Cert. denied in State v. Brandon Moore

In December I wrote about State v. Brandon Moore, in which the Ohio Supreme Court held that a juvenile sentence for a non-homicide offense that exceeds the defendant's life expectancy violates the Eighth Amendment. It seems that roughly half the states that have confronted this question have found a constitutional violation, and half have not. (There are several other similar cases floating around out there.) One would think that the US Supreme Court will have to weigh in eventually.

But it will not weigh in on Moore. Today the court denied the state's cert. petition.

Supreme Court case announcement, 7/5/17

Today the Court announced that it has accepted discretionary appeals in two criminal cases.

Court reverses itself in State v. Aalim

Last week the Court granted a motion to reconsider its December 2016 decision in State v. Aalim, and reversed its prior holding.

State v. Hand - juvenile delinquency cannot be basis for mandatory sentence

In State v. Hand, the Court held R.C. 2901.08(A) to be unconstitutional as violative of the due process clauses of the Ohio and US Constitutions. That statute provided that an adjudication as a delinquent child constitutes a prior conviction for purposes of mandatory sentence calculation. The Court held the statute unconstitutional because juvenile determinations are made by the court without the benefit of a jury, thus running afoul of Apprendi v. New Jersey. The Court left open the possibility that juvenile delinquency adjudications could nevertheless be factors considered by the sentencing court in its discretion. Justices Terrence O'Donnell, Sharon L. Kennedy, and Judith L. French dissented.