State of Iowa v. Rene Zarate

ZAGER, Justice.

The defendant, convicted of first-degree murder as a juvenile offender, challenges his sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole after serving a minimum term of twenty-five-years confinement as determined by the district court. By means of a motion to correct an illegal sentence, the defendant challenges the sentencing scheme for juvenile offenders convicted of first-degree murder set forth in Iowa Code section 902.1(2) under the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the Iowa Constitution. He argues that both the sentencing options and the factors that the…