Court says limits on juvenile lifers is retroactive

Updated

The Missouri Court of Appeals Western District ruled Tuesday that a juvenile who had committed a homicide and received the mandatory sentence of life without parole should have his cases remanded to circuit court, meaning that some 80 prisoners in Missouri prisons will have the chance at a new hearing.

The petitioner, William L. Branch, pleaded guilty in 2000 to charges of first-degree murder and robbery for the 1999 shooting death of a gas station attendant in Cole County. He was 17 years old at the time of his crimes, and he was sentenced to life without parole.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that it was unconstitutional to automatically give a juvenile offender such a weighty sentence.  The Western District ruled that the Supreme Court’s new rule should be applied retroactively, even if sentencing is final, as it was in Branch’s case.

The nation’s high court also has been asked to determine if applying the rule retroactively is correct. Late last year, the high court accepted the case of George Toca, a Louisiana man sentenced for a 1984 shooting death stemming from an armed robbery gone wrong. No arguments have been scheduled.

Missouri might get to the issue in its own way. In October, the state’s Southern District held that final sentencing was just that; final. The court in Brooks v. Bowersox said that the juveniles who wanted their cases heard under the new rule had failed to bring the constitutional claim on direct appeal.

However, the Western District blatantly declined to follow the Southern District’s ruling. The conflict between the two appellate courts could mean a trip to the Missouri Supreme Court.

Another potential party to weigh in is the Missouri Legislature, where for the third year in a row legislation has been filed to address the issue of sentencing juveniles who have committed heinous offences.

The case is In Re: William L. Branch v. Jay Cassady, WD77788.