Moore v. Biter, No. 11-56846 (9th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CasePetitioner, sentenced to 254 years of imprisonment for nonhomicide crimes he committed when he was sixteen years old, petitioned for review of the district court's denial of his petition for federal habeas corpus relief. In Graham v. Florida, the Supreme Court held that the Constitution prohibits States from sentencing a juvenile offender to life in prison without parole for a nonhomicide crime. The court concluded that Graham established a new rule of law that was retroactively applicable on collateral review under Teague v. Lane. Further, the state court's decision was contrary to clearly established Federal law set forth in Graham where defendant's sentence was materially indistinguishable from the sentence in Graham and where defendant's nonhomicide crimes were materially indistinguishable from the nonhomicide crimes in Graham. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded with instructions to grant defendant's petition.
Court Description: Habeas Corpus. The panel reversed the district court’s denial of a 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus petition challenging a 254- year sentence for a juvenile nonhomicide offender. The panel first held that Graham v. Florida, 130 S. Ct. 2011 (2010), which prohibits the punishment of life without possibility of parole for juvenile nonhomicide offenders like petitioner, applies retroactively on collateral review. The panel then held that the state court’s failure to apply Graham to petitioner’s sentence was contrary to clearly established federal law.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on February 12, 2014.
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