Post by Logan on Apr 24, 2016 8:52:08 GMT -6
Efforts to reconsider life sentences for juveniles gain momentum in Maryland
On a January day in 2005, Matthew McCullough stood at the defense table in a crowded Towson courtroom. The 18-year-old was facing a judge for his role in a shooting outside Randallstown High School — an act of violence that left the suburbs shaken and another teen paralyzed.
William "Tipper" Thomas III, also 18, watched from his wheelchair, where doctors had told him he would remain for the rest of his life.
The sentence: one hundred years.
Today public defenders in Maryland are arguing that McCullough and others who were sentenced as adults for crimes committed when they were juveniles should have another day in court — and another chance at a shorter sentence. The Maryland Office of the Public Defender has filed about a dozen motions statewide, including in cases of rape and murder, arguing that lengthy sentences for juveniles that amount to life terms are "constitutionally suspect" and "fundamentally unfair."
They point to a series of U.S. Supreme Court rulings — the latest in January — that found children have special legal protections against extraordinarily long sentences and that mandatory life without parole for juveniles is unconstitutional. Maryland public defenders also say that many prisoners who were sentenced as teens have shown they have changed.
Read more: www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-juvenile-sentence-debate-20160423-story.html
On a January day in 2005, Matthew McCullough stood at the defense table in a crowded Towson courtroom. The 18-year-old was facing a judge for his role in a shooting outside Randallstown High School — an act of violence that left the suburbs shaken and another teen paralyzed.
William "Tipper" Thomas III, also 18, watched from his wheelchair, where doctors had told him he would remain for the rest of his life.
The sentence: one hundred years.
Today public defenders in Maryland are arguing that McCullough and others who were sentenced as adults for crimes committed when they were juveniles should have another day in court — and another chance at a shorter sentence. The Maryland Office of the Public Defender has filed about a dozen motions statewide, including in cases of rape and murder, arguing that lengthy sentences for juveniles that amount to life terms are "constitutionally suspect" and "fundamentally unfair."
They point to a series of U.S. Supreme Court rulings — the latest in January — that found children have special legal protections against extraordinarily long sentences and that mandatory life without parole for juveniles is unconstitutional. Maryland public defenders also say that many prisoners who were sentenced as teens have shown they have changed.
Read more: www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-juvenile-sentence-debate-20160423-story.html