A Criminal Supreme Court Case

A Criminal Supreme Court Case

Summary

This is one case that the Supreme Court of United States has decided to regard the problem: Is life imprisonment obligatory for the legitimate offense of assassination if committed by a juvenile?

The paper highlights the Miler v Alabama case, which is one of the abovementioned cases part of this judgment. Evan Miller was at the age of 14 and been in and out of a number of advance care placements. His mother was an alcoholic and drug addict. His step-father was physically violent to him (Miller V. Alabama, No. 10-9646). He also used alcohol and drugs from an early age and had attempted suicide four times initiating at 6 years of age.

The assassination for which Evan Miller was found guilty took place in the year 2003. He was with a friend at his home named Colby Smith. Cole Cannon who used to live close by came to the preview to formulate a drug deal with the mother of Evan. Smith & Miller went back to the trailer to smoke marijuana with Cannon. They also engaged in various drinking games. Ultimately Cannon passed out, upon which Miller grabbed and found around $300 cash. He divided the cash with his friend Smith but later when Miller was attempting to place the wallet back, Cannon roused and grasped Miller. His friend Smith took a baseball bat and battered Cannon, and then Miller contsinued to hit Cannon with the bat over and over again.

Miller put a sheet over the head of Cannon and threatened to kill him, hitting him once more with the bat (Miller App.). Both Miller and Smith then went back to Miller's trailer, but they thought they should better go back to the trailer of Cannon and clear out the evidence. In order to do this, they attempted to put the trailer on fire. Cannon was not dead yet when they returned, but because of the fire, he died due to smoke inhalation.

Because Evan Miller was just 14 years old at the time of offense, the law in Alabama ordered that it is the duty of juvenile court to charge him first, but the prosecutor requested that the court should change the case to adult court (Ala. Code Sec 12-15-34). The Attorney of the district did request that Miller be undertaken as an adult and the court agreed after a juvenile hearing. The juvenile court said that due to the nature of the offense, Miller's prior juvenile record and his maturity, he should be treated as an adult.

The State of Alabama accused Evan Miller with the offense of murder in the course of arson. That specific crime carries a sentence of obligatory life without the chance of release (Ala. Code 13A-5-40(9), 13A-6-2(c)) Miller's friend Smith gave evidence against him at the judges trial, and it made evident that Miller was guilty. According to the law, he had to face life imprisonment with no parole.

Miller pleaded the sentence and the ...