Hill v. Snyder, Case No. 10–cv–14568

• Decision Date: 09 April 2018
• Docket Number: Case No. 10–cv–14568
• Citation: 308 F.Supp.3d 893
• Parties: Henry HILL, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Rick SNYDER, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan

308 F.Supp.3d 893

Henry HILL, et al., Plaintiffs,
v.
Rick SNYDER, et al., Defendants.

Case No. 10–cv–14568

United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, Southern Division.

Signed April 9, 2018

308 F.Supp.3d 897

Daniel S. Korobkin, Michael J. Steinberg, American Civil Liberties Union Fund of Michigan, Detroit, MI, Ezekiel R. Edwards, Steven M. Watt, The American Civil Liberties Foundation, New York, NY, Ronald J. Reosti, Reosti & Sirlin, P.C., Pleasant Ridge, MI, Deborah A. LaBelle, Ann Arbor, MI, for Plaintiffs.

Joseph T. Froehlich, Kathryn M. Dalzell, Margaret A. Nelson, B. Eric Restuccia, Ann M. Sherman, Michigan Department of Attorney General, Lansing, MI, for Defendants.

OPINION & ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT, DECLARATORY JUDGMENT AND PERMANENT INJUNCTION (Dkt. 181), DENYING DEFENDANTS' CROSS–MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT (Dkt. 190), AND GRANTING PLAINTIFFS' SECOND RENEWED MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION (Dkt. 180)

MARK A. GOLDSMITH, United States District Judge

The United States Supreme Court has ruled that juveniles convicted of first-degree murder cannot be subject to mandatory life sentences without parole. Because of their lesser culpability and greater capacity to change, they must be sentenced under a process that gives them an individualized opportunity to present mitigating circumstances to avert such a harsh sentence. In response, the Michigan legislature enacted legislation that purported to comply with the Court's ruling, which included the possibility of being resentenced to prison for a term of years. However, the legislature provided that in calculating any such sentence, the youth offenders were not to receive any credit—known as good time or disciplinary credit—even though such credits were earned while the youth offenders served their illegally imposed sentences. In that respect, the legislative response ran afoul of our Constitution's ban on ex post facto laws—the constitutional guarantee that laws may not retroactively criminalize conduct or enhance the punishment for criminal acts already perpetrated. For this reason, the Court must declare that provision of the statute unconstitutional and order that the youth offenders receive the credit that they have previously earned.

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I. BACKGROUND

This matter is currently before the Court on competing motions of the parties, for which a hearing was held on March 22, 2018. For the following reasons, the Court grants in part and denies in part Plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment, declaratory judgment and permanent injunction (Dkt. 181); denies Defendants' cross-motion for partial summary judgment (Dkt. 190); and grants Plaintiffs' second renewed motion for class certification (Dkt. 180).¹

Plaintiffs are individuals who were sentenced to mandatory life without parole for homicide crimes that they committed as juveniles. From the outset of the case over seven years ago, they have alleged that Michigan's sentencing scheme violates their constitutional rights by depriving them of a meaningful opportunity for release—first challenging their mandatory sentences of life without parole, and now, in light of the Supreme Court's decisions in Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 183 L.Ed.2d 407 (2012) and Montgomery v. Louisiana, ––– U.S. ––––, 136 S.Ct. 718, 193 L.Ed.2d 599 (2016), they challenge Michigan's statutes, policies, and procedures implemented in the post- Miller world.

In Miller, the Supreme Court held that a mandatory sentence of life without parole for a juvenile offender convicted of homicide violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. In Montgomery, the Court held that Miller applied retroactively.

Michigan law had previously provided that youth offenders who were convicted of first-degree murder were ineligible for parole. See Mich. Comp. Laws § 750.316 (life imprisonment without parole for first-degree murder); Mich. Comp. Laws § 791.234(6)(a) (ineligibility for parole for individuals convicted of first-degree murder under § 750.316 ). Following Miller, the Michigan legislature enacted new statutory provisions to ensure that juveniles convicted of first-degree murder would not be sentenced to mandatory life imprisonment without parole.² As explained by the Sixth Circuit:

Michigan amended its sentencing scheme to prospectively address the effect of Miller . The Legislature enacted a new statutory provision, which covered both juveniles convicted of first-degree homicide after Miller and those juveniles whose cases were still pending or eligible for direct appellate review at the time of the statute's enactment. See Mich. Comp. Laws § 769.25. This new provision allows prosecutors to seek life-without-parole sentences for juveniles convicted of first-degree homicide crimes by filing a motion specifying the grounds for imposing that punishment. Id. § 769.25(3). It also requires courts to conduct a hearing on such motions, where the judge "shall consider the factors listed in Miller v. Alabama, ... and may consider any other criteria relevant

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to its decision, including the individual's record while incarcerated." Id. § 769.25(6) (citation omitted). If the court does not sentence the individual to life without parole, the court must sentence the individual to a minimum term of 25 to 40 years and a maximum term of 60 years. Id. § 769.25(9).

Michigan simultaneously enacted Section 769.25a, which anticipated a United States or Michigan Supreme Court decision making Miller retroactively applicable. Mich. Comp. Laws § 769.25a(2). This provision applies to juveniles who were convicted of first-degree homicide offenses before Miller and who received mandatory sentences of life without parole. Id. Section 769.25a incorporates portions of Section 769.25 and relies on the same process for imposing renewed life-without-parole or term-of-years sentences. In January 2016, the Supreme Court held that Miller established a new substantive rule of constitutional law that applies retroactively, Montgomery v. Louisiana, ––– U.S. ––––, 136 S.Ct. 718, 736, 193 L.Ed.2d 599 (2016), and thereby triggered implementation of Section 769.25a.

Hill II, 878 F.3d at 200.

According to Plaintiffs, there are 363 offenders who are subject to the resentencing provisions of Section 769.25a. Michigan prosecutors have filed motions seeking the re-imposition of sentences of life without parole for 236 of these individuals. To date, none of these resentencings has taken place.³ However, resentencing hearings are proceeding for those individuals who were not the subject of motions for re-imposition of life-without-parole sentences. Approximately one hundred individuals have been resentenced to a term of years; of these, over thirty have been paroled and the remaining are parole eligible. Twenty-two individuals are still awaiting resentencing for a term-of-years sentence. See Pl. Mot. at 4 (Dkt. 181).

Plaintiffs filed their second amended complaint in June 2016, naming Governor Rick Snyder; Heidi E. Washington, Director of the Michigan Department of Corrections ("MDOC"); Michael Eagen, Chair of the Michigan Parole Board; and Bill Schuette, Michigan Attorney General, as defendants (Dkt. 130). The second amended complaint asserts several claims, only three of which remain in the case, following the Sixth Circuit's second opinion, reversing in part and affirming in part Judge O'Meara's grant of Defendants' motion to dismiss. Hill II, 878 F.3d at 215. The remaining claims are: Count IV (alleging that those facing a term-of-years sentence with a mandatory maximum of sixty years are subjected to the equivalent of life imprisonment, in violation of the Eight and Fourteenth Amendments); Count V (alleging that Mich. Comp. Laws § 769.25a(6) retroactively deprives them of earned good time and/or disciplinary credits, in violation of the constitutional guarantee against ex post facto laws); and Count VI (alleging denial of rehabilitative programming necessary for release on parole deprives Plaintiffs of a "fair and meaningful opportunity

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for release," in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments). These remaining claims were remanded for "expeditious resolution." Hill II, 878 F.3d at 215.

Plaintiffs promptly filed a motion for partial summary judgment on Counts V and VI of the second amended complaint (Dkt. 181), as well as a motion for class certification (Dkt. 180). Defendants filed a response containing a cross-motion for partial summary judgment on those same counts (Dkt. 190).

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

A motion for summary judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 shall be granted "if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). A genuine dispute of material fact exists when there are "disputes over facts that might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). "[F]acts must...