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Subscribe to RSSEvan Miller and Kuntrell Jackson are lifers, condemned at 14 to spend their lives in prison without the possibility of parole for their involvement in separate murders. Their backers say their sentences are cruel and unusual, leaving them without the second chance the young are so often given. They hope the U.S. Supreme Court agrees.
Next Tuesday, the court will hear arguments in their cases and its ruling could have far-reaching effects. More than 2,200 people nationwide have been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for crimes they committed as juveniles -- defined as 17 or younger -- according to the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Ala., a civil rights group that represents Miller and Jackson.
The group hopes the companion cases will be another victory for juvenile criminals, who have found some relief before the Supreme Court over the past seven years. In 2005, the court abolished executions for juvenile offenders. Then, two years ago, the court ruled that it is unconstitutional to impose life sentences on juveniles convicted of crimes that do not involve homicide.
NBC's Pete Williams talks about the case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Lawyers for Miller, now 23, and Jackson, now 26, contend that juveniles are works in progress and will argue that forensic evidence shows adolescent brains are not fully developed. “Condemning an immature, vulnerable, and not-yet-fully-formed adolescent to life in prison – no matter the crime – is constitutionally a disproportionate punishment,” they say in their petition to the court. The Equal Justice Initiative declined to discuss the case because of the pending hearing.
Kim Taylor-Thompson, a professor of clinical law at the New York University School of Law, has studied juvenile offenders for nearly a decade and agrees with the group. "No one is excusing the fact of what happened," she said. "What we are saying is: Did these two young men engage in thought processes that would make us say today they're the type of individuals who can never be rehabilitated, never change and be locked up to never see the light of day?
Clyde Stancil / The Decatur Daily
Colby Smith, 18, left, and Evan Miller, 17, were convicted of killing Miller's neighbor.
“We believe that they deserve a second look.”
Supporters of life without parole for juveniles say judges should be allowed to give certain criminals, regardless of their age, harsh sentences when their crimes are egregious.
Thomas R. McCarthy, who filed a brief with the Supreme Court on behalf of the National Organization of Victims of Juvenile Lifers, said sentences such as those handed to Miller and Jackson are "relatively rare and imposed only on teenagers who commit extremely heinous murders."
There have been a dozen friend-of-the-court briefs filed in support of Miller and Jackson, and as many filed against them.
Miller was a troubled teen living in a trailer park in Alabama in 2003 when he and a 16-year-old friend, Colby Smith, fought with a drunken neighbor and bludgeoned 52-year-old Cole Cannon with a baseball bat. They set his home on fire, leaving the man to die in the blaze.
arkansas.gov
Kuntrell Jackson was convicted of taking part in a murder during the robbery of a video store. Another youth shot the clerk.
Cannon's daughter, Candy Cheatham, said she is convinced Miller is still a ruthless killer. She said she has a seat reserved at Tuesday's hearing.
"My father had nine broken ribs and blunt-force trauma to his head," Cheatham told msnbc.com. "We could not have an open casket at his funeral because of the condition of his body -- it was charred."
"Evan Miller knew what he was doing,” she said. “He had no remorse and he has no remorse until this day. There is no indication that I have seen a change in the man that killed my father. He deserves to be locked away until his last day."
The Equal Justice Initiative declined to make Miller and Jackson available for interviews ahead of the court hearing.
Jackson was walking through a housing project in Arkansas with two older boys in 1999 when they started talking about holding up a video store. When they arrived at the store, the other boys went in, but Jackson stayed outside by the door, his lawyers said. One of the older boys fatally shot the clerk before all three fled. Prosecutors said Jackson knew one of the other boys had a shotgun, and that Jackson was inside the shop at the time of the shooting, telling the clerk: "We ain't playin'."
Here are the stories of other lifers who believe they deserve a second chance:
Courtesy of Equal Justice Initiative
Quantel Lotts, age unknown at the time this photo was taken.
Quantel Lotts, Missouri
He stabbed his 17-year-old stepbrother in a scuffle in St. Louis in November 1999. Lotts, now 26, told The New York Times he wasn’t reconciled to his life term. “I understand that I deserve some punishment,” Lotts told the Times in a 2011 interview. “But to be put here for the rest of my life with no chance, I don’t think that’s a fair sentence.”
Ashley Jones, Alabama
She was 14 when she helped her boyfriend kill her grandfather and aunt in Birmingham by stabbing and shooting them and then setting them ablaze. Jones also tried to kill her sister, 10, prosecutors said. The Equal Justice Initiative says the now 22-year-old has turned her life around and is deserving of a chance at freedom.
T.J. Tremble, Michigan
Tremble, then 14, rode his bike to an elderly couple's home in Au Gres, Mich., in 1997, shot the two in the head as they slept and stole their car. In an interview in 2005 with a reporter for the Bay City (Mich.) Times, Tremble, now 29, said he deserved redemption.
"The whole problem is that people don't think we can change, that we can't be rehabbed. For lifers, they don't offer us anything. Absolutely nothing," said Tremble, an inmate at the Saginaw Correctional Facility in Freeland, Mich.
Asked whether he deserved a shot at parole, Tremble said: "I'm not the same person now that I was when I got to prison. I've matured. I do feel I could make a difference out there. The only thing is, I've got to get that chance."
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I don't believe any of these young thugs should serve life in prison. I think they should be made to dig their own graves and then shot in the left eye....
My feelings are this...If the teens are treated with any empathy from the justice system, then think about how many other teens are willing venture into this situation, knowing that they would get off easy if they decided to "shoot the thrill".
I'm just saying. It's not normal at any age and stands to be reckoned with as a serious crime regardless.
No one is arguing with that point. But "adult time for adult crime" is a political gambit, not a judicial one. Why didn't district attorneys lobby in the 1990s for harsher sentencing for juveniles instead of moving them to adult court? DAs have a political interest in charging children as adults. That isn't justice, that's politics.
We recognize that children are different in almost every respect under the law. We don't let children vote, sit on juries, go into combat, sign contracts, live on their own, drink or smoke. If we don't think children are responsible enough to vote or sit on a jury, what makes us think they're responsible enough to stand trial as an adult and serve an adult sentence?
Kids like Jackson didn't even kill anyone, but we want to hang him from the highest tree or punish him for the rest of his life? He was JUST at the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong people. That's almost every kid I know.
Well without any knowledge whatsoever about these cases, if they committed heinous crimes against truly innocent people then maybe they deserve to be lifers. Also being imprisoned at 14 then being released long after they are old adults practically guarantees they are going to be permanent criminals for ever, so from that viewpoint i dont want them released.
I am on the fence when speaking of punishments being given to the 14 - 17 year old age group. In many cases their crimes are heinous and severe punishment is definitely justified. However, there are often developmental discrepancies at any age and psychological and neurological evaluation's should always be administered to children. Certain environmental factors should also be considered such as a family study to ascertain how children are raised and educated. My personal opinion is the 14-16 year old age groups should be mores closely scrutinized prior to charging children as adults and older if there is considered to be a possible developmental delay or mental illness. I am not on the fence AT ALL when it comes to charging children under the age of 14 as adults. It should NEVER be done!!!! The punishment should fit the crime at any age but at any age certain important developmental and environmental factors should be considered. Kids can often rationalize the irrational whether they know right from wrong their impulsiveness when faced with making serious decisions cannot always be reconciled.
Would you be on the fence if a 14 year old murdered your family in their sleep, or beat your relative to death then lit him on fire?hmmm...I wonder.
YES
Children should face punishment, the justice system needs to make sure that children are treated differently in SOME cases. For instance since I don't know all the facts of the crimes committed or details from the trials I can say with my whole heart...if a member of my family abused or molested a 14 year old child and that 14 year old child beat that relative and lit them on fire I don't feel it was justified as I don't believe in an eye for an eye but I absolutely think different levels of punishment should exist. IF the 14 year old did it just because they thought it would be fun...well whole different story!! On the fence only because I don't believe the appropriate amount of consideration is given when kids are charged!!
I believe people can change, I don't hear in this article how they did..... we all change with age but that doesn't remove what we did or remember or experience at 14.... and who I was at 24 is not who I am at 44.... but it doesn't change what I did at 24....
obviously, at 14 these people were troubled beyond the "norm" and to reenter society for these people would be a larger challenge then the "norm"
Don't had a line of BS about brain developement, it was troubled long before a 10 year prison term.... If a criminal does change, wants a 2nd chance, it is up to them to prove they deserve it.... I don't care how mature they are now.... what have they done to earn this incredible break they are asking of soceity... spending 10 yrs in prison will change most anyone, what makes that a reason to rejoin society, and IN DETAIL how do they intend to do it show me a 10yr plan, that reflects on 10years of change and work they have done....
ALSO.... anyone find it odd that BOTH parties to this murder are "ready" to start a new..... WAIT they are 3yrs apart.... so one of thier "brains" were developed....hummmmm.....
What is it we really want...We want both punishment and deterence. Have a 1st degree murderer, who is say 15, do 15 years. Then say look, if you participate in a Reality TV show, and you are sincere in your regret enough that you do this show in a way that just might give other would-be murderers pause, we'll let you go after another 10 years.
They deserved the punishment they received. To those who disagree because of their age, who should be punished their parents or guardians? Some one has to pay for these horrendous crimes.
He should be executed - end of discussion. I don't care about his upbringing. I don't care about whether he can be rehabilitated. I don't care about anything except what he did "separates" him from the rest of us. And even though he may be able to be rehabilitated - most are not and will commit crime after crime. Give him the needle and say Aloha.
While there is exceptions to every rule. I think a lot of this has to do with how these kids are raised. I am 48 and when I look back (and my childhood wasn't perfect) myself or my peers would have never thought of taking someones life or hurting anyone for any reason. This is a different generation coming up and a lot of these kids are getting no guidance, time or attention from their parents. A lot of these young parents are into themsevles and the kids are ignored. My son is 22 (his father and I divorced when he was 3) and while I was not the perfect parent and I made some mistakes my son got my time and attention and he knew he was important and that he mattered to me. It is shame that these young people have to spend the rest of their lives behind bars but I do believe that is where they belong.
Youth should always be view as youth, not adults. The US leads the world in prisoners, but we consider ourselves a leader in peacemaking. Clearly our definition of peace and justice needs to be reconciled.
As American's we like to hide our eyes from reality. We fill up landfills thinking our trash disappears. In the same way, we set up our justice system to throw away our youth.
You commit murder you dont "deserve" anything. That family that you took someone away from will never get to see their family member again. This nation has become a little push over. Letting rapist out to rape again after just a couple of months in jail. Letting murders out after taking life. You and you are responsible for your OWN actions. Age doenst make it okay to kill someone. Geesh! This justice system has become a mockery to me. A lot of murders only get a few years in prison. Those kids must have done something awful to get life. I would say possibility of parole after 25 years.
and yes if my own kid murdered someone I would stand by this.
Crime is a crime, if you committed for the first time that could be by mistake or you don't understand. But when the second time or more it is different story. You know you do it and you you are very well plan to do it. This should not be no tolerated at all, life in prison or death penalty if needed. Period.
@!$%# these ghetto mother @!$%#ers! Let them ROT! They killed innocent people for money, cars, alcohol, they are pathetic and will always be stupid @!$%#s! They should be given the death penalty, not just life! We pay for them for their life sentence!
I agree, but it can cost more in appeals and junk than to let them just rot in prison, what we need for these type of offenders is a prison like they have in Thailand, that wouldn't cost us much at all.
Rehabilitated, really?? If you are capable as a young teenager of beating someone to death, killing family members by stabbing them, then setting them on fire or any person for that matter, then you are a danger to society and prison is where you belong. Actually, 6 ft under is where you belong, so the taxpayers can stop paying to feed and house you for the next unknown number of years. No sympathy for the devil.
Live by the Sword die by the Sword.
These people should be executed or serve life sentences. Anyone who can just walk into your house and kill you, then steal your car is a monster. They can say that they have changed but, they would say anything to get out of jail. Giving them a second chance is a risk that I'm sure most people would not want to take. Its hard to imagine that someone would stab their step brother also. Thats family, these people are sociopaths, incapable of feeling remorse. The prison's are wasting time trying to rehabilitate them, they should just let them sit in a cell. Don't feed them either. Just let them slowly rot as they think back on why they were put there in the first place.
Perhaps the Supreme Court will rule 5-4 that we should just tell them that Santa Claus is going to put coal in their stocking and let it go at that.
Justice would be better served if we hung them in the town square and forced their parents to pull the trap-door lever.
CORRECTION: Jackson didn't kill anyone.
Why there is a 28% that says they should not go to jail when they commit a crime because they are too young? or a 6% not sure about it? sorry for been too blunt but is 1+1=2, I mean C'mon so if your son or daughter kills someone do you think they deserve a free jail out card just because is a manor if they're my son or daughter I'll put him/her in jail even if it kills me inside, that's not they way you should raise a son/daughter, then why have them? if you decide to bring a person in this world you are responsible 100% of his/her education until they mature or even further so be very careful on how you raise them, is not the school system or government responsible for your kids is you and only you...enough said! it pains me seen this young people waste away like that.
all FIRST degree murderers should be convicted this way and there should be no early release for anyone convicted of a felony, regardless of the crime, unless they are proven innocent.