State v. Travis Wade Amaral

Justice BRUTINEL,

opinion of the Court.

¶ 1 Travis Wade Amaral, then seventeen years old, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other charges and was sentenced to life in prison. We consider whether advances in juvenile psychology and neurology in the intervening twenty-two years support a “colorable claim” of newly discovered evidence requiring an evidentiary hearing on Amaral’s petition for post-conviction relief. Because the sentencing court considered the distinctive attributes of Amaral’s youth, we hold that Amaral did not present a colorable claim.

I. BACKGROUND

¶ 2 In 1993, Amaral…