TROUBLING 22-YEAR JUVENILE CASE ENDS
In 1997, Dennis Hart got 30 years for crime spree when he was 16.
WEST PALM BEACH — Wearing a blue jumpsuit with his arms and legs shackled, Dennis Hart smiled broadly and did the biggest fist pump his handcuffs would permit when a Palm Beach County circuit judge on Wednesday finally uttered the words he and his family have longed to hear for nearly two decades.
Calling the 30-year sentence Hart received for a one-day crime spree he committed when he was 16 “a manifest injustice,” Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Glenn Kelley ordered the 38-year-old former Lake Worth man to be released from prison immediately.
While it was expected to take most of the day for paperwork to be processed, sometime before midnight Hart was to walk out of the Palm Beach County Jail to take his first breaths as a free man in nearly 22 years.
“It’s awesome. It’s great. It’s amazing. We have waited for this moment for so long,” said his mother, Sylvia Humphrey, who lives in Royal Palm Beach.
“It’s amazing,” agreed Hart’s brother, Derell Hampton. The 32-year-old Jupiter man said he vividly remembers the day in 1997 when his brother was handed a 30-year sentence after pleading guilty to multiple charges, admitting he broke into homes in Lake Worth, Boynton Beach and Palm Beach Gardens and robbed nine people at gunpoint.
The panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway in the windows outside the courtroom that day are seared in his memory, Hampton said. “I remember the view and feeling defeated,” he said, pointing toward the floor-to-ceiling windows. “It’s good to see the same view and feeling victorious.”
Hart’s case was troubling from the start. It got more complicated as the years passed and the U.S. Supreme Court, in two landmark
decisions, changed the rules on how juveniles can be sentenced.
In a case pending before the Florida Supreme Court, Hart was poised to become a champion for an estimated 2,000 other inmates who are serving 20-plus-year sentences for crimes they committed as juveniles.
However, in ordering Hart’s release, Kelley didn’t have to rely on lofty Supreme Court rulings. Hart’s 30-year sentence, he said, was simply a mistake.
The sentence, imposed by Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Edward Garrison, was more than the roughly 21-year maximum sentence recommended under sentencing guidelines. To exceed the guidelines, Garrison had to explain why. He didn’t.
When Hart pointed out Garrison’s oversight in a 2002 appeal, Circuit Judge John Hoy reduced Hart’s sentence on each of the charges to 20 years and ordered that the sentences be served concurrently. For some reason, however, the sentence on one of the charges remained unchanged. Hart’s appeal to the 4th District Court of Appeal failed, which meant the 30-year sentence remained in place.
Spurred by Hart’s defense attorneys Jennifer Marshall and Benjamin Eisenberg, Kelley on Wednesday corrected the error.
“What was clear to me when I read the transcript was that Judge Hoy wanted 20 years on all of the counts,” he said. “After a review of the record, it’s clear that through a scrivener’s error or otherwise there was a failure to correct the one sentence.”
In ordering a 20-year sentence on the last remaining charge, Judge Kelley gave Hart credit for the 7,911 days he has spent behind bars. That meant Hart had completed his sentence — and then some — and was free to be released from custody.
Had the mistake not occurred, it is likely Hart would have been released years ago. A model prisoner, he had already earned enough gain time to shave roughly five years off his sentence.
But, his mother said, Hart isn’t haunted by the injustice. “He’s not bitter,” Humphrey said. “He’s just concerned about helping others.”
Once settled in his new life, Hart wants to work to change laws that keep thousands of others in prison for decades for crimes they committed as juveniles. Humphrey said she, her son and other family members want to continue the battle Hart began when he contested his sentence in the case filed with the Florida Supreme Court.
While that legal battle is no longer necessary, thousands of others are languishing in prison for crimes they committed as juveniles, Humphrey said. “We’ll be building our own program and making a difference,” she said. “Until a kid is developed and formed, he shouldn’t be tried as an adult when he is 16 years old.”
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2010, and again in 2012, outlawed life sentences without parole for juveniles. Because their brains aren’t fully developed, juveniles are impetuous, don’t fully understand the consequences of their actions and are amenable to rehabilitation, the court ruled. Therefore, they must be given special consideration when sentences are meted out.
However, while the Florida Legislature and the Florida Supreme Court have established rules about how juveniles convicted of murder and other capital crimes should be sentenced, it is unclear how those charged with lesser crimes, like Hart, should be handled.
Kelley himself expressed frustration that sentencing judges haven’t received more guidance. Reluctantly rejecting Hart’s appeal that his sentence should be reduced based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings, he asked appeals courts to clarify whether all juveniles serving sentences longer than 20 years are entitled to be resentenced.
Marshall and Eisenberg, who represented Hart, said other cases pending before the Florida Supreme Court will hopefully answer that question. If the courts don’t address it, the Legislature could, Eisenberg said.
In the meantime, Hart will be adjusting to a new life in a changed world outside prison walls. Before Marshall left Hart in the courtroom, she said she asked him to text her when he wanted to visit her.
His answer illustrated how much has changed since he went to prison in 1997. “I don’t know if I know how,” he said.