The U.S. Supreme Court took up Toca v. Louisiana to decide the question of whether Miller v. Alabama -- which said a juvenile cannot be sentenced to life-without-parole unless the sentencer had discretion to select a lesser sentence -- applies retroactively to overturn judgments already final on the day it was decided.
Now the case will be dismissed as moot. John Simerman reports for the New Orleans Advocate:
Now the case will be dismissed as moot. John Simerman reports for the New Orleans Advocate:
A state prisoner from New Orleans who recently landed at the center of national legal debate about mandatory life sentences for youthful offenders won his freedom Thursday after 31 years in prison.I think that is a proper disposition. Toca's sentence would have been unduly harsh even if he were an adult at the time of the crime. The deceased was his accomplice in the robbery. In my view, the felony-murder rule should at least be reserved for the deaths of innocent people, and this death should not have been considered murder at all.
Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office agreed to vacate his murder conviction.
Leave a comment