We, the comrades of Unit 1012, are truly well aware that once the death
penalty is abolished, the ACLU Demons will want to end LWOP.
We, the comrades of
Unit 1012: The VFFDP, DO NOT TRUST them at all and we know that they
are nothing but liars who value the lives of murderers and evildoers, with the
plan on putting innocent people’s lives at risk of getting murdered. These
Anti-Death Penalty Activists are all the ACLU
Demons.
Judge Wendell Griffen
is one example of them who is against LWOP and death penalty.
Judge Griffen
strikes down law requiring life-without-parole sentences for juveniles
The Associated Press , KTHV
June 22, 2017
LITTLE ROCK,
Ark. (AP) - An Arkansas judge has struck down a new state law eliminating
mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles, ruling that it denies
individualized sentencing hearings to offenders who are in prison for offenses
committed when they were minors.
Pulaski
County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen ruled the law unconstitutional Thursday
and ordered a new sentencing hearing for a man convicted of capital murder for
a fatal shooting he committed when he was 16. The new Arkansas law was enacted
this year to comply with recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that say mandatory
life sentences for juveniles are
unconstitutional.
The law
allows minors who were given life-without-parole sentences to be eligible for
parole after serving 20 to 30 years in prison, depending on the charges.
© 2017
Associated Press
INTERNET
SOURCE: http://www.thv11.com/mb/news/local/judge-griffen-strikes-down-law-requiring-life-without-parole-sentences-for-juveniles/451386970
Life-term ban ruled improper by Arkansas judge; law for minors falls
short, he says
By John Moritz 
This article
was published today at 4:30 a.m.
An Arkansas
law enacted earlier this year to ban life-without-parole sentences for minors
was struck down as unconstitutional Thursday by a Pulaski County judge who said
it did not go far enough in removing mandatory sentences.
The deciding
judge, Wendell Griffen of the 6th Judicial Circuit, is under investigation for
his public outspokenness in April against the death penalty at the same time
that he issued an order that threatened to halt the state's execution plans.
Republican
lawmakers, who largely backed the Fair Sentencing of Minors Act, have already
made their discontent with Griffen known, including public talk of impeachment.
Earlier this
month, another judge in Pulaski County issued a separate ruling questioning the
constitutionality of the law, Act 539, but declined to toss it.
That decision
has already been put on notice of appeal to the Arkansas Supreme Court, which
is about to enter its annual summer recess.
Act 539
automatically made juveniles sentenced to life in prison eligible for parole
after serving a minimum amount of time: 30 years for capital murder, and 25
years for first-degree murder.
For now,
Griffen's ruling orders a new sentencing hearing for Brandon Hardman, who was
sentenced in 2002 to life without parole for what prosecutors described as a
"gang hit" when he was 16.
Hardman was
one of 58 inmates in the state Department of Correction affected when the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that juvenile life-without-parole sentences were
unconstitutional, according to the attorney general's office.
Griffen said
in his ruling that Hardman is entitled to have his new sentence determined by a
judge or jury that will take an individual look at his case, not a law written
by the General Assembly.
According to
his ruling, Act 539 violates both the U.S. and Arkansas constitutions as well
as the separation of powers between the branches of government.
"Here,
again, the legislature overstepped its authority, as parole is a function of
the executive branch, not an element of sentencing,"
Griffen wrote.
Lawmakers who
had pushed for a juvenile resentencing law over the past three years said
Griffen's ruling was not helping the effort.
State Rep.
Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville, said he was "shocked" to see Griffen
toss changes for which he had unsuccessfully pushed in 2015. Its more recent
sponsor, state Sen. Missy Irvin, R- Mountain View, said the ruling could delay
parole hearings already scheduled for this summer.
"It's
rather unfortunate," Irvin said. "There are individuals who have been
sitting in prison waiting for Arkansas to pass this law."
The U.S.
Supreme Court decision sparking the case, Miller v. Alabama, noted the
lack of development in youths and said judges and juries should consider several
circumstances before sending them away to the "harshest possible
punishment."
The high
court later said the ruling applied retroactively, and proposed that states
could make former juvenile offenders eligible for parole, instead of
resentencing them.
The
Legislature scrapped a bill to end juvenile life-without-parole sentences in
2015, before passing Act 539 earlier this year.
By that time,
some of the inmates affected by the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling had already had
their old sentences vacated in a series of state court decisions.
Five of those
inmates were granted new sentencing hearings -- a departure from the guidelines
of the act -- earlier this month by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Herb Wright,
who said they should be entitled to the considerations described in Miller, not
the more recent state law.
But Griffen
went a step further, declaring the law unconstitutional for any minor given a
no-parole sentence, not just the ones who had their sentences vacated before
the law was put in place.
Pulaski
County prosecutor Josh Johnson had already submitted a notice to appeal
Wright's decision. A spokesman for Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said
Thursday her office is "evaluating how to proceed."
In addition
to removing juvenile life-without-parole sentences from state statues, Act 539
also required "comprehensive mental health evaluations" for minors
charged with capital or first-degree murder, and established new parole
eligibility requirements for other offenses.
Griffen's
ruling says the act is unconstitutional, but it does not exclude specific
parts.
A Section on 06/23/2017
Print Headline: Life-term ban
ruled improper; Judge says law for minors falls short
INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2017/jun/23/life-term-ban-ruled-off-base-20170623/
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