Brief filed: 08/16/2013
Documents
Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Brown
Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts; Case No. SJC-11454
Prior Decision
On reservation and report by the single justice of the Commonwealth’s G.L.c. 211, § 3 petition, case below No. 09-00963 (Middlesex Superior Court, Kimberly S. Budd, J.)
Argument(s)
Massachusetts’s mandatory life without parole sentencing scheme for juveniles convicted of first degree murder is unconstitutional under the United States and Massachusetts Constitutions. Marquise Brown should be sentenced based on the most severe lesser included offense of manslaughter. Mandatory life with parole sentences contravene Miller and Graham.
Author(s)
Marsha L. Levick, Emily C. Keller, Lauren A. Fine, Juvenile Law Center, Philadelphia, PA.
