Guzman v. State

Criminal punishment of juvenile offenders and the United States Constitution come face to face in this appeal. The defendant appeals his life sentence1 on a violation of probation stemming from his conviction on multiple felony charges when he was fourteen years of age. He argues, among other issues, that the Eighth Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment prohibits the court from imposing a life sentence without the possibility of parole for a crime, other than homicide, committed while he was under the age of eighteen. We agree and reverse on this issue. The remaining…