Graham v. Florida
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
| Writing for the Court | Justice KENNEDY delivered the opinion of the Court. |
| Citation | Graham v. Florida, 176 L.Ed. 2d 825, 130 S. Ct. 2011 (2009) |
| Decision Date | 09 November 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. 08-7412.,08-7412. |
| Parties | Terrance Jamar GRAHAM, Petitioner, v. FLORIDA. |
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Bryan S. Gowdy, appointed by this Court, Jacksonville, FL, for petitioner.
Scott D. Makar, Solicitor General, Tallahassee, FL, for respondent.
Drew S. Days, III, Brian R. Matsui, Seth M. Galanter, Morrison & Foerster LLP, Washington, DC, George C. Harris, Morrison & Foerster LLP, San Francisco, CA, Bryan S. Gowdy, Counsel of Record, John S. Mills, Rebecca Bowen Creed, Jessie L. Harrell, Mills Creed & Gowdy, P.A., Jacksonville, FL, for petitioner.
Bill McCollum, Attorney General of Florida, Scott D. Makar, Solicitor General, Counsel of Record, Louis F. Hubener, Chief Deputy Solicitor General, Timothy D. Osterhaus, Craig D. Feiser, Courtney Brewer, Ronald A. Lathan, Deputy Solicitors General, Tallahassee, FL, for respondent.
The issue before the Court is whether the Constitution permits a juvenile offender to be sentenced to life in prison without parole for a nonhomicide crime. The sentence was imposed by the State of Florida. Petitioner challenges the sentence under the Eighth Amendment's Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause, made applicable to the States by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Robinson v. California, 370 U.S. 660, 82 S.Ct. 1417, 8 L.Ed.2d 758 (1962).
I
Petitioner is Terrance Jamar Graham. He was born on January 6, 1987. Graham's parents were addicted to crack cocaine, and their drug use persisted in his early years. Graham was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in elementary school. He began drinking alcohol and using tobacco at age 9 and smoked marijuana at age 13.
In July 2003, when Graham was age 16, he and three other school-age youths attempted to rob a barbeque restaurant in Jacksonville, Florida. One youth, who worked at the restaurant, left the back door unlocked just before closing time. Graham and another youth, wearing masks, entered through the unlocked door. Graham's masked accomplice twice struck the restaurant manager in the back of the head with a metal bar. When the manager started yelling at the assailant and Graham, the two youths ran out and escaped in a car driven by the third...
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State v. Draper
...violates the Constitution. Roper, supra, at 572 [125 S.Ct. at 1196–97, 161 L.Ed.2d 1, 23–24].... Graham v. Florida, ––– U.S. ––––, ––––, 130 S.Ct. 2011, 2022, 176 L.Ed.2d 825, 837 (2010).2. The Eighth Amendment Prohibition of Cruel and Unusual Punishment Draper argues that, by the same reas......
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People v. Ramirez
...Constitutionality of Appellant's Sentence [17] Relying on the United States Supreme Court's decision in Graham v. Florida (2010) 560 U.S. ––––, 130 S.Ct. 2011, 176 L.Ed.2d 825( Graham ), which held that a juvenile offender may not be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, appe......
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United States v. Broxmeyer
...to judicial veto only when the legislative judgment oversteps constitutional bounds.”); cf. Graham v. Florida, ––– U.S. ––––, 130 S.Ct. 2011, 2037, 176 L.Ed.2d 825 (2010) (Roberts, C.J., concurring) (recognizing, in state context, “primacy of the legislature in setting sentences”). Were we ......
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State v. Proctor
...the possibility of parole on juvenile offenders found to have committed offenses other than homicide. Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. ––––, 130 S.Ct. 2011, 2034, 176 L.Ed.2d 825 (2010). By contrast, a case-specific challenge contends the imposition of a given sentence, typically incarceration f......
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Necessary suffering? Weighing government and prisoner interests in determining what is cruel and unusual.
...standards of decency"). (59.) Rhodes v. Chapman, 452 U.S. 337, 346 (1981) (quoting Trop, 356 U.S. at 101). (60.) See, e.g., Graham v. Florida, 130 S. Ct. 2011 (2010) (prohibiting life without parole for non-homicide crimes committed by minors); Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002) (prohi......
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The Eighth Amendment's milieu: penal reform in the late eighteenth century.
...society."). (314) 543 U.S. 551, 589, 605 (2005) (O'Connor, J., dissenting). (315) Id. at 589, 605. (316) Id. at 604. (317) 130 S. Ct. 2011, 2033 (2010) (noting "support for our conclusion in the fact that, in continuing to impose life without parole sentences on juveniles who did not commit......
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Transfer or Waiver to Adult Court
...if the offender was below age 18 at the time of the crime, see Roper v. Simmons , 543 U.S. 551 (2005) (capital punishment); Graham v. Florida , 130 S. Ct. 2011 (2010) (life without the possibility of parole in non-homicide cases); see also Miller v. Alabama , 132 S. Ct. 2455 (2012) (barring......
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C. Classification of Offenses
...provisions requiring a life sentence run contrary to the United States Supreme Court ruling in Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. ___, 130 S. Ct. 2011 (2010). Graham prohibits life sentences for offenders under 18 for nonhomicide offenses. As such, a defendant who was less than 18 years of age whe......
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Chapter 12, AB 134 – Prohibits the imposition of a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole upon a juvenile offender convicted of a non-homicide crime
...of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole upon a juvenile offender convicted of a non-homicide crime. (Graham v. Florida, 130 S.Ct. 2011 (2010)) This bill revises existing law to reflect this holding by prohibiting a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of paro......
