The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled this week in a federal habeas petition filed by two teen killers in California that the California judge exercised discretionary power in sentencing them to life without possibility of parole. By finding that the sentence was discretionary rather than mandatory, the petitioners are not eligible for a new sentencing hearing under Miller. The panel held that the sentence did not violate the Eighth Amendment as cruel and unusual because the sentence to life without possibility of parole was not pursuant to a mandatory
sentencing scheme that prohibited the court from taking into
account potential mitigating circumstances The appellate court specifically ruled that they were not ruling on whether Miller was retroactive.

Natalie DeMola and her boyfriend Terry Bell received the jlwop sentences for the murder of Natalie's mother Kim after plotting months to kill her. The two left a trail of instant messages and e mails outlining their plans. A third teen defendant received a life with parole sentence.