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Dakotah Eliason // WSBT photo (June 25, 2012) |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court says it's unconstitutional for states to pass laws automatically sentencing juveniles to life in prison without parole for murder.
Monday's 5-4 decision is in line with others the court has made, including ruling out the death penalty for juveniles and life without parole for young people whose crimes did not involve killing.
The decision came in the robbery and murder cases of Evan Miller and Kuntrell Jackson, who were 14 when they were convicted.
Miller was convicted of killing a man in Alabama. Jackson was convicted of being an accomplice in an Arkansas robbery that ended in murder.
Local impact
The ruling means that young prisoners nationwide could be re-sentenced. This could have an impact on the case of Dakotah Eliason. He was found guilty of killing his grandfather, 69-year-old Jesse Miles, in 2010 -- when he was 14-years-old.
Eliason was charged as an adult and sentenced to mandatory life without parole.
We will bring you more information as we learn more about how the Supreme Court's ruling will affect Eliason's case.
His attorney, Jonathan Sacks, is handling the appeal. He says it's now up to the state to decide if Dakotah should still receive life without parole, or a lesser sentence.
"Children lack the development, maturity, and judgment of adults, and it is critical that the United States Supreme Court has recognized that an automatic sentence of life without parole for a fourteen year-old like Dakotah is unconstitutional. Dakotah feels nothing but remorse for his actions and hopes to one day be released from prison so he can contribute to the community."
And Eliason's case isn't the only one in Berrien County that could be impacted by this ruling. Prosecutor Art Cotter sent us a list of 11 other juveniles convicted of murder and sentenced to life without parole. The oldest of those cases dates back to 1967.
