Kinkel v. Laney

Kipland Kinkel received a cumulative 199 year sentence for crimes he was convicted of at age 15. At the time of his crimes, Mr. Kinkel suffered from a psychotic mental illness, which included command hallucinations. Following the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Miller v. Alabama and Montgomery v. Louisiana, the Oregon Supreme Court upheld Mr. Kinkel’s sentence finding that his incurable mental illness demonstrated his “irreparable corruption,” and therefore his de facto life without parole sentence was permissible. 

Juvenile Law Center served as co-counsel with Thaddeus Betz for Mr. Kinkel, filing a reply brief in the United States Supreme Court encouraging the court to grant review. Our brief argued that the Oregon Supreme Court’s use of mental illness as a proxy for “irreparable corruption” contravenes U.S. Supreme Court precedent, which has long established mental illness as a mitigating factor. We further argued that Mr. Kinkel’s illness is treatable and cannot be equated with irretrievable depravity.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied Mr. Kinkel's petition for certiorari.

Juvenile Law Center served as co-counsel with Thaddeus Betz in filing a First Amended Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon in the related case Kinkel v. Long. We additionally filed a Motion to Certify Questions of Law to the Oregon Supreme Court in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, asking the Court to certify two procedural questions which apply equally to any person convicted of murder in Oregon, but which would have the potential to determine at least one of Mr. Kinkel’s habeas corpus grounds.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon denied the Motion to Certify Questions of Law to the Oregon Supreme Court.

Subsequent to the Supreme Court’s denial of cert., Juvenile Law Center joined Thaddeus Betz in filing a Brief in Support of Mr. Kinkel’s First Amended Petition for Habeas Corpus Relief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, challenging the constitutionality of Mr. Kinkel’s voluntariness to enter a guilty plea, his sentence of de facto life without the possibility of parole, the constitutional effectiveness of his trial counsel, and the constitutionality of the standard of review the Oregon Court of Appeals relied upon in rejecting his claims for relief. Our brief emphasized that Mr. Kinkel’s sentences violate his Eighth Amendment rights under Miller and Graham, and that sentencing a youth to die in prison because they suffer from a mental illness is a violation of the Eighth Amendment.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon denied habeas corpus relief, stating that Oregon courts had reasonably found Mr. Kinkel’s plea and sentencing proceedings to be compliant with federal constitutional requirements. 

Juvenile Law Center joined Thaddeus Betz in seeking reconsideration in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, arguing that the Court erred in ruling that Jones v. Mississippi controls the outcome of this case, as Jones was decided well after the state court decision was issued. The Court denied the Motion for Reconsideration. 

Thaddeus Betz and Juvenile Law Center appealed to the Ninth Circuit, arguing that Mr. Kinkel’s sentence violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, and that the Oregon Supreme Court’s decision upholding the sentence was an unreasonable application of Miller, Montgomery, and Jones. We further argued that Mr. Kinkel’s 87-year sentence for nonhomicide crimes violates the Eighth Amendment under Graham. Additionally, the brief argued that Mr. Kinkel’s guilty plea was involuntary.