Arkansas judge strikes down juvenile sentencing law

LITTLE ROCK — An Arkansas judge struck down a new state law Thursday eliminating mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles, ruling that it denies individualized sentencing hearings to offenders who are in prison for offenses committed when they were minors.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen ruled the law violated the U.S. and Arkansas constitutions and ordered a new sentencing hearing for Brandon Hardman, who convicted of capital murder for a fatal shooting he committed when he was 16. The new Arkansas

law was enacted this year to comply with recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that say mandatory life sentences for juveniles are unconstitutional.

The new law applies retroactively to prisoners like Hardman who were sentenced for offenses committed before their 18th birthday. The law allows minors who were given life-without-parole sentences to be eligible for parole after serving 20 to 30 years in prison, depending on the charges. The Arkansas Parole Board would determine parole eligibility.

“This is a clear violation of the rights guaranteed to Hardman under the Sixth Amendment,” Griffen wrote in his ruling. “The (Fair Sentencing for Minors Act) cannot pass constitutional muster as it denies individualized sentencing hearings to Hardman and any other individual in his situation.”

Griffen also ruled the law violates the separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches, with the General Assembly overstepping its bounds and acting as a sentencing authority.

An attorney for Hardman declined to comment on Griffen’s ruling.

Republican Sen. Missy Irvin, who sponsored the law, said she expected the decision to be appealed to the state Supreme Court and was confident the law would be upheld as constitutional.

“I’m confident the attorney general is going to vigorously defend the law,” Irvin said.

Attorney General Leslie Rutledge is reviewing the decision and will evaluate how to proceed, spokesman Judd Deere said.

Worker bit in tussle with would-be thief over stripper pole

LITTLE ROCK — Police in Little Rock say a mall worker wrestled away a stripper pole from a would-be thief who bit the employee during the struggle.

According to police, a woman entered a Spencer’s store in Little Rock’s Park Plaza Mall at midday Wednesday and tried to return an item. A police report says that the woman became frustrated when she was refused money and tried to leave with a stripper pole instead.

Little Rock television station KATV reports that the woman bit the worker’s arm during a struggle. But police say the employee was able to take back the stripper pole, valued at $40, and the woman ran away.

Police say no arrests have been made.

Police: Boy fatally shot in apparent accident

LITTLE ROCK — Police say a 2-year-old boy has died in an apparently accidental shooting in Yell County.

The Yell County Sheriff’s Department says deputies responded to a home just north of Danville Tuesday night and found Jacob Chronister dead from an apparent gunshot wound. Danville is 66 miles (106 kilometers) miles northwest of Little Rock.

A news release from the sheriff’s department says family members told deputies they saw the boy playing in the hallway of the home, then heard the gun discharge. The family told police they were not sure how the child reached the gun, which is normally stored on top of a cabinet in a bedroom.

The release says an investigation into the shooting is ongoing.