Split California Supreme Court holds 50-year sentence for juve kidnapper violates the Eighth Amendment after Graham
This afternoon, the Supreme Court of California issued a 93-page opinion in California v. Contreras, No. S224564 (Cal. Feb. 26, 2018) (available here), which extends the limits that the Supreme Court's Eighth Amendment ruling in Graham places on juvenile sentencing for non-homicide crimes. Here is how the majority opinion, authored by Justice Liu, gets started:
Defendants Leonel Contreras and William Rodriguez were convicted in a joint trial of kidnapping and sexual offenses they committed as 16 year olds. Rodriguez was sentenced to a term of 50 years to life, and Contreras was sentenced to a term of 58 years to life. We granted review to determine whether the sentences imposed on these juvenile nonhomicide offenders violate the Eighth Amendment as interpreted in People v. Caballero (2012) 55 Cal.4th 262, 268 (Caballero) and Graham v. Florida (2010) 560 U.S. 48 (Graham). We hold that these sentences are unconstitutional under the reasoning of Graham.
The lead dissenting opinion, authored by Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye, gets started this way:
I respectfully dissent. The majority’s erroneous interpretation and extension of Graham v. Florida (2010) 560 U.S. 48 (Graham) yield a result the Graham court did not intend — the categorical condemnation of all sentences in which juvenile offenders convicted of nonhomicide crimes will serve a term of 50 years or greater. At the same time, the majority fails to properly account for legislation and regulations that afford defendants William Rodriguez and Leonel Contreras an initial opportunity for parole no later than when they reach the age of 60. These measures take defendants’ sentences outside of Graham’s purview even under the majority’s mistaken approach to that decision. Defendants’ sentences do not violate the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and I would so hold.
Because this ruling appears to rest squarely on application of the Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution rather than on the parallel provision in article I, section 17 of the California Constitution, it would seem the state of California could seek to appeal this expansive application of the Graham ruling to the US Supreme Court. It will be interesting to see if California pursues an appeal and what might become of it were the state to do so.
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