The U.S. Supreme Court’s new juvenile sentencing ruling could retroactively impact only two Lowndes County men already serving sentences of life without parole.
On Monday, the Supreme Court threw out mandatory life in prison without parole for juveniles. The decision left open the possibility that individual judges could sentence juveniles to life without parole in individual cases of murder, but said state and federal laws cannot automatically impose such a sentence.
Attorney General Jim Hood said the only Mississippi cases likely to be affected by the ruling are those capital murder cases where a defendant under the age of 18 was sentenced to life without parole as an automatic sentence.
The Lowndes County District Attorney’s Office Wednesday confirmed only two men — Lee Dancer and Jermaine Hill — were sentenced to life in prison, without parole, as the result of capital murder convictions, while the men were juveniles.
In 1997, Hill was age 17 when he began serving two life sentences, without parole, at the Mississippi Department of Corrections; Dancer was three days from his 15th birthday, when he began serving two life sentences, without parole, in MDOC in 1996.
Both were convicted of armed robbery and murder in connection with their robbery of a Southside store, in which the owner was killed.
“Our major concern would really revolve around the victims in these cases, where they would have gone through that ordeal (of a trial, conviction and sentencing) and believed it to be over and then have it surface again,” Lowndes Assistant District Attorney Rhonda Ellis said of the Supreme Court’s ruling, which could lead to resentencing hearings for Dancer and Hill. “We would be concerned about them and the effect it would have on them, at this point.
“(Our concern also is whether it will be a) deterrent to others in that age group, who would find themselves in positions to commit crimes that would justify a life sentence,” she added.
Mississippi corrections officials initially said 56 inmates were in custody, who were sentenced when they were 18 or younger, but said Tuesday some inmates had multiple counts and the actual number is 46 serving capital murder sentences.
“It is our position that it will not affect those capital murder cases where the death penalty was sought and the jury returned a sentence of life without parole,” Hood said. “This is because the jury at that separate sentencing hearing took into consideration those factors that the United States Supreme Court held must be considered before a life without parole sentence can be imposed.
In cases that are pending on direct appeal, where a life without parole sentence was imposed, Hood said his office will file a motion for resentencing based on the Supreme Court ruling.
“Where juvenile defendants who were previously sentenced to life without parole and their sentences have already been affirmed, we expect they will file a motion for post-conviction relief based on this intervening decision,” Hood said.
At any resentencing, Hood said the trial judge “may consider those factors identified by the Supreme Court and then may resentence them to life without parole or life, which means that they will be eligible for parole at age 65.”
Uncertainty remains whether the ruling will pertain to those inmates already sentenced.
Hood said the Supreme Court decision “does not prohibit life without parole sentences, if the trial judge has discretion to sentence a juvenile to a life with parole.”
“Most likely the only cases that will be affected by the ruling are those capital murder cases where one under the age of 18 was sentenced to life without parole as an automatic sentence,” he explained. “Those automatic sentences were the result of a decision of the Mississippi Supreme Court holding that an amendment to the parole statute only left life without parole as a sentence for capital murder, if death was not imposed. That ruling, coupled with the earlier United States Supreme Court ruling prohibiting the death penalty for those under the age of 18, left us with only life without parole as a sentence for capital murder.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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