Elmer Smith: New hope for juveniles sentenced to life

HUNDREDS of Pennsylvania inmates who were sentenced as juveniles to die in prison just got a second chance from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Monday's 5-4 Supreme Court ruling overturned a sentence of life without parole for a Florida youth who'd committed an armed robbery and then violated probation.

It doesn't directly affect Pennsylvania prisoners, who include 450 youths convicted of homicide and are serving life without parole.

But defense attorneys across America, including those that I've talked with here this week, believe the ruling opens the door to overturn those sentences as well. They're gearing up to base appeals for the juveniles on principles cited in the court's decision.

"I anticipate filing on behalf of several of them," Bradley Bridge of the Defender Association of Philadelphia told me yesterday.

"I have 60 days to file. I anticipate working with the Juvenile Law Center. A lot of people across the country will try to

reopen [their cases]."

None more than in Pennsylvania. One out of every five juveniles sentenced to life without parole is serving that sentence in the state.

Some have served more than 50 years for crimes they committed as juveniles, including one Philadelphia man sentenced in 1953, when he was 13.

The U.S. Supreme Court decision draws a bright line between adults and juveniles, ruling that juveniles should not be denied the hope of redemption.

"A life without parole sentence improperly denies the juvenile offender a chance to demonstrate growth and maturity," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority.

The ruling adopts the language and rationale cited in the court's 2005 decision that struck down the death penalty for all juvenile offenders.

"Juveniles are more capable of change than are adults," Kennedy wrote for the majority in the 2005 case. "Their actions are less likely to be evidence of irretrievably depraved character."

The talk-radio shows were abuzz with calls before the ink was dry on Monday's ruling. People on both sides recognize an unmistakable trend toward leniency in the court's juvenile-justice rulings.

The rulings cited the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, as well as the "due process" clause in the 14th Amendment.

Pennsylvania's Supreme Court had already agreed to hear the appeals of life sentences for two juveniles pending the outcome of the Florida case that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday.

In one, a 14-year-old Northampton County boy had been sentenced to a mandatory term of life without parole for a murder.

The issue in that case will be: "Is sentencing a 14-year-old to die in prison unconstitutional? . . . Does the mandatory nature of the sentence in this case violate defendant's rights under the 8th and 14th amendments?"

Philadelphia courts have sentenced more juveniles to life than any other jurisdiction in the state. The District Attorney's Office under former D.A. Lynne Abraham held that eliminating life sentences for juveniles would violate the rights of their victims.

D.A. Seth Williams, who was monitoring elections yesterday, was unavailable for comment.

Defense attorneys were cautiously optimistic.

"All we can read into this ruling so far is that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court was adroit enough to consider that the issues are similar," said Bridge. "It's all speculation, but I don't think the courts will limit it to non-homicide cases. The impact is much broader than that."

Broad enough to encompass issues of victims' rights, public safety and a tough-on-crime mood that sometimes rise to the level of hysteria.

But this is hardly a soft-on-crime court. It also issued a ruling Monday upholding the right of the U.S. government to hold "sexually dangerous" inmates behind bars indefinitely, even after they've served their sentences.

The courts won't consider this, but it costs $50,000 a year to house old and infirm inmates who are no longer a grave enough threat to justify the cost.

A side benefit of this ruling may be that the courts have found a way to cut us taxpayers a break.

Send e-mail to smithel@ phillynews.com or call 215-854-2512. For recent columns: http://go.philly. com/smith.