As the Supreme Court considers the issue of the constitutionality of life sentences without parole for minors(for crimes in which no one has died) the country mourns the loss of 4 police officers allegedly murdered by an individual who was sentenced to 95 years in prison for a crime committed at 17, then granted clemency in 2000 by a former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, citing his young age.
Terrance Graham was 17-years-old and on parole when he broke into a man’s home and robbed him at gunpoint. Graham pleaded guilty to armed burglary as part of a “violent home-invasion robbery” committed while on parole for another felony” He was was sent to prison by a judge for the rest of his life without the possibility of parole..
Graham v. Florida, has been argued before the Supreme Court on the issue of whether sentencing a teen to life without parole constitutes Cruel and Unusual Punishment in violation of the 8th Amendment of the Constitution.
A companion case is that of Joe Sullivan. Joe was 13 years old when he raped an elderly women.
Lawyers for both defendants are primarily relying on the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling in Roper v. Simmons, in which the high court ruled 5-4 that a death sentence for someone younger than 18 constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and therefore violates the Eighth Amendment.
Enter Maurice Clemmons. Clemmons, killed today by police officers and suspected in the tragic shooting deaths of three Lakewood police officers and one sergeant at the Forza Coffee Shop, south of Tacoma.
Enter Mike Huckabee. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee commuted Clemmons 95 year sentence arising out of a 1989 conviction for aggravated burglary and theft of property in 2000, citing the fact that Clemmons was only 17 at the time of the crimes.
Clemmons then violated his parole and was returned to prison in Arkansas. He was released in 2004. Just six days ago, he was released from a Washington jail on bail after being arrested several months ago for second-degree rape of a child and assaulting a police officer.
While fingers can and should be to some extent pointed at Huckabee, there were clearly failures right down the line on numerous levels. The specter over Huckabee however, is the benefit of 20/20 hindsight that will dog him in 2012. If he does not commute the sentence 2000, the time line stops there. There is no violation of parole. There is no allegation of 2nd-degree rape of a child and assaulting a police officer. There is no murder of 4 police officers. None of this happens because Clemmons is still in prison.
While there are certainly differences between Clemmons situation in 2000 and the issues before the Supreme Court in Graham/Sullivan v. Florida, there is one constant. That constant is violence.
As our justices prepare to over-turn the case of Terrance Graham and Joe Sullivan and hold life sentences w/o parole for minors unconstitutional under the 8th Amendment( I believe they will), I hope they,(particularly Justice Anthony Kennedy) are watching these events and will take them into consideration.
Age is no longer a variable when attached to brute violence. Youth is not always redeemable. Someone has to decide. If our judges must take on a role as societies cops in sentencing so be it. Some people and yes, even teens simply belong behind bars for life. I think the families of 4 slain officers would agree with me. I hope our nine wise-men and women agree with me.
