The South Carolina Supreme Court ruling in Aikens, et al v. Byars is available in Adobe .pdf format.
Justice Kaye Hearn wrote for the Court:
In this case brought in our original jurisdiction, fifteen inmates who were sentenced to life without parole as juveniles petition this Court for resentencing in light of the United States Supreme Court's decision in Miller v. Alabama, 132 S. Ct. 2455 (2012). We hold their sentences violate the Eighth Amendment under Miller and the petitioners and those similarly situated are entitled to resentencing.
The Post and Courier reports, "South Carolina's high court orders new sentences for juveniles convicted of homicide," by John McDermott.
At least 15 felons facing mandatory life for homicides they committed in South Carolina as juveniles will be resentenced, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
The ruling cited the U.S. States Supreme Court's 2012 decision in Miller v. Alabama, which banned mandatory life sentences without parole in juvenile murder case and called them "cruel and unusual punishments" under the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Related posts are in the juvenile category index. You can also jump to news and commentary on the U.S. Supreme Court's 2012 ruling in Miller.
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