House vote keeps kids open to sure life terms

State Rep. Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville, listens Thursday as fellow House members speak against his bill, which seeks to eliminate life sentences without the possibility of parole for crimes committed by minors. The measure failed.
State Rep. Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville, listens Thursday as fellow House members speak against his bill, which seeks to eliminate life sentences without the possibility of parole for crimes committed by minors. The measure failed.

Legislation that would have eliminated the possibility of life without parole for people convicted of crimes they committed as juveniles failed in the Arkansas House of Representatives on Thursday.

House Bill 1197, sponsored by Rep. Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville, and Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, died in a 53-29 vote, with 51 ayes needed for passage. The bill would have amended Arkansas' sentencing statutes to eliminate the possibility of life-without-parole sentences for offenders who were under the age of 18 when they committed a crime.

The sponsors of the bill, which was filed early in the legislative session, struggled to get the legislation out of the House Judiciary Committee for more than a month. Leding agreed to amend the bill Tuesday to get enough committee votes to bring it to the House floor, including eliminating all retroactivity and increasing the mandatory minimum sentences for juveniles convicted of capital murder.

"Ours is the only country in the world that sentences children to die in prison," Leding said from the House floor Thursday. "I also want to make clear that people sentenced, if this bill becomes law, will still serve life without parole. It only offers an opportunity for parole for some individuals ... moving forward."

Because the retroactivity component of the bill was removed, the 56 Arkansas inmates convicted for crimes committed as juveniles and serving life without parole would not have been eligible for parole. The 65 inmates convicted as juveniles and serving life with the possibility of parole would not have been eligible for parole any sooner.

The bill would have changed the prison time required to be served before people convicted of crimes as juveniles in the future became eligible for parole.

Under the bill, those who commit nonhomicide crimes and those convicted of murder but who did not actually take a life or intend to take a life would have been eligible for parole after 20 years.

Those who are convicted of murder and sentenced to life would have been eligible for parole in 30 years.

For opponents of the bill, however, the amendments weren't enough to push the legislation beyond the House floor.

Rep. Rebecca Petty, R-Rogers, a victim-rights advocate whose daughter was murdered, said time means something different when you've lost a loved one.

"If you're heinous enough to commit capital murder, no matter what age you are, you should never even have the remote chance of being released," she said. "My 12-year-old daughter was raped and strangled 15 years ago. If someone told me that her killer would be out in 15 years from today, I would be devastated. This bill is a kick in the teeth to crime victims."

Rep. Michelle Gray, R-Melbourne, said she would feel responsible if someone who committed capital murder as a juvenile was paroled after 30 years and committed another capital murder.

Supporters argued that the minds of juveniles are not fully formed to comprehend the kinds of decisions they make.

"As a Christian I believe in redemption, and I believe there is a possibility that people can be better no matter the bad things they've done in their lives," said Rep. Camille Bennett, D-Lonoke.

HB1197 comes two years after the Legislature passed Act 1490 of 2013 to get the state's sentencing laws in compliance with a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that eliminated mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles.

In Miller v. Alabama, which was heard in tandem with the Arkansas case Jackson v. Hobbs, the court found that state-mandated sentences of life without parole for minors violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. However, the ruling did not bar juries from deciding to send young offenders to prison for life without parole.

Before Act 1490, state law required that anyone convicted of capital murder be sentenced either to death or to life without parole. Act 1490 changed the law to exclude youthful offenders from the mandatory life-without-parole sentences but still allowed juries to opt for that punishment if a case warranted.

In December, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a Louisiana case that would clarify the court's stance on retroactively applying its Miller v. Alabama ruling, but it's uncertain when that case will be decided.

Metro on 03/27/2015

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