Hobbs v. Turner (Majority)
Annotate this CaseAppellee, who was seventeen years old at the time of the offenses, pled nolo contedere to committing several crimes, including kidnapping. The circuit court sentenced Appellee to life imprisonment for his kidnapping conviction. The U.S. Supreme Court subsequently issued its decision in Graham v. Florida, holding that the Eighth Amendment forbids a sentence of life without parole for a juvenile offender who did not commit homicide. Appellee subsequently filed a writ of habeas corpus alleging that, pursuant to Graham, his life sentence was unconstitutional. After a sentencing hearing, the circuit court sentenced Appellee to a term of forty years’ imprisonment for the kidnapping conviction. The State appealed, arguing that the circuit court erred in not sentencing Appellee to a term of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole. Appellee cross-appealed. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the circuit court correctly ruled that the maximum sentence available after invalidation of Appellee’s life sentence was forty years; and (2) Graham did not entitle Appellee to additional consideration of his youth or the circumstances of his crime to reduce his sentence even further.
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