STATE
v.
CALIX
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Richard Calix, convicted of first-degree murder at age seventeen and sentenced to life with parole eligibility after twenty-five years, sought post-conviction relief arguing his sentence was illegal under Miller v. Alabama and Atwell v. State. The trial court granted his motion in 2016, the Third District Court of Appeal affirmed in 2018, but the Florida Supreme Court quashed that decision based on its subsequent ruling in Franklin v. State, which held that such sentences do not violate the Eighth Amendment.
The Florida Supreme Court held that a juvenile offender's sentence of life imprisonment with a possibility of parole after twenty-five years does not violate the Eighth Amendment and therefore does not entitle the juvenile to re-sentencing. The Court vacated the trial court's order granting relief and remanded for reconsideration in light of Franklin v. State.
[1] A juvenile offender's sentence of life imprisonment with eligibility for parole after twenty-five years satisfies constitutional requirements and does not entitle the off…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“In Miller v. Alabama, the United States Supreme Court noted that juveniles, due to their age, have 'diminished culpability and heightened capacity for change.'”
Historical foundation for juvenile sentencing doctrine
Calix committed first-degree murder during a robbery when he was seventeen years old in 1988 and was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibili…
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SCALES, J.
After shooting and killing his victim in a robbery, Richard Calix was convicted of first degree murder in 1988, a crime he committed when he was seventeen years old. He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after twenty-five years. In 2016, Calix filed a post-conviction motion asserting that his sentence was illegal pursuant to Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012) and Atwell v. State, 197 So. 3d 1040 (Fla. 2016).1 On November 30, 2016, the trial court granted Calix’s motion. The State appealed the trial court’s order to this Court and, on April 25, 2018, we affirmed the order in State v. Calix, 245 So. 3d 928 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018). The State then appealed our decision to the Florida Supreme Court and, on January 7, 2019, the Florida Supreme Court quashed our April 25, 2018 opinion on the authority of its recent decision in Franklin v. State, 258 So. 3d 1239 (Fla. 2018).2 State v. Calix, 1 These decisions, deriving from Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48 (2010), concluded that the imposition of a life sentence on a juvenile homicide offender, without an effective possibility of parole, violated the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Franklin v. State, 258 So. 3d 1239, 1240-41 (Fla. 2018). In Miller v. Alabama, the United States Supreme Court noted that juveniles, due to their age, have “diminished culpability and heightened capacity for change.” 567 U.S. at 479. On this premise, the Supreme Court in Graham and Miller refashioned how a trial court should sentence juveniles to life sentences.
44 Fla. L. Weekly S125 (Fla. Jan. 7, 2019). Accordingly, we vacate the trial court’s November 30, 2016 order and remand to the trial court to adjudicate Calix’s rule 3.800 motion in light of Franklin.
Order vacated; remanded with instructions.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (U.S. 2012)
- Graham v. Florida (1st Cir. 2010)
- Atwell v. State, 197 So. 3d 1040 (Fla. 2016)
- State v. Budry Michel, 257 So. 3d 3 (Fla. 2018)
- Franklin v. State, 258 So. 3d 1239 (Fla. 2018)
- State v. Efren Yero, 44 Fla. L. Weekly S125 (Fla. 3d DCA 2021)
- State v. Calix, 245 So. 3d 928 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018)