In Re PRP of McNeil

This court case is completed

In June 2012, the United States Supreme Court struck down mandatory life without possibility of parole sentences when imposed on individuals convicted of committing murder while under age 18 (referred to herein as JLWOP sentences).  Miller v. Alabama, 132 S.Ct. 2455 (2012).  Thirty people in Washington are serving JLWOP sentences.  After Miller was decided, several of them filed Personal Restraint Petitions (PRPs) directly in the Washington Supreme Court seeking invalidation of their JLWOP sentences. ACLU-WA , in conjunction with other local legal organizations, filed an amicus brief in the Washington Supreme Court supporting the unconstitutionality of JLWOP sentences and arguing that juvenile status at the time a crime is committed should be considered a significant mitigating factor in sentencing.