State of New Hampshire v. Eduardo Lopez, Jr.

Summary

The New Hampshire Supreme Court affirmed the Superior Court’s determination that a 45‑year minimum sentence for a juvenile homicide offender is not a de facto life‑without‑parole sentence prohibited by the Eighth Amendment. The Court held that the trial court’s reliance on CDC life‑expectancy tables was permissible and declined to create a bright‑line rule that any term exceeding 35 years equals life imprisonment.