheriff in Louisiana. If a life sentence is imposed with eligibility for parole, incarcerated murderers get a chance at freedom after serving 35 years. Greg Leding (D-Fayetteville) tried, but failed, to convince his fellow legislators to eliminate all life sentences for juveniles. Five justices took the bench for the short opinion session, while the other members of the court were believed to be traveling.

The case was Montgomery v. Louisiana (14-280).

But she agreed it is too early to tell how the ruling will be addressed locally.