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Thread: Appeals court allows life sentences for juveniles

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    Appeals court allows life sentences for juveniles

    The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled that juveniles cannot be sentenced to death, and that they also cannot be sentenced to life in prison without parole for rape and other non-homicide offenses. But what about those juveniles who were convicted of murder?

    The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals is now considering a case that could answer that question. The court heard arguments in the case Wednesday.

    Kenneth Loggins was convicted in Alabama of killing a hitchhiker in 1994 and originally sentenced to die. Loggins was 17 at the time of the killing, and three other people — ages 19, 17 and 16 — were also convicted in the slaying and sentenced to either death or life in prison. Loggins' punishment was reduced to life without parole after the Supreme Court banned such punishments in 2005.

    His attorneys argue that the reduced punishment is still too strict of a sentence. They point to psychiatric evidence that shows an adolescent's impulse control and moral judgment aren't fully developed by the age of 17, and claim he was a "poster child for rehabilitation."

    Defense attorney Julia Wood urged the three-judge panel Wednesday to broaden the Supreme Court's 2010 ruling to include murders. That 5-4 ruling held that juveniles cannot be sentenced to life in prison without parole if they have not killed anyone, and found they should have a "meaningful opportunity to obtain release."

    Wood argued that while the ruling didn't ban courts from sentencing juveniles to a life behind bars, it also "didn't answer the question as to what sentence shouldn't apply in homicide cases."

    Prosecutors countered that the high court ruling went to great lengths to specify it only applied in non-homicide cases. John Neiman, the deputy Alabama attorney general, also said the appeals court shouldn't consider the argument because Loggins never brought it to a lower court.

    "The right way to view this case is through a procedural lens," Neiman said. "The argument that Mr. Wiggins is making is fundamentally different from the same arguments he made in front of the Alabama Criminal Court of Appeals."

    Loggins and the three other teens picked up the hitchhiker, Vickie Deblieux, in February 1994 as she was traveling to her mother's home in Louisiana. They took her to a secluded rural area, where prosecutors say Loggins tackled the woman while another teen kicked and stomped her until she died.

    Loggins and two others later mutilated the body by cutting off her fingers and thumbs and removing part of a lung. They were arrested after one of the teens was reported to have been showing one of the victim's severed fingers to friends.

    The three-judge panel didn't immediately issue a ruling Wednesday, but peppered the two lawyers with questions. Circuit Judge Ed Carnes, though, suggested it is a case that could answer some unsettled parts of the death penalty law.

    "This is a very complicated area of law and I'm still amazed after a more than a quarter-century of practicing all the permutations that have come up," said Carnes, who had been the head of Alabama's capital punishment unit before he joined the court in 1992.

    Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/news/artic...#ixzz1M4ZxoEj2

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Kenneth Loggins v. Thomas

    Appeals court allows life sentences for juveniles

    A federal appeals court on Wednesday held that juveniles convicted of murder can be sentenced to life in prison without parole, seeking to settle a lingering debate over how the courts punish minors who commit serious offenses.

    The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled that juveniles cannot be sentenced to death and that they also can't be sentenced to life in prison without parole for rape and other non-homicide offenses. The ruling by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday, though, upheld life sentences for juveniles convicted of murder.

    The decision came in the case against Kenneth Loggins, who was convicted in Alabama of killing a hitchhiker in 1994 and originally sentenced to die. He was 17 at the time of the killing, so his punishment was reduced to life without parole because the Supreme Court banned such executions in 2005.

    His attorneys had urged the three-judge panel to broaden a 2010 Supreme Court ruling to include murders. That 5-4 ruling held that juveniles cannot be sentenced to life in prison without parole if they haven't killed anyone, and ordered the courts to allow them a "meaningful opportunity to obtain release."

    But prosecutors argued that the high court took pains to specify the ruling only applied in non-homicide cases, and the 11th Circuit said it found no reason to toss out Loggins' prison sentence.

    The decision, written by Circuit Judge Ed Carnes, said "there's nothing in law or logic" to support the argument that a state shouldn't be allowed to impose the next most severe punishment if a death penalty sentence is banned.

    The 11th Circuit has jurisdiction over federal cases in Georgia, Alabama and Florida, but lawyers in other areas will likely use the opinion to back up their own arguments.

    Carnes had been the head of Alabama's capital punishment unit before he joined the court in 1992. He also wrote that the state shouldn't be blocked from imposing the prison sentence because it "lacked the clairvoyance to know that the Supreme Court would do an about-face and rule out death sentences for seventeen-year-old murderers."

    In the decision, he said only a few jurisdictions have repealed laws permitting life without parole sentences for homicides committed by juveniles, and that the national consensus seems to be in favor of keeping those laws on the books.

    "The long-term national trend is not away from life without parole sentences for homicides committed by juveniles but toward them," he said.

    The ruling comes in a case involving the gruesome murder of Deblieux, who was picked up by Loggins and three other teens and taken to a secluded rural area as she was traveling to her mother's home in Louisiana.

    One of the men hit Deblieux in the head with a beer bottle and then tackled her when she tried to run away, and all four savagely kicked her, the court said. When they realized she was still alive after the vicious beating, Loggins stood on her throat until she died, the ruling said.

    Loggins and two others later mutilated the body by cutting off her fingers and thumbs and removing part of a lung. They were arrested after one of the teens was reported to have been showing one of the victim's severed fingers to friends.

    The three others - who were 19, 17 and 16 at the time of the killing - were also convicted of the slaying and sentenced to either death or life in prison.

    Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/0...#ixzz1XIzyU9HT

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