Legal Docket

Argued that because Romero was an adolescent with no attorney, no other adult tasked with advocating for him, and had not even been informed by his own attorney that he had a right to appeal, he lacked adequate access to the courts. Therefore, jurisdictional limitations should be tolled during the period of his minority.

Argued that the U.S. Supreme Court's ban on mandatory life without parole sentences for juveniles in Miller should apply retroactively to inmates like Jones, who was sentenced prior to the Miller ruling.

Argued that the U.S. Supreme Court's ban on mandatory life without parole sentences for juveniles in Miller should apply retroactively to inmates like Soto, Tulloch, Dingman, and Lopez, who were sentenced prior to the Miller ruling.

Argued that the sentences imposed on two juveniles under Indiana's felony murder statute conflict with U.S. Supreme Court precedent, as well as established research on adolescent brain science. On September 18, 2015 the Indiana Supreme Court issued an opinion.

Argued that Pennsylvania's Sex Offender Registration Notification Act (SORNA), which requires youth to register on a sex offender registry for life, violates youths' rights under various provisions of the Pennsylvania and United States Constitutions, as well as Pennsylvania's Juvenile Act.

Argued that the U.S. Supreme Court's ban on mandatory life without parole sentences for juveniles in Miller should apply retroactively to inmates like Gordon, who was sentenced prior to the Miller ruling.

Argued that the U.S. Supreme Court's ban on mandatory life without parole sentences for juveniles in Miller should apply retroactively to inmates like Mares, who was sentenced prior to the Miller ruling.

Argued that the juvenile court erred by waiving its jurisdiction of a youth and transferring the youth to adult court based on the charged offense alone, without an individualized determination of the youth's maturity, culpability, and capacity for change.

Argued that Ohio’s mandatory transfer law is unconstitutional because it does not allow for individualized determinations on the propriety of prosecuting certain minors in adult criminal court rather than juvenile court.

Argued that Miller v. Alabama's ban on mandatory life without parole sentences should apply retroactively to those handed down that sentence before Miller, and that every child convicted of murder in Michigan must receive an individualized sentence and, if life without parole is determined to be appropriate, the child must be afforded a meaningful opportunity for release.