Mississippi Dept. of Corrections v. Bland
Annotate this CaseThe Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) appealed the Sunflower County Circuit Court’s decision requiring it to develop a parole case plan for Jerry Bland. In 1982, Bland pleaded guilty to capital murder, burglary of a dwelling, and uttering a forgery. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for the capital murder, to ten years for the burglary, and to fifteen years for the forgery. Bland first was eligible for parole in October 1998, but he was denied. Since then, Bland had seven more parole hearings. After House Bill 585 went into effect in July 2014, Bland sought a parole case plan pursuant to newly enacted Mississippi Code Section 47-7-3.1. On July 1, 2015, Bland filed his "first step" with MDOC’s Administrative Remedy Program (ARP). In response, MDOC said that House Bill 585 was not retroactive and that it applied only to those offenders sentenced on or after July 1, 2014. Bland then filed a motion for judicial review with the Circuit Court, and the circuit judge reversed MDOC’s decision, finding that Section 47-7-3.1 applied retroactively to offenders sentenced before July 1, 2014. MDOC appealed. Because the Supreme Court found that section 47-7-3.1 did not clearly and unequivocally express an intention for retroactive applicability, the Supreme Court reversed the Circuit Court's judgment.
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