Harrison, Mardi: District Court of Appeal of Florida Cases

Defendant was convicted in the Circuit Court for Pinellas County, Thane Covert, J., of first degree murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Defendant appealed.
Holding: The District Court of Appeal, Casanueva, J., held that sentence of life imprisonment, without the possibility of parole, for first degree murder, which occurred when defendant was 16 years old, under statute applicable to murder involving the discharge of a firearm did not violate Miller.
Affirmed; question certified.

Excerpt from Westlaw.

After juvenile defendant's conviction for first-degree felony murder and sentence of life in prison were affirmed on direct appeal, 9980 So.3d 1104, defendant petitioned for postconviction relief. The Circuit Court, Lee County, Bruce Kyle, J., denied petition as untimely. Defendant appealed.
Holding: The District Court of Appeal held that determination in Miller v. Alabama that Eighth Amendment prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment precluded mandatory sentence of life without parole imposed on a juvenile offender was retroactive.
Reversed and remanded; conflict certified.

Excerpt from Westlaw

Juvenile defendant was convicted in the Circuit Court, Sarasota County, Lee E. Haworth, J., of first-degree felony murder, and received a life sentence without possibility of parole. Defendant appealed. The District Court of Appeal, 27 So.3d 800, affirmed.
Holdings: Supplementing original opinion after withdrawal of mandate, the District Court of Appeal, Altenbernd, J., held that:
(1) felony murder, where the juvenile defendant did not actually commit the murder, is not a “nonhomicide” offense for purposes of the categorical rule that the Eighth Amendment forbids a life sentence without parole for a juvenile who did not commit homicide;
(2) statutorily mandated life-without-parole sentence for juvenile defendants who commit felony murder may constitute a grossly disproportionate sentence in some cases; and
(3) in felony murder cases where the juvenile defendant did not actually commit the murder, trial courts must have discretion to impose a lesser sentence when life without possibility of parole would be disproportionate to the circumstances of the crime.
Reversed and remanded.

Excerpt from Westlaw