Whiteside v. State
Annotate this CaseAppellant Lemuel Whiteside, a juvenile who was seventeen at the time the offense was committed, was convicted of capital-felony murder and aggravated robbery. Whiteside was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the capital-murder conviction and thirty-five years imprisonment for the aggravated robbery. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the evidence was more than sufficient to convict Appellant of capital-felony murder; (2) Appellant's sentence of life without the possibility of parole was did not violate the Eighth Amendment under Graham v. Florida because Appellant was convicted of a homicide; (3) under existing case law, the imposition of a life-without-parole sentence for a juvenile capital-felony-murder offender does not violate the Arkansas Constitution prohibition against cruel or unusual punishment and thus, Appellant's sentence did not violate the Arkansas Constitution; and (4) the imposition of the mandatory life-without-parole sentence did not violate Appellant's right to a jury trial or due process.
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