FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS RELEASE
May 23, 2016
For More Information, contact:
Luther Strange
Mike Lewis (334) 353-2199
Alabama Attorney General
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Page 1 of 1
AG STRANGE COMMENTS ON U.S. SUPREME COURT ACTION IN
CASES OF JUVENILES SENTENCED TO LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE
(MONDAY)–Today, the U.S. Supreme Court remanded seven Alabama cases to the
Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals for reconsideration in light of Montgomery v. Louisiana. In
Montgomery, the high court held that its ruling in Miller v. Alabama barring mandatory life
without parole for juvenile offenders applied retroactively. The seven cases remanded today
involved juveniles who had their death sentences reduced to life without parole following the
Supreme Court’s decision in Roper v. Simmons, which held the sentence of death
unconstitutional for murderers who were under 18 at the time of their crimes.
Today’s action by the Supreme Court included clarification by Justices Clarence Thomas
and Samuel Alito as to the scope of Montgomery. In a concurrence, the Justices explained that the
Court was not addressing the merits of these cases or taking a position on whether life without
parole is an appropriate sentence in each. Because these defendants previously received a death
sentence, each also received a hearing providing him an opportunity to present his age and any
other mitigating circumstances to the sentencer. The Justices explained that courts are free to
consider on remand whether these previous hearings satisfy the individual sentencing
requirement of Miller.
Attorney General Strange again stated his objection to the Court’s ruling in Montgomery,
which potentially allows about 70 convicted murderers in Alabama to receive new sentences
because they were juveniles at the time they committed their crimes.
“It would be reprehensible to put victims’ families through the ordeal of seeing the
person responsible for the deaths of their loved ones allowed to potentially receive a new
sentence. This could have a devastating effect on families who thought they had received
closure in cases often going back decades. Thankfully, members of the Court today recognized
that these cases – in which the death penalty had first been imposed – have already undergone
extensive reviews that would have considered the defendants’ ages and any mitigating
circumstances. The courts should take those proceedings into consideration before requiring
victims’ families to endure new sentencing hearings or new sentences for these murderers.”
The defendants in whose cases the Court acted today are William Knotts, James Bonds,
Nathan Slaton, Clayton Flowers, Michael S. Barnes (who had two cases), and Renaldo Chante
Adams.
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