Juvenile ‘lifer’ ban prompts reviews
BALTIMORE — A U.S. Supreme Court decision triggering new sentences for inmates serving mandatory life without parole for crimes committed as juveniles has had a far greater effect: The ruling is prompting lawyers to apply its fundamental logic — that it’s cruel and unusual to lock teens up for life — to a larger population, those whose sentences include a parole provision but who stand little chance of getting out.
The court in January 2016 expanded its ban on mandatory life without parole for juveniles to more than 2,000 offenders already serving such sentences, saying teens should be treated differently than adult offenders because they’re less mature and capable of change. The court found that all but the rare irredeemable juvenile lifer should have a chance to argue for freedom one day. Dozens have since been resentenced and released.
But legal challenges are also being argued on behalf of offenders sentenced to life with parole for crimes committed as teens — a population totaling some 7,300 inmates nationwide, according to Ashley Nellis at the Sentencing Project.
“Even states that do have parole, it doesn’t give a lot of reason for hope,” Nellis said. “The Supreme Court was very clear to say that agerelated factors need to be considered at resentencing or parole review, but the feedback we’re seeing is that those factors aren’t being considered.”
Other courts are applying the 2016 ruling to those whose life-without-parole sentences weren’t mandatory or were negotiated in a plea deal. In Florida, more than 600 are potentially eligible for new sentences because court decisions there require a new look at anyone serving life for crimes committed as minors — even if their sentences were optional or included the possibility of parole.
The Supreme Court hasn’t ruled on these other circumstances, but some state courts have. In January, New Jersey’s Supreme Court ordered new sentences for two former teen offenders with de facto life terms. One was serving 110 years, with parole eligibility after 55; the other had 75 years, with parole eligibility after 68. The court noted both would “likely serve more time in jail than an adult sentenced to actual life without parole.”
Robert Boyd was sentenced to life at 16 for his role in a home invasion that turned deadly in Baltimore. Boyd was the lookout, standing watch on the porch. The man who fired the fatal shot was acquitted at trial.
In prison, Boyd earned degrees, stayed out of trouble, coached boxing. For years he unsuccessfully applied for parole. But in April 2016, he was released on probation after his lawyer persuaded a judge to reopen the case, arguing that Maryland’s system didn’t afford Boyd a meaningful chance at parole and was therefore unconstitutional.
By the time Boyd was released, after 34 years behind bars, even Brian Murphy, the prosecutor who tried the case in 1982, offered to testify on his behalf.