Henry v. State
Annotate this CaseWhen he was seventeen years old, Defendant was tried as an adult and convicted of, among other nonhomicide offenses, three counts of sexual battery while possessing a weapon, two counts of robbery, and one count of kidnapping. After Defendant was initially sentenced to life imprisonment plus sixty years, in light of the recently issued Graham v. Florida decision, the trial court resentenced Defendant to concurrent thirty-year sentences for the sexual batteries. The remaining sentences were to run consecutively. The Fifth District Court of Appeal affirmed, holding that Graham does not apply to term-of-years prison sentences because such sentences do not constitute life imprisonment. The Supreme Court quashed the decision below and remanded for resentencing, holding (1) the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment under Graham is implicated when a juvenile nonhomicide offender’s sentence does not afford any meaningful opportunity to obtain release based on demonstrated maturity and reform; and (2) because Defendant’s aggregate sentence did not afford him this opportunity, his sentence was unconstitutional under Graham.
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