In the Montgomery case, the court clarified that its decision in the Miller case can be applied retroactively, and ârequires a sentencer to consider a juvenile offenderâs youth and attendant characteristics before determining that life without parole is a proportionate sentence,â according to the opinion.
Lusbyâs 130-year sentence for the 1996 rape and murder of elementary school teacher, Jennifer Happ, in Joliet was not a mandatory sentence, but it is a de facto life sentence because it amounts to a lifetime in prison.
In October, Lusby exhausted his legal avenues in Illinois when the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in a 6-1 decision that his 2002 sentencing hearing did not violate U.S. Supreme Court case law because the sentencing judge sufficiently considered his age and factors related to his youth.
U S Supreme Court May Hear Illinois Case on Life Sentences for Juvenile Offenders
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How one lawyer is trying to solve a John Wayne Gacy murder mystery
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SPRINGFIELD â Larry Golden said getting John Hanlon to come over to the Illinois Innocence Project in 2011 was incredibly fortuitous.
The project, based at the University of Illinois Springfield, was able to entice Hanlon after landing a major federal grant, said Golden, the project s founding member.
Hanlon had been the assistant deputy defender for the Office of the Illinois Appellate Defender s Capital Litigation Unit since 2000. But in 2011, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn abolished the death penalty after a decadelong moratorium, meaning Hanlon would have to move to another OSAD office or find another job. It was time to do something else very challenging and here s a fledgling innocence project â no lawyers, no money at that time and a lot of uncertainty in how to pull it all together â so it was a challenge big time, Hanlon said. It was also a chance to work with Larry Golden. Larry has done such incredible work in the Springfield community and Sangamon County f