In re Willover
Annotate this CaseIn 1999, Willover was convicted of two counts of first degree murder, attempted premeditated murder, mayhem, and giving false information to a peace officer. The jury found true special circumstances and firearm enhancements. The trial court sentenced Willover, who was 17 years old at the time he committed the offenses, to two consecutive terms of life without possibility of parole (LWOP) for the murders and stayed the terms for the remaining counts and enhancements. The court of appeal modified the sentence for the attempted premeditated murder to life with the possibility of parole. In 2014, Willover filed a petition for habeas corpus, arguing that he is entitled to be resentenced because the trial court improperly presumed that LWOP was the appropriate sentence for the murders, in violation of Miller v. Alabama, in which the Supreme Court held that “mandatory life without parole for those under the age of 18 at the time of their crimes violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on ‘cruel and unusual punishments.’ ” The court of appeal vacated the sentence and remanded. The transcript of the sentencing hearing does not “clearly indicate” that the trial court would have reached the same result if it had applied the Miller factors.
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