JACKIE S. BURGER, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Jackie Burger, sentenced to life in prison as a juvenile for nonhomicide offenses, was granted resentencing under Graham v. Florida but received a 55-year sentence with no meaningful opportunity for early release based on rehabilitation. The court reversed, holding the resentence violates the Eighth Amendment and remanded for resentencing under Florida's new juvenile sentencing statutes.
The court held that Burger's sentence violates the Eighth Amendment because it contains no provision for obtaining early release based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation. The court also held that the new sentencing statutes (chapter 2014-220) apply to Burger despite his crimes being committed before the statutes' effective date, and he is entitled to resentencing under those provisions.
[1] A sentence of life imprisonment for nonhomicide crimes committed by a juvenile, without a meaningful opportunity for release based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilita…
[2] Florida statutes enacted in response to Graham v. …
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“Florida's practice of sentencing juvenile offenders to life imprisonment for nonhomicide crimes without "some meaningful opportunity to Obtain release based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation" violates the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution”
Establishes the constitutional standard from Graham v. Florida that the sentence must provide a meaningful opportunity for early release
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceBurger was sentenced to life in prison as a juvenile for nonhomicide crimes. He was granted resentencing pursuant to Graham v. Florida and received a …
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Demonstrated Maturity And Rehabilitation cases and more on FLexlaw
After he was sentenced to life in prison for nonhomicide , offenses he committed as a juvenile, Jackie Burger was granted re-sentencing pursuant to Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48, 130 S.Ct. 2011, 176 L.Ed.2d 825 (2010). He appeals the sentence imposed at resentencing: fifty-five years in prison followed by terms of supervision, We agree with Burger that, the sentence does not comport with Graham, and we reverse and remand for resentenc-ing. Based on our reversal, Burger’s ineffective assistance of counsel argument is moot.
In Graham, 560 U.S. at 75, 130 S.Ct. 2011, the United States Supreme Court held that'Florida’s‘practice of sentencing juvenile offenders to life imprisonment for nonhomicide crimes without1 “some meaningful opportunity to Obtain release based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation” violates the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In response to Graham, “[i]n 2014, the Legislature passed chapter 2014-220, • Laws of Florida, which provided judicial review for juvenile offenders who were tried as adults and received more than 20 years’ incarceration, with exceptions.” Johnson v. State, 215 So.3d 1237, 1239 (Fla. 2017). Chapter 2014-220, Laws of Florida, is codified in sections 775.082, 921.1401; and 921.1402, Florida Statutes (2014).
Recently, in the wake of the new sentencing statutes and opinions interpreting Graham, the Florida Supreme Court summarized the juvenile sentencing landscape in Florida:
[W]e must ensure that a juvenile nonho-micide offender does not receive a sentence that provides for release only at the end of a sentence (e.g. a 45-year sentence with no provision for obtaining *2early release based on a demonstration of maturity and rehabilitation before the expiration of the imposed term Secondly, we must ensure that a juvenile nonhomicide offender ... does not receive a sentence which includes early release that is not based on a demonstration of rehabilitation and maturity (i.e. gain time or other programs designed to relieve prison overpopulation). Last) we must ensure that a juvenile nonhomicide offender ... does not receive a sentence that provides for early release at a time beyond his or her natural life (e.g. a 1,000-year sentence that provides parole eligibility after the offender serves 100 years). To qualify as a “meaningful opportunity for early release,” a juvenile nonhomicide offender’s sentence must meet each of the[se] three parameters ....
Johnson, 215 So.3d at 1243.
Burger’s sentence contains no provision for obtaining early release based on a demonstration of maturity and rehabilitation before the expiration of the imposed term. Therefore, it violates the Eighth Amendment. Additionally, the trial court did not sentence Burger under the new sentencing scheme for nonhomicide juvenile offenders, as it believed that the statutes did not apply to Burger based on the date of his offense. We find this to be erroneous. See Kelsey v. State, 206 So.3d 5, 6, 8 (Fla. 2016) (finding that defendant whose nonhomicide crimes were committed prior to the effective date of chapter 2014-220, and whose sentence violated Graham, was entitled to resentencing under the provisions of chapter 2014-220); Horsley v. State, 160 So.3d 393, 405 (Fla. 2015) (deciding that chapter 2014-220, Laws of Florida, should be applied to “all juvenile offenders whose sentences are unconstitutional under Miller [v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 183 L.Ed.2d 407 (2012) ],” even though the statutes contain a prospective effective date).
We therefore reverse and remand for resentencing under the provisions of chapter 2014-220, Laws of Florida.
Reversed and remanded for resentenc-ing.
Gross and Klingensmith, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Hart v. State, 246 So. 3d 417 (Fla. 4th DCA 2018)
Authorities Cited
- 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)
- Kelsey v. State, 206 So.3d 5 (Fla. 2016)
- Johnson v. State, 215 So. 3d 1237 (Fla. 2017)