Juvenile Law Center filed an amicus brief before the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals challenging the constitutionality of Connell’s sentence of life without parole following his conviction of first degree homicide for a crime he committed as a juvenile.
Juvenile Law Center's amicus brief argued that a mandatory sentence of life without parole violates the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Relying on Roper v. Simmons, Juvenile Law Center argued that the United States Supreme Court's recognition in Roper that juveniles are categorically different from adult offenders requires that states take the juvenile’s age into account when crafting and imposing sentences for juvenile offenders.
The Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama upheld the sentence, holding that the decision in Roper was only applicable in limited circumstances and the defendant’s reliance on the Supreme Court decision was misplaced.
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