Baggett v. Bean

Johnny Baggett was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole for first degree murder in 2018. He was 19 years old at the time of the offense. Mr. Baggett’s conviction was affirmed on appeal.  Mr. Baggett filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the Eighth Judicial District Court of Nevada, arguing actual innocence and that his sentence was unconstitutional under the cruel or unusual punishments clause of the Nevada Constitution.

Juvenile Law Center and the ACLU of Nevada filed an amicus brief in support of Mr. Baggett’s petition for writ of habeas corpus, arguing mandatory life without parole sentences for older adolescents, like Mr. Baggett, are unconstitutional under Article 1, Section 6 of the Nevada Constitution. Our brief argued that based on the text and the history of Section 6 and Nevada’s general history of protecting individual rights, Nevada’s protections against cruel or unusual punishments is broader than the Eighth Amendment of the Federal Constitution. We presented substantial research demonstrating that the defining characteristics of youth, such as increased susceptibility to peer pressure and risk-taking, persist beyond age 18, and that states across the country, as well as the federal government, already afford older adolescents additional protections pursuant to a variety of criminal and civil laws. Accordingly, mandatory life without parole should be an unconstitutional sentence for 19-year-olds like Mr. Baggett. We urged the Nevada District Court to follow the lead of state supreme courts in Michigan, Massachusetts, and Washington, which have all recently found that mandatory life without parole is unconstitutional for youth under 21. 
 

LEGAL TEAM

Attorneys

Andrew Keats, Lia Knox-Hershey, Jessica Feierman