top of page
Presented by (2).png

Mandatory Minimums, Juveniles, & Miller/Montgomery/Malvo

The Supreme Court has a case before it now asking the Court to decide if discretionary life sentences for juveniles are constitutional. The Court has held previously that mandatory life sentences for juveniles are unconstitutional.

The SC Supreme Court recently upheld a murder conviction for a juvenile who received the mandatory minimum sentence (at least 30 years). The court held, along with which many states have also held, that the Supreme Court will need to decide if mandatory minimums for juveniles is constitutional.

The case currently before the Supreme Court is the DC Sniper case. You can find a paper I wrote about it here.

I believe the Supreme Court will have to resolve Malvo v. Mathena before it can resolve mandatory minimums.


Recent Posts

See All

A Defendant's Case and Their Rights

The defendant has a fundamental right to testify or not testify. · State v. Rivera, 402 S.C. 225 (2013). While the defendant as a right to be present at trial, they do not have a right to be absent

Affidavits/Business Records and Crawford

Affidavits that are testimonial in nature require the declarant to testify or opposing party to have an opportunity to cross-examine. Certificates of drug analysis that confirmed the results of the an

bottom of page