Eric Miller Case Study

The Supreme Court reviewed the constitutionality of mandatory life sentences without parole enforced upon persons aged fourteen and younger found guilty of homicide. The court declared unconstitutional a compulsory sentence of life without parole for children. The states have been barred from routinely imposing sentences based on the crime committed. There is a requirement for individual consideration of the child life circumstance or the defendant status as a child. The court rejected the definite ban on life sentences without parole. This is because in some cases the instances may be uncommon, but jurors

These cases both received national and international attention but the notoriety of the cases should not detract from the poorly thought out public policy that supports the rendering of such excessive and non-individualized punishments to juveniles. In a society that is focused on law and order it has become acceptable for the prosecution of all criminals defendant, including juveniles, to be controlled by automatic, legislatively determined sentencing that places politicians, not judges, in the position of deciding who is incarcerated, who should be tried and punished as adults, and who should be sent to a juvenile program for possible rehabilitation. On the juvenile level, led by politicians who rose to power on a law and order platform, state laws were changed so that sentencing decisions on juveniles that were once based on child development theories are now based on strict statutory construction. This was clearly demonstrated in the Tate case

The District Attorney believed the potential punishment for the crime that was committed would not be substantial if Miller was charged as a juvenile. Miller was tried as an adult and was found guilty the punishment in the state of Alabama was death or life in prison without the possibility of parole. In Roper v Simmons the supreme court ruled it was unconstitutional to sentence an offender to death if the crime was committed while they were under the age of 18 years old and so by default Miller was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. The question in Miller’s defense was did the sentence of a 14 year old boy to life without the possibility of parole also violate the Eighth Amendment as a “cruel and unusual punishment”. Miller’s attorney’s argued life without the possibility of parole is a death sentence in itself is a death sentence which was rejected in Roper v Simmons.  The Attorney’s also argued that children are different from adults they lack the maturity and are more prone to outside influence by peers and have a greater chance than adults to change their behavior. The Supreme Court cited the precedent ruling of Roper v Simmons that life sentences without the possibility of parole is not deemed as “cruel and an

In Missouri during 1993, Christopher Simmons, a 17-year old, committed capital murder after he instigated two other juveniles (Benjamin and Tessmer) to conspire to kidnap and murder an innocent woman named Shirley Crook. It was never completely determined why exactly Simmons wished to murder Crook, however, he did later admit that Crook was involved in a previous car accident with Simmons. At approximately 2 a.m. on the night of the murder, Simmons and his two friends met up to break into the home of Crook, but Tessmer left before Simmons and Benjamin decided to go through with the heinous crime. Simmons and Benjamin broke into the home of Crook, entered her room, covered her eyes and mouth using duct tape, and bound her hands together. The

Recently in Alabama a man by the name of Anthony Ray Hinton was exonerated from death row after already spending thirty years in prison. Hinton was convicted of two separate fatal shootings of fast food restaurant managers in Birmingham, AL. One on February 25, 1985 shooting a John Davidson, and the second occurrence was on July 2, 1985 making Thomas Vason the second deceased. The evidence brought against him was a revolver that somewhat matched the one Hinton had in his home. There was no physical evidence, no fingerprints and no eyewitnesses linking him to the crime. Also, the revolver was questionable at best due to the fact the gun belonged to his mother who he lived with. Ballistics could not accurately tell if the gun Hinton had was even the weapon used in the shootings because they could not tell if his gun had been fired out of recently. They also could not conclusively say that all the bullets used in the two shootings were fired from the same gun. All in all, Hinton was convicted by a possible bullet match to his gun; and an eyewitness’s testimony from a person who was present at a similar, but different crime that Hinton was never accused of. Hinton coming from an underprivileged area only had a $1,000 to hire a ballistics expert to disprove the allegations. Thus leading to a person whose proposed allegations were questionable. Hinton was found guilty and put on Death Row. After sitting in a jail cell for thirty years he was released after firearms experts

Dafonte Miller, a 19-year-old black youth, was attacked last December in Whitby, Ontario by Toronto constable Michael Theriault, leaving him with broken bones and a serious eye injury.  Theriault was out of his jurisdiction and off-duty when he attacked Miller. Theraiult was charged Tuesday with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, and public mischief, and suspended with pay.

SUMMARY OF FACTS: Two armed men rob a bank in Alhambra, CA. One of defendant steals money, holds a women teller hostage and shoots at a police officer severely wounding him. The second defendant is offered money by one of the robbers to steal a white automobile as the “getaway car” for the robbery. The police takes the defendants into custody. One of the defendant’s statement was used as evidence.

Frosch, D and Johnson, K. (2007). Colorado Hearing Re-examine 1987 Murder Case. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/us/27fortcollins.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

It’s all over the news, a murder recently happening. They killed an innocent by beating them with a baseball bat and burning their trailer while they were still inside. Given the proper evidence, most states would sentence the murderer to life in prison without parole. So don’t you think if other murderers receive the same punishment this murderer should too? Would your opinion change if they were a 14 year old boy? Many found this punishment to be breaking the 8th Amendment: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. In the case Miller vs Alabama, 2011, young Evan Miller, along with Colby Smith murdered Cole Cannon. If two young kids could cause an adult crime, they should

Victim Ronald Logan testified before the Court that on January 30, 2016 about 5:30 p.m., he was sitting inside of his car outside the Decatur Apartments listening to music when a male, Kilo, approached his car asking if he had changed for a $10.00. Kilo then jumped into the backseat of his car on the passenger side without his permission and pulled out a gun pointing it to the back his head demanding that he “give him everything that he had.” Victim Logan stated that he reached into his pants pocket and gave him $200.00-$300.00. Kilo then instructed for him to crank the car up and drive off. As victim Logan drove out of the apartment complex, Kilo fired a shot in his back causing him to crash into a house a few houses down from the apartment

The United States Supreme Court also showed more interest in the restriction of these policies. There were many against these policies because it was not right for a juvenile under the age of 18 to receive life and have no chance of rehabilitation and the ability to prove their worthiness with re-entry into society (Parker, 2015). Miller V. Alabama, it was determined by the United States Supreme Court that mandatory life without parole for juveniles actually violates a person’s constitutional 8th amendment (Parker, 2015).

On June 25, 2012, the United States Supreme Court, in Miller v. Alabama, ruled that sentencing a juvenile to mandatory life imprisonment without possibility of parole is cruel and unusual punishment and violates the Eighth Amendment. Sentences of life-without-parole are still permissible in some states, but they can only be imposed after judicial review of the offender’s hallmark factors and the offender’s maturity level must not be overlooked by the court.

Miller was first charged as a juvenile which is required by the Alabama law. But, the District Attorney who was assigned the case sought to have the case tried in adult court. Miller was charged as an adult for “murder in the course of arson” and was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole (“Supreme Court”, 2011). Miller tried to appeal his sentence but was it denied by the Alabama Court of Appeals. The ruling, life without parole was not

On October 27, 1984 John Lane brutally murdered his girlfriend’s four year old daughter, Angela Palmer. John had allegedly said that the child had turned green and ugly and tried to kill him while she identified herself as Lucifer. He had punched Angela giving her a scalp laceration and pushing her with force into the kitchen oven. While the young girl was in the oven Lane wedged a chair up against the door making it so the child could not escape, he then turned the oven on as high as the settings would allow. Angela screamed in agonizing pain and the neighbors heard but did not call the law enforcement until the yelling went silent, her body was left to burn. It was the smell and smoke that would bring local law enforcement to the apartment where as they opened the door smoke would pour out. After finding the source of smoke the officer opened the oven to find the small child deceased inside. John Lane and the girlfriend, Cynthia Palmer, were taken into custody where they were both charged with murder but Cynthia’s charge was later reduced to manslaughter and then acquitted of. As the trail would begin John would plead innocent as reason of insanity. His lawyer was smart to avoid the trial by jury. The trial went on in front of the judge and a psychiatrist had testified that Lane did know what he was doing at the time was wrong and that there would be consequences behind them.

In Miller v. Alabama in the year 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that when it comes to giving a sentence to a minor, it was unconstitutional to give a mandatory life sentence without a chance of parole. During this time, data show that general assembly were working diligently and made several efforts to have a more updated version of the sentencing laws as it applies to juveniles. (States News services, 2015). This led to a plan that was negotiated among many other stakeholders including Senator Don Harmon, state attorney and criminal justice reforms groups. The main goal of the plan was to allow judges more discretion in the legal process of sentencing juveniles that are defendants of serious criminalities like murder and rape.