Falcon v. State

Juvenile Law Center filed an amicus curiae brief in support of Rebecca Lee Falcon, who was convicted of first degree murder for a crime she committed at age 15 and for which she received a life without parole sentence.

Juvenile Law Center's brief argued that Falcon's conviction is unconstitutional pursuant to the United States Supreme Court's ruling in Miller v. Alabama, which banned mandatory life without parole sentences for juveniles. At the time Falcon was sentenced, Florida law mandated a life without parole sentence for her murder-based offenses. As applied to juvenile offenders, this mandatory scheme is unconstitutional pursuant to Miller. Before the Florida Supreme Court is whether Miller should be given retroactive effect and thus, whether Falcon should be resentenced following an individualized sentencing hearing. We asserted that Miller applies retroactively to cases like Falcon's, which was final before Miller and thus is being considered on collateral review.

Our brief argued that the United States Supreme Court has already answered the question of retroactivity by applying Miller to Kuntrell Jackson's case, which was before the court on collateral review. Moreoever, Miller announced a substantive rule, which is consistent with the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Eighth Amendment in light of its evolving understanding and appreciation of the significance of child and adolescent development. 

Further, because the Miller Court found a violation of the Eighth Amendment, the rule necessarily must provide retroactive relief. If the Court determines that a punishment is cruel and unusual, it inescapably deems the same punishment, albeit imposed before the decision, similarly cruel and unusual; nothing about the nature of the punishment or its disproportionality is lessened by the date upon which it was imposed. In other words, categorically, any Eighth Amendment decision barring a particular sentence must be retroactive, including Miller. For all of these reasons, we argued that Miller applies retroactively to Falcon. 

On March 19, 2015, the Florida Supreme Court held that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Miller v. Alabama (2012) applies retroactively to all individuals in Florida serving mandatory life without parole sentences for homicide offenses they committed as juveniles.