TORRENCE LAWTON, PETITIONER,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, RESPONDENT
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The Florida Supreme Court rejected a homicide-case exception to Graham v. Florida's categorical ban on sentencing juveniles to life without parole for nonhomicide offenses. The court held that Graham's prohibition is unqualified and applies regardless of whether a juvenile committed a homicide in the same criminal episode.
Graham's categorical rule leaves no room for a homicide-case exception. The ban on sentencing juveniles to life without parole for nonhomicide offenses is unqualified and applies regardless of whether the juvenile also committed a homicide in the same criminal episode.
[1] The Eighth Amendment forbids the sentence of life without parole for a juvenile offender who did not commit homicide.
[2] Attempted murder is a nonhomicide offense because death has not occurred.
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Graham established one rule (a flat ban) for nonhomicide offenses, while [Miller] set[s] out a different one (individualized sentencing) for homicide offenses.”
Establishes the distinction between nonhomicide and homicide sentencing rules under Graham and Miller, showing no homicide exception exists for nonhomicide crimes.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceTorrence Lawton, a juvenile offender, was sentenced to life without parole for the nonhomicide crimes of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm …
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In Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48, 74-75, 130 S.Ct. 2011, 176 L.Ed.2d 825 (2010), the United States Supreme Court held that the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment compels a categorical rule against sentencing a juvenile offender “to life without parole for a nonhomicide crime.” In the decision on review, the Third District read Graham as creating a homicide-case exception to this categorical rule, which would permit a juvenile to be sentenced to life without parole for a nonhomicide offense if the juvenile also committed a homicide in the same criminal episode. Lawton v. State, 109 So.3d 825, 828-29 (Fla. 3d DCA 2013). Applying this homicide-case exception, the Third District held that Torrence Lawton’s life-without-parole sentences for the non-homicide offenses of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm and armed robbery with a firearm — crimes Lawton committed as a juvenile — are constitutional under Graham because Lawton also com*453mitted a homicide in the same criminal episode. Id. at 829.
Lawton seeks review of the Third District’s decision on the ground that it expressly and directly conflicts with multiple decisions of other district courts of appeal.1 Compare Akins v. State, 104 So.3d 1173, 1175 n. 2 (Fla. 1st DCA 2012) (declining to recognize a homicide-case exception to Graham); Johnson v. State, — So.3d -, 38 Fla. L. Weekly D953 (Fla. 1st DCA Apr. 30, 2013) (same); Jackson v. State, — So.3d -, 38 Fla. L. Weekly D1334, 2013 WL 3013582 (Fla. 1st DCA June 18, 2013) (same); Lane v. State, 151 So.3d 20, 22 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014) (same); Weiand v. State, 129 So.3d 434, 435 (Fla. 5th DCA 2013) (same); with Lawton, 109 So.3d at 828 (recognizing a homicide-case exception to Graham); Washington v. State, 110 So.3d 1, 2-3 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012) (same); Starks v. State, 128 So.3d 91, 93 (Fla. 2d DCA 2013) (same); Orange v. State, 149 So.3d 74, 84 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014) (same).
We hold that Graham’s categorical rule leaves no room for the homicide-case exception recognized by our Second, Third, and Fourth District Courts of Appeal. Subsequent juvenile sentencing decisions underscore that the ban on sentencing juveniles to life without parole for nonhomi-cide offenses is, indeed, unqualified. See Miller v. Alabama, — U.S. -, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 2466 n. 6, 183 L.Ed.2d 407 (2012) (“Graham established one rule (a flat ban) for nonhomicide offenses, while [Miller ] set[s] out á different one (individualized sentencing) for homicide offenses.”); see also Falcon v. State, 162 So.3d 954, 959, No. SC13-865, slip op. at 10 (Fla. Mar. 19, 2015) (“[In Graham,] the Supreme Court established a categorical rule that bars the imposition of a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in all circumstances for every juvenile offender convicted of a nonhomi-cide offense.”) (emphasis added):
Accordingly, we quash the Third District’s decision in Lawton and remand with instructions that Lawton be resentenced for the nonhomicide offenses of attempted first-degree murder with a 'firearm and armed robbery with a firearm in conformance with the new juvenile sentencing legislation enacted by chapter 2014-220, Laws of Florida. See Henry v. State, 175 So.3d 675, 680, No. SC12-578, slip op. at 11 (Fla. Mar. 19, 2015) (holding that resentencing pursuant to chapter 2014-220 is the proper remedy for a sentence that violates Graham ); Horsley v. State, 160 So.3d 393, 406, No. SC13-1938, slip op. at 4 (Fla. Mar. 19, 2015) (holding that resentencing pursuant to chapter 2014-220 is the proper remedy for a sentence that violates Miller). We further disapprove the Second District’s decisions in Washington and Starks and the Fourth District’s decision in Orange to the extent those decisions recognize a homicide-case exception to Graham.
It is so ordered.
LABARGA, C.J., and PARIENTE, LEWIS, QUINCE, CANADÁ POLSTON, and PERRY, JJ., concur.
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Atwell v. State, 197 So. 3d 1040 (Fla. 2016)…(Fla.2015). And, in Lawton v. State, this Court held that the Supreme’ Court’s ban on sentencing juveniles to life without parole for non-homicide offenses is unqualified, even if the juvenile,committed a homicide during the same criminal episode. 181 So. 3d 452 (Fla.2015). This Court concluded that Graham ⅛ categorical rule leaves no room for the “homicide-case exception” previously recognized by some Florida district courts. Id. at 453. The unifying theme of these unanimous decisions has been our recogni…
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Vennisee v. State, 235 So. 3d 947 (Fla. 3d DCA 2017)…So. 3d 672, 674-75 (Fla. 2015) (holding that a seventy-five-year sentence for a juvenile who was convicted of an attempted murder was unconstitutional because it failed to provide for a meaningful opportunity for early release). In Lawton v. State, 181 So. 3d 452, 458 (Fla. 2015), the Florida Supreme Court applied the prohibition of life sentences without the possibility of parole for juveniles convicted' of non-homicide offenses even when the juvenile commits á homicide during the same criminal episode. In…
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Stokes v. State, 271 So. 3d 1000 (Fla. 4th DCA 2019)
Previewing 3 of 8 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited (13 total)
- Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (U.S. 2012)
- Horsley v. State, 160 So. 3d 393 (Fla. 2015)
- Graham v. Florida (1st Cir. 2010)
- Leighdon Henry v. State, 175 So. 3d 675 (Fla. 2015)
- Falcon v. State, 162 So. 3d 954 (Fla. 2015)
- Starks v. State, 128 So. 3d 91 (Fla. 2d DCA 2013)
- Torrence Lawton v. State, 109 So. 3d 825 (Fla. 3d DCA 2013)
- Washington v. State, 110 So. 3d 1 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012)
- Aundra R. Akins v. State, 104 So. 3d 1173 (Fla. 1st DCA 2012)
- Weiand v. State, 129 So. 3d 434 (Fla. 5th DCA 2013)