JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Another Mississippi juvenile resentenced to life without parole in prison is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court, raising questions about whether state judges are obeying the court’s rule that lifetime sentences should be “rare.”
Joey Chandler, convicted of murder for killing his cousin in 2003, argued in a Wednesday petition that justices should reverse his sentence because a judge didn’t formally determine if he could be rehabilitated.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that juveniles can’t automatically be sentenced to life without parole. Mississippi then had 87 prisoners with no-parole sentences for crimes committed as juveniles. A report finds that of 44 now resentenced, 13 again got life without parole. Advocates argue that’s too many to meet the standard reserving such sentences for uncommon juveniles who can’t be rehabilitated.
By JEFF AMY
Associated Press
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