State v. Olivares-Coster

¶28 I concur with the Court’s conclusion that the thirty-year parole eligibility restriction for life sentences contained in § 46-23-201(4), MCA, does not apply in this case because Olivares-Coster was less than eighteen years of age at the time the offense was committed. Section 46-18-222(1), MCA, creates an explicit exception to statutory restrictions on parole eligibility for offenders under eighteen at the time of the offense. See Graham v. Florida, 130 S. Ct. 2011, 2036 (Appendix) and 2049 n. 6 (Thomas, J., dissenting) (2010) (both opinions pointing out that the Montana statute forbids…