State v. Keefe
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The Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part the order of the district court resentencing Defendant to life without parole for three counts of deliberate homicide committed when he was a juvenile, holding that the district court erroneously concluded that Defendant was irreparably corrupt and permanently incorrigible.
Defendant was convicted for three murders he committed when he was seventeen years old and was sentenced to three consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole. Defendant later filed a petition for postconviction relief asserting that his sentence was unconstitutional in light of the Supreme Court's decisions in Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460, and Montgomery v. Louisiana, 577 U.S. __ (2016). After a hearing, the district court resentenced Defendant to three consecutive life terms. The Supreme Court reversed in part and remanded the case for resentencing, holding that the district court (1) did not err when it appointed a neutral expert for the resentencing hearing; (2) did not err when it denied Defendant's request for a jury to determine whether he was irreparably corrupt and permanently incorrigible; and (3) erred when it refused to consider post-offense evidence of rehabilitation at the resentencing hearing.
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