Attorneys ask Wyoming Supreme Court: Was teen’s lengthy homicide sentence too harsh?
Casper teen’s lawyers say a judge gave him a 42- to 75-year sentence that’s out of line with constitutional provisions through a quirk in Wyoming law.
An appeal before the Wyoming State Supreme Court asks a question at the heart of juvenile justice: whether a sentence of 42 to 75 years for a Casper teen who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder is cruel and unusual punishment.
The case touches on long-running issues of fair sentencing practices for youth, both in Wyoming and around the country. Since the Legislature acted on the subject in 2013, Wyoming has been among what today are 25 states that outlaw sentences of life without a chance at parole for children.
But in the case of Casper teenager Eavan Castaner, his attorneys maintain a Natrona County District Court judge handed him an unusually cruel sentence for a juvenile offender. The judge did so under a quirk in Wyoming statute that allows juveniles to receive a worse sentence for second-degree murder than for the more severe first-degree murder, they argued.
Castaner’s sentence goes against national recognition that the courts should handle juvenile offenders more gently than adults, they said.
“Despite the horrific nature of his crime, he was only 15 years old. He was a child,” Casper attorney Ian Sanderfer wrote in an amicus brief in the case, filed on behalf of the Juvenile Law Center, a national organization. “Because of his developmental immaturity, Mr. Castaner cannot be considered as culpable as an adult offender and cannot be treated as one under the Constitution.”
