Yesterday in Montgomery v. Louisiana, the Supreme Court ruled that the prior Miller decision making life without parole (“LWOP”) sentences unconstitutional for juvenile defendants is retroactive. The import of this? All inmates who were sentenced as juveniles to life sentences, with no possibility of parole, may now petition courts for release.
The 6-3 decision was authored by Justice Kennedy and is available here. As stated:
“Miller‘s conclusion that the sentence of life without parole is disproportionate for the vast majority of juvenile offenders raises a grave risk that many are being held in violation of the Constitution.
Giving Miller retroactive effect, moreover, does not require States to relitigate sentences, let alone convictions, in every case where a juvenile offender received mandatory life without parole. A State may remedy a Miller violation by permitting juvenile homicide offenders to be considered for parole, rather than by resentencing them. See, e.g., Wyo. Stat. Ann. §6–10–301(c) (2013) (juvenile homicide offenders eligible for parole after 25 years). Allowing those offenders to be considered for parole ensures that juveniles whose crimes reflected only transient immaturity — and who have since matured — will not be forced to serve a disproportionate sentence in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
Extending parole eligibility to juvenile offenders does not impose an onerous burden on the States, nor does it disturb the finality of state convictions. Those prisoners who have shown an inability to reform will continue to serve life sentences. The opportunity for release will be afforded to those who demonstrate the truth of Miller‘s central intuition — that children who commit even heinous crimes are capable of change.”
This has an enormous impact for many inmates and their families who have prayed for years for some type of relief.