Kuntrell Jackson v. Larry Norris

Summary

The court affirmed dismissal of Jackson’s habeas petition, holding that his life-without-parole sentence for a homicide committed at age fourteen was authorized by statute and was not facially invalid. The court declined to extend the categorical constitutional rule barring juvenile life-without-parole sentences for nonhomicide offenses to juvenile homicide cases. Justice Brown concurred, while Justice Danielson, joined by Justice Corbin, would have held the sentence unconstitutional because Jackson was a young accomplice whose age and mitigating circumstances were not considered.