| Montgomery v. Louisiana | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Argued October 13, 2015 Decided January 25, 2016 | |
| Full case name | Henry Montgomery, Petitioner v. Louisiana |
| Docket no. | 14-280 |
| Citations | 577 U.S. 190 (more) 136 S. Ct. 718; 193 L. Ed. 2d 599 |
| Argument | Oral argument |
| Case history | |
| Prior | annulling verdict, 181 So. 2d 756 (1966), affirming life sentence, 242 So.2d 818 (1970), denying motion to correct illegal sentence, 141 So.3d 264 (2014). |
| Subsequent | vacating sentence and remanding, 194 So.3d 606 (2016). |
| Holding | |
| Miller's prohibition on life in prison without the possibility of parole for juvenile homicide offenders is a substantive rule that must be applied retroactively. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Kennedy, joined by Roberts, Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan |
| Dissent | Scalia, joined by Thomas, Alito |
| Dissent | Thomas |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. VIII | |
Montgomery v. Louisiana, 577 U.S. 190 (2016), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that its previous ruling in Miller v. Alabama (2012),[1] that a mandatory life sentence without parole should not apply to persons convicted of murder committed as juveniles, should be applied retroactively. This decision potentially affects up to 2,300 cases nationwide.
This case is one in a series since 2005 that have mitigated the harshness of sentencing of juveniles and persons who committed crimes as juveniles. It is based in part on scientific evidence showing that juvenile brains are not equivalent to those of adults.
- ^ Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012).