Opinion ID: 1058113
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Application of Graham v. Florida

Text: On July 27, 2007, the trial judge sentenced Angel to three life sentences, plus sentences of twenty years and twelve months, all of which were to run consecutively. Virginia has abolished parole and, therefore, the effect of these sentences is that Angel will spend the rest of his life confined in the penitentiary. Angel did not appeal these sentences to the Court of Appeals. However his petition for appeal and brief on the merits before this Court contained an assignment of error claiming that the sentences constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. He raises this issue because following the entry of judgment by the Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari in the case of Graham, 560 U.S. ___, 130 S.Ct. 2011 and, on July 6, 2010, rendered its modified decision. In that decision, the Supreme Court held that the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibited sentencing persons to life without parole for nonhomicidal crimes if they were less than 18 years of age when they committed the crime. Id. at ___, 130 S.Ct. at 2030. We included this assignment of error when we awarded Angel an appeal. [6] The petitioner in Graham was 16 years old when he was originally charged as an adult for first and second degree felony charges, carrying maximum penalties of life imprisonment without parole and 15 years' imprisonment, respectively. Pursuant to a plea agreement, the trial court withheld adjudication as to the charges and sentenced Graham to concurrent three-year terms of probation. Id. at ___, 130 S.Ct. at 2018. While on probation, Graham was arrested in connection with a home invasion robbery and another robbery, committed just before his eighteenth birthday. Following a hearing, the trial court concluded that Graham had violated the terms of his probation, found Graham guilty of the earlier felony charges and sentenced him to the maximum sentence authorized for each offense. Id. at ___, 130 S.Ct. at 2019-20. The Supreme Court considered Graham's argument that his life sentence without parole violated the Eighth Amendment as a categorical challenge to a term-of-years sentence, rather than whether the sentence was disproportionate for Graham's crime. Id. at ___, 130 S.Ct. at 2022-23. After determining that a national consensus has developed against sentencing juveniles who commit nonhomicidal crimes to life imprisonment without parole, that such a sentencing practice does not serve legitimate penological goals, particularly rehabilitation, and does not recognize the limited moral culpability of juvenile offenders, the Supreme Court concluded that the Eighth Amendment: Prohibits the imposition of a life without parole sentence on a juvenile offender who did not commit homicide.... if it imposes a sentence of life it must provide him or her with some realistic opportunity to obtain release before the end of that term. 560 U.S. at ___, 130 S.Ct. at 2034. Angel argues that Virginia, like Florida, has eliminated parole, and therefore Graham requires vacation of his life sentences. The Commonwealth replies that Graham does not require the result advanced by Angel because Code § 53.1-40.01 provides for the conditional release of prisoners who have reached a certain age and served a certain length of imprisonment, thus complying with the Supreme Court's decision. We agree with the Commonwealth. In its opinion the Supreme Court stated: A State is not required to guarantee eventual freedom to a juvenile offender convicted of a nonhomicide crime. What the State must do, however, is give defendants like Graham some meaningful opportunity to obtain release based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation. It is for the State, in the first instance, to explore the means and mechanisms for compliance.... [The Eighth Amendment] does not require the State to release that offender during his natural life. 560 U.S. at___, 130 S.Ct. at 2030. The Supreme Court has left it up to the states to devise methods of allowing juvenile offenders an opportunity for release based on maturity and rehabilitation. While the Supreme Court did not identify a specific method or methods that would provide meaningful opportunity for release, the Court clearly stated that states did not have to guarantee that the offender would be released. Furthermore the Supreme Court did not require that states provide the opportunity for release at any particular time related to either the offender's age or length of incarceration. Code § 53.1-40.01 provides: Any person serving a sentence imposed upon a conviction for a felony offense, other than a Class 1 felony, (i) who has reached the age of sixty-five or older and who has served at least five years of the sentence imposed or (ii) who has reached the age of sixty or older and who has served at least ten years of the sentence imposed may petition the Parole Board for conditional release. The Parole Board shall promulgate regulations to implement the provisions of this section. The regulations for conditional release under this statute provide that if the prisoner meets the qualifications for consideration contained in the statute, the factors used in the normal parole consideration process apply to conditional release decisions under this statute. While this statute has an age qualifier, it provides, as the Commonwealth argues, the meaningful opportunity to obtain release based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation required by the Eighth Amendment. Accordingly, we reject this assignment of error.