Sentenced to 30 years as teen, man asks high court to step in
How they rule could affect the sentences of 2,000 Florida inmates.
WEST PALM BEACH — Before Dennis Hart was sentenced in 1997 for breaking into three homes and robbing nine people at gunpoint, the Lake Worth High School student apologized to everyone he hurt and thanked everyone who helped him — including the prosecutor and the cops who put him behind bars.
“Thank you, thank you for catching me and locking me up and giving me the chance to find myself. Thank you,” Hart said, giving shout-outs to Lake Worth and Palm Beach Gardens police.
Minutes later, the genial 17-yearold learned his court-ordered journey into self-exploration was just beginning.
Instead of the four-year sentence his attorney sought, then Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Edward Garrison ruled that Hart’s one-day crime spree was going to cost him 30 years of his life.
In the ensuing 21 years, rulings by the U.S. and Florida high courts
have dramatically changed the way juveniles are punished. At least four inmates have been set free after serving lengthy sentences for heinous crimes they committed in Palm Beach County as teens.
But, despite years of effort to persuade multiple judges that his sentence should be reduced, the 37-year-old Hart remains in prison, long after the two others who joined him on the violent rampage were released.
Now, in what could be Hart’s last chance to walk out of prison before he turns 40, he has made yet another attempt to persuade the Florida Supreme Court to intervene. If successful, as many as 2,000 Florida inmates who are serving lengthy sentences for crimes they committed as juveniles could be affected.
State prosecutors are concerned. In a similar case that is also pending before the high court, Assistant Attorney General John Klawikofsky reminded justices what’s at stake. “Every juvenile nonhomicide offender serving a 30-year sentence — even those who negotiated pleas for their 30 years — will be able to challenge their sentences as illegal,” he wrote.
Still, Hart’s attorneys and family members, insist he deserves a break.
“You’re talking about a 16-year-old kid who needed a drug treatment program. My son didn’t get that. He got 30 years in prison,” said Hart’s mother, Sylvia Humphrey, who now counsels other youth in hopes they will avoid a similar fate.
Hart is a textbook example of why the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010 and again in 2012 ruled that because juveniles’ brains aren’t fully developed, they are impulsive, don’t think about consequences and therefore should be treated differently when sentences are meted out, his attorney Jennifer Marshall said.
“Dennis Hart was incredibly immature and impetuous at the time of this crime. He was running around with older young men who convinced him it would be a good idea to commit a series of violent crimes,” Marshall wrote as part of his latest appeal. “He did not anticipate, as any sane adult would have, that this one night would lead to his formative years spent locked in prison.”
After the Florida Supreme Court joined the nation’s high court in ruling that juveniles deserve special consideration before being locked up for years, the state Legislature passed a law, requiring that juveniles are given a chance to prove they’ve been rehabilitated. Judicial review is required after juveniles have spent 20 years in prison.
But despite the law, judges have disagreed about who benefits from it.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Glenn Kelley in August expressed frustration at the lack of guidance from the state’s highest court when he considered and rejected Hart’s request to reduce his sentence to 20 years — a decision that would have made Hart a free man.
“Certainly there is considerable confusion surrounding the status of juvenile offenders whose original sentence did not violate Graham,” Kelley wrote, referring to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2010 decision.
In Graham, and the Miller case that came two years later, the nation’s high court ruled it was unconstitutional to give juveniles life sentences with no chance for parole.
Later, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that sentences that exceed a juvenile’s life expectancy are also illegal because they are de facto life sentences.
However, there has been no clear ruling about how to handle roughly 2,000 Florida inmates who didn’t receive life or de facto life sentences for crimes they committed as teens but, like Hart, are serving decades in prison. Are they, too, entitled to be resentenced, Kelley asked.
Some appeals courts in the state have said they are. But the West Palm Beach-based 4th District Court of Appeal has rejected the notion.
“The Florida Supreme Court has not yet applied Graham to a 30-year or shorter sentence,” it wrote in May, rejecting Hart’s appeal to reduce his sentence.
This month, Hart’s attorney’s asked the state’s high court to answer the question once and for all.
“I pray and ask God to give him a second chance,” said Humphrey, the mother of two other sons, including former NFL player Deon Humphrey. “He was only a kid. He deserves a second chance.”
State prosecutors counter that Hart’s crimes were vicious. Before sentencing Hart to 30 years, Garrison listened to his victims talk about how the teen mocked them as he held a gun to their heads. While Garrison acknowledged testimony from a Lake Worth High school assistant principal, pastors and family members who portrayed Hart as a good kid who made a horrible mistake, Garrison focused on Hart’s extensive juvenile record.
“His record does not indicate he deserves a lot of second chances or another break,” Garrison said.
But, Humphrey said, the young men who were with her son when they robbed homes in Boynton Beach, Lake Worth and Palm Beach Gardens were treated far differently. John Maldonado, who was 19, received a 14-year sentence and was released in 2009. Steven Mazur, who was 17 and served as the driver for the crime spree, was sent to a juvenile detention facility.
Still, she said, despite the disparity, her son doesn’t rail against the system. “He’s amazing,” she said. “He’s not bitter. He’s not angry.”
Records show Hart has caused few problems in prison. He earned his high school diploma and certificates for completing business classes, Bible study and life skills courses. For his good behavior, he has earned considerable gain time, shaving roughly five years off his sentence. He is set to be released in October 2022, records show.
But, Humphrey and other family members said, enough is enough.
“Dennis has been in prison for 21 years. People have killed people and served less time,” said his aunt, Renea Scott. His time, she said, should be up.