State of Iowa v. Damion John Seats ( 2015 )

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF IOWA
No. 13–1960
Filed June 26, 2015
STATE OF IOWA,
Appellee,
vs.
DAMION JOHN SEATS,
Appellant.
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Cerro Gordo County,
Colleen Weiland, Judge.
A juvenile offender appeals his sentence of life in prison without
the possibility of parole. DISTRICT COURT SENTENCE VACATED AND
CASE REMANDED WITH INSTRUCTIONS.
F. David Eastman of Eastman Law Office, Clear Lake, for
appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Alexandra Link, Assistant
Attorney General, for appellee.
Alan Ostergren, Muscatine, for amicus curiae, Iowa County
Attorneys Association.
2
WIGGINS, Justice.
A juvenile offender convicted of first-degree murder appeals his
resentencing to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In this
appeal, we determine the factors a court must use when it sentences a
juvenile offender for first-degree murder. Because the district court did
not have the benefit of this decision when it sentenced the juvenile, we
vacate the sentence and remand for resentencing. We do not reach the
issue as to whether a sentence of life in prison without parole
categorically violates the Iowa Constitution’s prohibition against cruel
and unusual punishment, because we are remanding the case for
resentencing.
I. Background Facts and Proceedings.
On August 23, 2008, Damion Seats, who was seventeen years old
at the time, went to a party at a friend’s house in Mason City. While at
the party, Seats’s friend, Andre Wells revealed he had a handgun in his
pocket. In the early morning hours of August 24, Seats and Wells
convinced another friend, Jamie McFarland, to give them and two
acquaintances a ride from the party to Reuben Ramirez’s house.
Earlier that month, Seats initiated a fight with Ramirez at
Ramirez’s house. During the fight, Seats hit Ramirez on the head with a
brick. On the evening of the party, Seats was concerned that Ramirez
would report the brick incident to the police. Before leaving for Ramirez’s
house, Seats and Wells placed the loaded gun in the trunk of the car.
When the vehicle arrived at Ramirez’s house, Seats instructed
McFarland to park in the alley. Seats and Wells then tied t-shirts around
their faces, retrieved the loaded handgun from the trunk, and entered
the residence through a back door. When Seats and Wells entered the
house Ramirez was not home, but Isidoro Cervantes Erreguin, who
3
stayed with Ramirez at times, and Cervantes’s brother were. Both were
in the living room, asleep on different couches. Seats approached the
living room couch where Cervantes was sleeping and shot him five times.
Four of the bullets entered Cervantes’s back and the fifth entered his
chest. After Seats and Wells fled, paramedics arrived at Ramirez’s house
and attempted to perform CPR on Cervantes. The paramedics declared
Cervantes dead at the scene.
Seats and Wells returned to McFarland’s waiting car. After the
group left Ramirez’s house, Seats wrapped the handgun in a shirt and
hid it under some bushes near his brother’s apartment.
On the afternoon of August 24, Seats came to the police
department and asked to speak with investigators. Seats met with the
case agent assigned to lead the murder investigation, Division of
Criminal Investigation Special Agent Chris Callaway. Seats had
reportedly heard from his friends that the police mentioned his name as
a possible suspect in Cervantes’s murder. Seats stated he had come to
the police station voluntarily in order to clear his name. Special Agent
Callaway interviewed Seats for about two hours.
Seats recounted being at a friend’s party on the night of the 23rd
and said he stayed there until about 3:00 a.m. on the 24th. Seats
acknowledged that after the party, he, Wells, and two acquaintances got
a ride from McFarland. However, according to Seats, McFarland took the
two acquaintances home, then dropped off Wells in a Walmart parking
lot where Wells planned to meet up with another acquaintance. Seats
told Special Agent Callaway that McFarland then drove him to another
friend’s house where he stayed the night. Seats stated he arrived at this
friend’s house around 4:00 a.m. on August 24 and slept there until
about 11:00 a.m. He denied any involvement in the murder. The police
4
permitted Seats to leave the station after the interview, but they
continued to conduct surveillance on Seats.
While Special Agent Callaway was interviewing Seats, Wells came
to the police department and turned over the gun Seats had hidden in
the bushes. Based on Wells’s version of events, the police arrested Seats
that evening. The police brought Seats back to the station for another
interview, this time Special Agent Callaway and Special Agent in Charge
Jeff Jacobson were present and recorded the interview.
After Mirandizing Seats, the agents informed him they had
recovered the gun and asked for his version of events. Seats initially
continued to deny any involvement in the murder, but then told
investigators he would tell them anything they wanted to know if he
could speak to his girlfriend. The police allowed Seats to speak to both
his girlfriend and his mother during the interview. When his mother
asked him why he had shot Cervantes, he stated that he had intended to
kill Ramirez to keep him from pressing charges. He went on to say, “I
wasn’t thinking of anybody this would’ve hurt if I got caught; I didn’t
think I was gonna get caught . . . .” After the phone call to his mother,
Seats drew a diagram of Ramirez’s house and indicated where he entered
the house, where the occupants were sleeping, and where he stood when
he shot Cervantes. Seats also told investigators he felt remorse for
shooting an innocent man.
AGENT: When did you realize it wasn’t Reuben? A.
Afterwards. Afterwards, like, I shot and I looked and, um, it
ain’t even him. And that’s really what made me feel bad
because that night, that dude wasn’t even there. Like, he
ain’t even had nothing to do with that. So I killed an
innocent person. That’s what really ate me up, like, I killed
somebody innocent who didn’t have to die.
5
On September 9, the county attorney filed a trial information
charging Seats, Wells, and McFarland jointly with first-degree murder
and first-degree burglary. See Iowa Code §§ 707.1, .2; id. §§ 713.1, .3
(2009).
Notwithstanding his confession, Seats pled not guilty and went to
trial separately from the other defendants. The jury found Seats guilty of
both first-degree murder and first-degree burglary.
On October 26, 2009, as required by Iowa law, the court sentenced
Seats to life without parole on the murder charge. See Iowa Code
§ 902.1 (“Upon a . . . verdict of guilty, . . . the court shall enter a
judgment of conviction and shall commit the defendant into the custody
of the director of the Iowa department of corrections for the rest of the
defendant’s life. . . . [A] person convicted of a class ‘A’ felony shall not be
released on parole unless the governor commutes the sentence to a term
of years.”). It also sentenced Seats concurrently to twenty-five years
imprisonment on the burglary conviction. See id. § 902.9(2). The court
of appeals affirmed his convictions.
On August 17, 2011, Seats filed a motion to correct an illegal
sentence. At that time, Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. ___, 132 S. Ct. 2455,
183 L. Ed. 2d 407 (2012), was pending before the United States Supreme
Court. The district court continued the hearing on Seats’s motion until
the Supreme Court rendered a decision. Shortly after Miller was decided,
but before the trial court heard Seats’s motion, Iowa’s Governor
commuted the sentences of all juveniles previously convicted of first-
degree murder to a life sentence with the possibility of parole after sixty
years. Seats requested and the district court granted a further
postponement until we had decided a number of pending cases
concerning this commutation and other aspects of juvenile sentencing.
6
On August 16, 2013, in State v. Ragland, we held the Governor’s
blanket commutation of the juveniles’ life without parole sentences to life
with eligibility for parole after sixty years did not affect the constitutional
requirement that the district court proceed with an individualized
hearing as required by Miller. See State v. Ragland, 836 N.W.2d 107,
121–22 (Iowa 2013). The district court scheduled an individualized
resentencing hearing for Seats after the filing of the Ragland opinion.
In 2013, the court ordered a new presentence investigation report,
which Barbara Brandt, a Mason City parole officer, prepared and filed.
The report noted Seats had a difficult childhood, including a lack of adult
supervision and exposure to gang violence at a very early age. It also
indicated Seats had a history of homelessness and alcohol and drug
abuse. The report indicated Seats had not graduated high school or
completed his GED, but he had completed a literacy program while
incarcerated. The report detailed Seats’s juvenile criminal history. Seats
told the parole officer that the majority of the people in his life had been
negative influences, although some friends and associates in Mason City
were positive influences. According to the report, Seats told the parole
officer “[t]he difference between defendant and his co-defendants was
that they had supportive family members and that wasn’t the case for
him.”
Additionally, the report noted the prison had disciplined Seats ten
times, including for fighting, for possession of intoxicants, and twice for
theft and unauthorized possession. Finally, the report indicated Seats
held a job during his time in prison, but as of October 29, 2013, he was
not employed due to his status. However, the report stated his case
manager anticipated Seats would be eligible to work again in November
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2013. The report did not make a sentencing recommendation because
the court had previously sentenced Seats.
The court held a resentencing hearing on November 22. The court
described the purpose of the proceeding as follows:
A series of U.S. Supreme Court cases and Iowa Supreme
Court cases over the past several years have made clear that
those two courts consider sentences of life without the
opportunity for parole entered as to offenders who were
juveniles at the time of the offense [to be] cruel and unusual
punishment unless there is a consideration of individual
factors. And so I believe that the parties might be presenting
evidence on those individual factors today and will be
arguing their positions as to what the sentence should be.
Seats testified at the hearing about his childhood. He explained
his father stopped living with the family when Seats was four years old
and Seats had little contact with his father growing up. Seats’s father
was a drug addict and used drugs when he was around Seats and his
siblings. At this time, Seats has no relationship with his father.
Seats told the court as a young boy he considered his uncle a role
model, even though his uncle had been in prison for drugs and
attempted murder. Gang members murdered Seats’s uncle in front of
Seats when he was seven years old.
Seats’s mother has lived in Chicago since 2006, when she returned
to take care of Seats’s brother who was shot in a gang incident. Prior to
her return to Chicago, Seats lived with his mother, moving abruptly
between Virginia, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa.
After his father left, Seats’s mother began a relationship with Greg,
a gang member in Chicago. Greg physically abused his mother in front
of Seats and his siblings. Seats remembered Greg hitting his mother in
the head with a hammer.
8
By the time Seats was ten years old, Seats’s mother had a new
boyfriend, Keith, who was abusive to Seats’s mother and all of the
children. Keith was physically, verbally, and emotionally abusive, using
household items to hit the children. Seats recalled all the children
sleeping under their beds to avoid Keith’s beatings. Further, while she
was with Keith, Seats’s mother also became abusive towards the children
and at one point Seats’s grandmother removed the children from their
home for a few months to keep them safe. Seats reported he stayed out
all night in Chicago to avoid the violence while Keith was in the home.
Seats has two brothers and one sister. Both of Seats’s brothers
have been imprisoned at one time for drugs and violent crimes. Seats’s
sister also has a history of drug use and criminal charges.
Seats was involved in gangs since the age of thirteen. When his
mother moved back to Chicago in 2006 Seats stayed in Mason City,
living with his brother who was approximately twenty years old. His
brother allowed Seats to use cocaine, ecstasy, marijuana, and alcohol.
By fifteen years old Seats was essentially homeless, staying with friends
and gang members. At the age of sixteen, a rival gang shot Seats three
times to get back at Seats’s brother, who was in prison at the time.
Seats also sold drugs as a teenager.
Seats stated he had received counseling and treatment through the
juvenile court system but continued to commit the offenses noted in his
juvenile record. Seats testified that some time before Cervantes’s murder
he had worked for two weeks at a grocery store but decided he did not
want to do that and quit. Seats also continued to deny murdering
Cervantes. As he put it, “[I]t didn’t happen.” Seats informed the court he
was taking steps to better himself, such as being more patient and trying
to control his drug and alcohol addictions. He testified he would take full
9
advantage of opportunities to finish his GED and learn a job if they were
made available to him.
At the sentencing hearing, Seats asked for immediate parole
eligibility and for the court to “rely on the parole board to determine
when [he] or anybody in his position has developed to the point where he
is no longer a threat to society and would be a productive member of
society.” He also urged the court to impose a term-of-years sentence,
rather than a life term, because it would allow Seats to earn good time on
his sentence and “the good time is an incentive for him to accomplish the
very things that we are talking about right now . . . to get the parole that
he would be seeking.”
The State argued Seats’s case warranted a sentence of life without
parole. It urged the concern for juvenile brain development is less in a
case where the offender, like Seats, was just months away from his
eighteenth birthday. It maintained that the nature of Seats’s crime and
the surrounding circumstances did not support a finding that it was the
result of youthful incompetency. Finally, the State pointed to Seats’s
extensive juvenile record, his disciplinary violations in prison, and the
fact that he still denied responsibility for the murder as evidence that he
was not amenable to rehabilitation.
At the conclusion of the hearing, the district court indicated it
would take the weekend to consider the testimony and evidence before
rendering a decision on Seats’s resentencing. Four days later, the court
issued its decision on the record. The court stated it was conducting a
resentencing based on statutory factors and the factors set forth in
Miller:
[T]he court is to consider all pertinent information, including
the presentence investigation report and victim impact
10
statements. “All pertinent information” includes the nature
of the offense and the defendant’s character, propensity to
reoffend, chances for reform, age, family circumstances,
need for mental health treatment, need for substance abuse
treatment, history of suffering abuse, employment history,
criminal history, behavior while on probation or while
incarcerated, remorse or lack thereof, and concern about the
victims or lack thereof. . . . In regard to a juvenile defendant,
the court must also weigh the defendant’s age and age-
attendant characteristics against the seriousness of the
crime. . . . It must take into account how children are
different, and how those differences counsel against
irrevocably sentencing them to a lifetime in prison.
Applying these considerations, the court stated this was one of the
“unusual” cases warranting life without parole. The court addressed
Seats’s personal characteristics and potential for reform, using his
childhood circumstances, the negative family influences in his life, and
his lack of a stable support system as a factor against him:
When he killed Isidro Cervantes Erreguin, Mr. Seats was
only months away from being an adult. He already had a
history of juvenile criminal activity. Previous interventions
and attempts at rehabilitation had failed. Mr. Seats has
shown no ability or willingness to maintain employment. He
has shown little ability to abstain from the use of alcohol and
controlled substances, and he has no family or other support
outside of the criminal community. He has not made
significant rehabilitative efforts in prison, and has instead
incurred ten major disciplinary reports.
The court went on to discuss the nature of Seats’s crime. The
court acknowledged Seats’s troubled youth, but concluded it did not
outweigh the serious nature of Seats’s crime and behavior:
I have considered the defendant’s unfortunate background
and the difficulties he faced in his youth. I am not
unsympathetic to the bleakness and desperation of that life.
But I fail to find here the “attendant characteristics” of youth
that might outweigh the seriousness of the crime or
otherwise require a less sentence than one that would be
imposed on an adult.
11
Ultimately, the court granted Seats’s motion to correct the illegal
sentence “[t]o the extent the previous sentence was imposed without
individualized consideration of the circumstances.” It otherwise denied
the motion and upheld Seats’s sentence of life with parole eligibility after
sixty years as commuted by the governor.
Seats appealed, and we retained the appeal.
II. Issues.
The defendant raises three issues on appeal. First, whether the
district court’s imposition of life in prison without the possibility of parole
categorically violates article I, section 17 of the Iowa Constitution, which
prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Next, if it does not, does the
sentence imposed by the court upholding the Governor’s commutation of
his original sentence to sixty years before he is eligible for parole violate
article I, section 17 of the Iowa Constitution. Third, whether the
sentence of life without the possibility of parole, even after discarding the
Governor’s commutation, as applied to the facts of this case constitute
cruel and unusual punishment. We can resolve this appeal by
addressing the last issue.
III. Standard of Review.
We have expressed three different standards of review when a
defendant challenges his or her sentence on appeal. We use the abuse of
discretion standard if the sentence is within the statutory limits. When
reviewing a sentence for an abuse of discretion, we have said:
In applying the abuse of discretion standard to
sentencing decisions, it is important to consider the societal
goals of sentencing criminal offenders, which focus on
rehabilitation of the offender and the protection of the
community from further offenses. It is equally important to
consider the host of factors that weigh in on the often
arduous task of sentencing a criminal offender, including the
nature of the offense, the attending circumstances, the age,
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character and propensity of the offender, and the chances of
reform. . . . The application of these goals and factors to an
individual case, of course, will not always lead to the same
sentence. Yet, this does not mean the choice of one
particular sentencing option over another constitutes error.
Instead, it explains the discretionary nature of judging and
the source of the respect afforded by the appellate process.
Judicial discretion imparts the power to act within
legal parameters according to the dictates of a judge’s own
conscience, uncontrolled by the judgment of others. It is
essential to judging because judicial decisions frequently are
not colored in black and white. Instead, they deal in
differing shades of gray, and discretion is needed to give the
necessary latitude to the decision-making process. This
inherent latitude in the process properly limits our review.
Thus, our task on appeal is not to second guess the decision
made by the district court, but to determine if it was
unreasonable or based on untenable grounds.
State v. Formaro, 638 N.W.2d 720, 724–25 (Iowa 2002) (citations
omitted). In other words, a district court did not abuse its discretion if
the evidence supports the sentence. State v. Valin, 724 N.W.2d 440, 445
(Iowa 2006).
We also review sentences for correction of errors at law. We do so
when the defendant challenges the legality of a sentence on
nonconstitutional grounds. Id. at 443–44. We use the correction of
errors at law standard when the statute does not authorize the sentence.
State v. Freeman, 705 N.W.2d 286, 287 (Iowa 2005).
More recently, we have begun to decide cases involving
constitutional attacks on the validity of a sentence. See Ragland, 836
N.W.2d at 109–10 (examining whether a defendant’s sentence amounts
to cruel and unusual punishment under the Iowa Constitution); State v.
Pearson, 836 N.W.2d 88, 89 (Iowa 2013) (same); State v. Null, 836
N.W.2d 41, 45 (Iowa 2013) (same); State v. Bruegger, 773 N.W.2d 862,
866, 886 n.9 (Iowa 2009) (same). When a defendant attacks the
13
constitutionality of a sentence, our review is de novo. Ragland, 836
N.W.2d at 113; Pearson, 836 N.W.2d at 94; Null, 836 N.W.2d at 48;
Bruegger, 773 N.W.2d at 869.
Therefore, we apply the de novo standard to this appeal because
Seats is attacking his sentence on constitutional grounds.
IV. Analysis.
The United States Supreme Court decided that although a
sentencing court has the discretion to sentence a juvenile offender who
commits murder to the harshest penalty possible—life in prison without
the possibility of parole—such a sentence should be uncommon. Miller,
567 U.S. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2469, 183 L. Ed. 2d at 424. Here, the
district court sentenced Seats to the harshest sentence. Seats argues
this is not the uncommon circumstance to do so. To analyze Seats’s
argument, we review the Supreme Court cases dealing with juvenile
sentencing as well as recent cases under the Iowa Constitution dealing
with cruel and unusual punishment in the juvenile context.
A. United States Supreme Court Jurisprudence. Miller is the
most recent Supreme Court opinion dealing with the sentencing of
juvenile offenders to life in prison without parole when the juvenile
commits a murder. Before Miller, the Court decided Roper v. Simmons,
543 U.S. 551, 125 S. Ct. 1183, 161 L. Ed. 2d 1 (2005) and Graham v.
Florida, 560 U.S. 48, 130 S. Ct. 2011, 176 L. Ed. 2d 825 (2010).
In Roper, the Supreme Court held executing juveniles who had
committed capital crimes violated the Eighth and Fourteenth
Amendments of the United States Constitution. 543 U.S. at 578, 125
S. Ct. at 1200, 161 L. Ed. 2d at 28. The seventeen-year-old defendant in
Roper took a woman from her home, tied her up—with duct tape covering
14
her head and wire binding her extremities—and threw her into a river to
drown. Id. at 556–57, 125 S. Ct. at 1187–88, 161 L. Ed. 2d at 13.
In support of its holding, the Court recognized three general
differences between juveniles and adults that “render suspect any
conclusion that a juvenile falls among the worst offenders.” Id. at 569–
70, 125 S. Ct. at 1195, 161 L. Ed. 2d at 21–22. First, juveniles have “ ‘[a]
lack of maturity and an underdeveloped sense of responsibility.’ ” Id. at
569, 125 S. Ct. at 1195, 161 L. Ed. 2d at 21 (quoting Johnson v. Texas,
509 U.S. 350, 367, 113 S. Ct. 2658, 2668, 125 L. Ed. 2d 290, 306
(1993)). The Court recognized these characteristics “ ‘often result in
impetuous and ill-considered actions and decisions.’ ” Id. (quoting
Johnson, 509 U.S. at 367, 113 S. Ct. at 2668, 125 L. Ed. 2d at 306).
Second, juveniles are more susceptible than adults are to “negative
influences and outside pressures” and “juveniles have less control, or
less experience with control, over their own environment.” Id. at 569,
125 S. Ct. at 1195, 161 L. Ed. 2d at 22. Third, a juvenile’s personality
and character traits are still forming, and are not as fixed as an adult’s
personality and character traits are. Id. at 570, 125 S. Ct. at 1195, 161
L. Ed. 2d at 22. As a result of these differences, there is a greater
possibility “that a minor’s character deficiencies will be reformed” and
“ ‘the impetuousness and recklessness that may dominate in younger
years can subside.’ ” Id. at 570, 125 S. Ct. at 1195–96, 161 L. Ed. 2d at
22 (quoting Johnson, 509 U.S. at 368, 113 S. Ct. at 2668, 125 L. Ed. 2d
at 306).
Next, in Graham, the Court held the Eighth Amendment prohibits
states from sentencing juveniles who did not commit homicide to life in
prison without parole, and the states sentencing these juveniles to a life
sentence must provide a “realistic opportunity to obtain release before
15
the end of that term.” 560 U.S. at 82, 130 S. Ct. at 2034, 176 L. Ed. 2d
at 850. The defendant in Graham committed a number of criminal
offenses including armed burglary, armed robbery, and fleeing from
police. Id. at 53–55, 130 S. Ct. at 2018–19, 176 L. Ed. 2d at 832–33.
The Court relied upon the reasoning articulated in Roper regarding
juveniles’ underdeveloped sense of responsibility and lack of maturity to
demonstrate that “[a] juvenile is not absolved of responsibility for his
actions, but his transgression ‘is not as morally reprehensible as that of
an adult.’ ” Id. at 68, 130 S. Ct. at 2026, 176 L. Ed. 2d at 841 (quoting
Thompson v. Oklahoma, 487 U.S. 815, 835, 108 S. Ct. 2687, 2699, 101
L. Ed. 2d 702, 719 (1988) (plurality opinion)). The Court went on to
recognize “developments in psychology and brain science continue to
show fundamental differences between juvenile and adult minds . . . [and
the] parts of the brain involved in behavior control continue to mature
through late adolescence.” Id. The Court also identified that juveniles
are more capable of changing their character and reforming than adults
are. Id. at 68, 130 S. Ct. at 2026–27, 176 L. Ed. 2d at 841–42. The
Court noted for juveniles a life sentence without parole
means denial of hope; it means that good behavior and
character improvement are immaterial; it means that
whatever the future might hold in store for the mind and
spirit of [the convict], he will remain in prison for the rest of
his days.
Id. at 70, 130 S. Ct. at 2027, 176 L. Ed. 2d at 842 (internal quotation
marks omitted). Further, the Court in both Graham and Roper
determined none of the penological justifications for sentencing—
retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, or rehabilitation—are served
when imposing either of these sentences on juveniles. Graham, 560 U.S.
16
at 71–74, 130 S. Ct. at 2028–30, 176 L. Ed. 2d at 843–45; Roper, 543
U.S. at 571–72, 125 S. Ct. at 1196–97, 161 L. Ed. 2d at 23.
In Miller, the Court decided it did not have to reach a categorical
challenge to a sentence of life in prison without parole for a juvenile who
commits murder as it did in Roper and Graham. Miller, 567 U.S. at ___,
132 S. Ct. at 2469, 183 L. Ed. at 424. The Court did not reach the
categorical challenge because its holding was sufficient to decide the
cases before the Court in Miller. Id. In not addressing the categorical
challenge, the Court made it clear that the “appropriate occasions for
sentencing juveniles to this harshest possible penalty, [life in prison
without the possibility of parole,] will be uncommon.” Id. The Miller
Court required judges or juries “must have the opportunity to consider
mitigating circumstances before imposing the harshest possible penalty
for juveniles.” Id. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2475, 183 L. Ed. 2d at 430.
In reaching this decision, the Court built on its jurisprudence
espoused in Roper and Graham. In Miller, the court reiterated there is a
significant constitutional difference between children and adults that
“diminish the penological justifications for imposing the harshest
sentences on juvenile offenders, even when they commit terrible crimes.”
Id. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2465, 183 L. Ed. 2d at 419. This is
especially so because of the great difficulty we noted in Roper
and Graham of distinguishing at this early age between “the
juvenile offender whose crime reflects unfortunate yet
transient immaturity, and the rare juvenile offender whose
crime reflects irreparable corruption.” Although we do not
foreclose a sentencer’s ability to make that judgment in
homicide cases, we require it to take into account how
children are different, and how those differences counsel
against irrevocably sentencing them to a lifetime in prison.
Id. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2469, 183 L. Ed. 2d at 424 (quoting Roper, 543
U.S. at 573, 125 S. Ct. at 1197, 161 L. Ed. 2d at 24).
17
B. Application of Supreme Court Jurisprudence to Juveniles
in Iowa. We have previously discussed the role Roper, Graham, and
Miller play in sentencing a juvenile subject to a mandatory minimum
sentence for a nonhomicide crime. Null, 836 N.W.2d at 74–75. In a case
in which the court has discretion to sentence a juvenile to life in prison
without the possibility of parole, Miller and Null require the sentencing
judge to consider the following factors before sentencing a juvenile to life
in prison without the possibility of parole.
First, the court must start with the Supreme Court’s
pronouncement that sentencing a juvenile to life in prison without the
possibility of parole should be rare and uncommon. Miller, 567 U.S. at
___, 132 S. Ct. at 2469, 183 L. Ed. 2d at 424; Null, 836 N.W.2d at 75.
Thus, the presumption for any sentencing judge is that the judge should
sentence juveniles to life in prison with the possibility of parole for
murder unless the other factors require a different sentence.
Second, the sentencing judge must recognize that “children are
constitutionally different from adults.” Miller, 567 U.S. at ___, 132 S. Ct.
at 2464, 183 L. Ed. 2d at 418. We have explained, “The constitutional
difference arises from a juvenile’s lack of maturity, underdeveloped sense
of responsibility, vulnerability to peer pressure, and the less fixed nature
of the juvenile’s character.” Null, 836 N.W.2d at 74; see also Miller, 567
U.S. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2464, 183 L. Ed. 2d at 418.
In sentencing the juvenile offender, the court must take in account
any information in the record regarding “the family and home
environment that surrounds him—and from which he cannot usually
extricate himself—no matter how brutal or dysfunctional.” Miller, 567
U.S. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2468, 183 L. Ed. 2d at 423. In examining the
“family and home environment,” the judge shall consider any information
18
regarding childhood abuse, parental neglect, personal and family drug or
alcohol abuse, prior exposure to violence, lack of parental supervision,
lack of an adequate education, and the juvenile’s susceptibility to
psychological or emotional damage. People v. Gutierrez, 324 P.3d 245,
268–69 (Cal. 2014). The sentencing judge should consider these family
and home environment vulnerabilities together with the juvenile’s lack of
maturity, underdeveloped sense of responsibility, vulnerability to peer
pressure as mitigating, not aggravating factors. Miller, 567 U.S. at ___,
132 S. Ct. at 2467–69, 183 L. Ed. 2d at 422–24; Null, 836 N.W.2d at 74–
75.
Third, the sentencing judge must consider “the circumstances of
the homicide offense, including the extent of [the juvenile’s] participation
in the conduct and the way familial and peer pressures may have
affected him.” Miller, 567 U.S. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2468, 183 L. Ed. 2d
at 423. One of the circumstances the sentencing judge needs to consider
is whether substance abuse played a role in the juvenile’s commission of
the crime. Id. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2469, 183 L. Ed. 2d at 423.
Finally, the sentencing judge must take into consideration that
“[j]uveniles are more capable of change than are adults” and that as a
result, “their actions are less likely to be evidence of ‘irretrievably
depraved character.’ ” Graham, 560 U.S. at 68, 130 S. Ct. at 2026, 176
L. Ed. 2d at 841 (quoting Roper, 543 U.S. at 570, 125 S. Ct. at 1195, 161
L. Ed. 2d at 22). “[M]ost juveniles who engage in criminal activity are not
destined to become lifelong criminals.” Null, 836 N.W.2d at 75; see also
Graham, 560 U.S. at 68, 130 S. Ct. at 2026, 176 L. Ed. 2d at 841; Roper,
543 U.S. at 570, 125 S. Ct. at 1195–96, 161 L. Ed. 2d at 22. As we said
in Null, a case decided under the Iowa Constitution, “incorrigibility is
inconsistent with youth, care should be taken to avoid an irrevocable
19
judgment about [an offender’s] value and place in society.” Null, 836
N.W.2d at 75 (internal quotation marks omitted). It is very difficult for a
judge to distinguish between “ ‘the juvenile offender whose crime reflects
unfortunate yet transient immaturity, and the rare juvenile offender
whose crime reflects irreparable corruption.’ ” Miller, 567 U.S. at ___,
132 S. Ct. at 2469, 183 L. Ed. 2d at 424 (quoting Roper, 543 U.S. at 573,
125 S. Ct. at 1193, 161 L. Ed. 2d at 24). The sentencing judge should
only sentence those juveniles to life in prison without the possibility of
parole whose crime reflects irreparable corruption.
We note the district court emphasized that Seats was a seventeen-
year-old at the time the crime was committed. We recognize that in
Roper, the line between being a juvenile and an adult was drawn for
cruel and unusual punishment purposes at eighteen years of age. See
Roper, 543 U.S. at 574, 125 S. Ct. at 1197–98, 161 L. Ed. 2d at 24–25.
Yet, as we stated in Null, current science demonstrates that the human
brain continues to develop into the early twenties. 836 N.W.2d at 55. As
stated by two leading scholars in adolescent development and the law,
“[t]he research clarifies that substantial psychological maturation takes
place in middle and late adolescence and even into early adulthood.”
Elizabeth S. Scott & Lawrence Steinberg, Rethinking Juvenile Justice 60
(2008). Thus, Scott and Steinberg emphasize that “adolescents, even at
age sixteen and seventeen, are immature in their psychosocial and
emotional development, and this likely affects their decisions about
involvement in crime in ways that distinguish them from adults.” Id. at
131. In light of the science, the fact that a defendant is nearing the age
of eighteen does not undermine the teachings of Miller and Null.
20
We must be cognizant of the fact that a sentence of life in prison
without the possibility of parole for a juvenile is the equivalent of the
death penalty for juveniles. As Graham so aptly observed,
Life in prison without the possibility of parole gives no
chance for fulfillment outside prison walls, no chance for
reconciliation with society, no hope. Maturity can lead to
that considered reflection which is the foundation for
remorse, renewal, and rehabilitation.
Graham, 560 U.S. at 79, 130 S. Ct. at 2032, 176 L. Ed. 2d at 848.
Even if the judge sentences the juvenile to life in prison with
parole, it does not mean the parole board will release the juvenile from
prison. Once the court sentences a juvenile to life in prison with the
possibility of parole, the decision to release the juvenile is up to the
parole board. Iowa Code § 904A.4 (2015). If the parole board does not
find the juvenile is a candidate for release, the juvenile may well end up
serving his or her entire life in prison.
In Null, we found when a judge sentences a juvenile to a
mandatory minimum sentence, the judge must state his or her reasons
on the record for imposing such a sentence. Null, 836 N.W.2d at 71, 74.
Likewise, if the sentencing judge believes the information in the record
rebuts the presumption to sentence a juvenile to life in prison with the
possibility of parole and the case is the rare and uncommon case
requiring the judge to sentence the juvenile to life in prison without the
possibility of parole, the judge must make specific findings of fact
discussing why the record rebuts the presumption. “In making such
findings, the district court must go beyond a mere recitation of the
nature of the crime, which the Supreme Court has cautioned cannot
overwhelm the analysis in the context of juvenile sentencing.” Id. at 74–
75.
21
C. Application of Supreme Court Jurisprudence to Seats. On
our de novo review, we note the district did not consider the factors a
court must consider before sentencing a juvenile to life in prison without
the possibility of parole. Factually, the district court appeared to use
Seats’s family and home environment vulnerabilities together with his
lack of maturity, underdeveloped sense of responsibility, and
vulnerability to peer pressure as aggravating, not mitigating factors.
At the time of sentencing, the district court did not have the benefit
of this decision setting forth the factors the court must use and the
requirements the court needs to sentence a juvenile convicted of first-
degree murder. When this happens, the proper remedy is to remand the
case back to the district court to consider the matter consistent with our
holding in this opinion. State v. Hildebrand, 280 N.W.2d 393, 397 (Iowa
1979).
Additionally, we need not reach the issue as to whether sentencing
a juvenile to life in prison without the possibility of parole categorically
violates the Iowa Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual
punishment because we are sending this case back to the district court
for resentencing. Upon resentencing, if the district court finds this is the
rare and uncommon case requiring it to sentence Seats to life in prison
without the possibility of parole, Seats can appeal his sentence as
contrary to Miller. In that appeal, he can make the additional claim that
his sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole categorically
violates the Iowa Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual
punishment.
V. Summary and Disposition.
There is no question that juveniles who commit vicious murders
deserve severe punishment. However, we cannot lose sight of the fact
22
that juveniles are different from adults due to a juvenile’s lack of
maturity, underdeveloped sense of responsibility, vulnerability to peer
pressure, and the less fixed nature of the juvenile’s character. The
question the court must answer at the time of sentencing is whether the
juvenile is irreparably corrupt, beyond rehabilitation, and thus unfit ever
to reenter society, notwithstanding the juvenile’s diminished
responsibility and greater capacity for reform that ordinarily
distinguishes juveniles from adults. Therefore, we must remand this
case for resentencing consistent with this opinion.
DISTRICT COURT SENTENCE VACATED AND CASE
REMANDED WITH INSTRUCTIONS.
Cady, C.J., and Hecht and Appel, JJ., join this opinion. Hecht, J.,
files a separate concurring opinion. Mansfield, J., files a dissenting
opinion in which Waterman and Zager, JJ., join.
23
#13–1960, State v. Seats
HECHT, Justice (concurring specially).
“[C]hildren are constitutionally different from adults . . . .” Miller v.
Alabama, 567 U.S. ___, ___, 132 S. Ct. 2455, 2464, 183 L. Ed. 2d 407,
418 (2012); see also State v. Lyle, 854 N.W.2d 378, 390, 402 & n.8 (Iowa
2014); State v. Ragland, 836 N.W.2d 107, 119, 121 (Iowa 2013);
Laurence Steinberg, Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice, 5 Ann.
Rev. Clinical Psychol. 459, 481 (2009) [hereinafter Steinberg] (“[A]s a
class, adolescents are inherently less blameworthy than adults.”). I join
today’s opinion because it recognizes this principle. However, I also write
separately because in my view, children are so different that article I,
section 17 of the Iowa Constitution categorically prohibits sentencing
them to life without parole.
As the United States Supreme Court recognized in Roper v.
Simmons, there are significant differences between juveniles and adults
that “render suspect any conclusion that a juvenile falls among the worst
offenders.” Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, 570, 125 S. Ct. 1183, 1195,
161 L. Ed. 2d 1, 22 (2005). Juveniles are impetuous; they lack maturity;
and they possess an underdeveloped sense of responsibility. See id. at
569, 125 S. Ct. at 1195, 161 L. Ed. 2d at 22. Their incomplete
maturation makes juveniles especially vulnerable to “negative influences
and outside pressures.” Id. This vulnerability is attributable in part to
juveniles’ character and personality traits which “are more transitory
[and] less fixed” than those of adults. Id. at 570, 125 S. Ct. at 1195, 161
L. Ed. 2d at 22. “[Y]outh is more than a chronological fact.” Eddings v.
Oklahoma, 455 U.S. 104, 115, 102 S. Ct. 869, 877, 71 L. Ed. 2d 1, 11
(1982). “It is a time of immaturity, irresponsibility, ‘impetuousness[,] and
recklessness.’ ” Miller, 567 U.S. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2467, 183 L. Ed. 2d
24
at 422 (alteration in original) (quoting Johnson v. Texas, 509 U.S. 350,
368, 113 S. Ct. 2658, 2669, 125 L. Ed. 2d 290, 306 (1993)).
For these reasons and others, we recognize that children are
constitutionally different because it is impossible to know when they are
beyond rehabilitation. See Roper, 543 U.S. at 570, 125 S. Ct. at 1195,
161 L. Ed. 2d at 22 (“The reality that juveniles . . . struggle to define their
identity means it is less supportable to conclude that even a heinous
crime committed by a juvenile is evidence of irretrievably depraved
character.”); see also Miller, 567 U.S. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2465, 183 L.
Ed. 2d at 419 (“[T]he distinctive attributes of youth diminish the
penological justifications for imposing the harshest sentences on juvenile
offenders, even when they commit terrible crimes.”). “[W]e cannot claim
that adolescents ‘ought to know better’ if, in fact, the evidence indicates
that they do not know better, or more accurately, cannot know better,
because they lack the abilities needed to exercise mature judgment.”
Steinberg, 5 Ann. Rev. Clinical Psychol. at 471.
Although the Supreme Court initially considered these differences
in deciding a case involving the death penalty, it later noted their
significance in reviewing sentences of life without parole (LWOP)
challenged under the Eighth Amendment. See Graham v. Florida, 560
U.S. 48, 68, 130 S. Ct. 2011, 2026, 176 L. Ed. 2d 825, 841 (2010)
(“[D]evelopments in psychology and brain science continue to show
fundamental differences between juvenile and adult minds. For example,
parts of the brain involved in behavior control continue to mature
through late adolescence.”). More recently, the Court considered the
importance of the characteristics of youth in reviewing an LWOP
sentence imposed on a juvenile offender convicted of homicide. See
Miller, 567 U.S. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2464, 183 L. Ed. 2d at 418–19. In
25
Miller, the court struck down as unconstitutional under the Eighth
Amendment a mandatory LWOP sentence that was imposed without
consideration of the defendant’s “chronological age and its hallmark
features—among them, immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to
appreciate risks and consequences.” Id. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2468, 183
L. Ed. 2d at 423. The Court also struck down the sentence because it
failed to take account of “the family and home environment that
surround[ed the defendant] . . . no matter how brutal or dysfunctional.”
Id. “And finally, th[e] mandatory punishment disregards the possibility
of rehabilitation even when the circumstances most suggest it.” Id.
We have concluded juvenile offenders are also different for
purposes of sentencing under article I, section 17 of the Iowa
Constitution. See State v. Null, 836 N.W.2d 41, 54–56, 70 (Iowa 2013).
The majority recognizes as much, but stops short of concluding an LWOP
sentence is categorically unconstitutional for offenses committed by
juvenile offenders. I am prepared to go there now because I do not
believe we can develop or identify a principled standard for predicting
which juvenile offenders are capable of maturation and rehabilitation
and which ones are not.
My conclusion that article I, section 17 mandates a categorical ban
of LWOP sentences for juvenile offenders is based on several
considerations. I first note that an LWOP sentence for a juvenile offender
is tantamount to a death penalty in the sense that both sentences are
based on a conclusive determination that the offender will never be
rehabilitated and able to contribute meaningfully to society. See
Graham, 560 U.S. at 69, 130 S. Ct. at 2027, 176 L. Ed. 2d at 842 (noting
either type of sentence “alters the offender’s life by a forfeiture that is
irrevocable”); Diatchenko v. Dist. Att’y, 1 N.E.3d 270, 284 (Mass. 2013)
26
(“When considered in the context of the offender’s age and the wholesale
forfeiture of all liberties, the imposition of [LWOP] on a juvenile homicide
offender is strikingly similar, in many respects, to the death penalty
. . . .”). Any sentencing scheme that permits such a conclusive
determination before the juvenile’s potential for maturation and
rehabilitation can be reliably known or predicted is in my view
intrinsically disproportionate and therefore cruel and unusual.
I acknowledge the Supreme Court has not yet adopted my position
that a categorical ban on LWOP sentences for homicide offenses is
constitutionally required. 1 In Miller, the Court only held unconstitutional
mandatory LWOP sentences that are imposed without individualized
consideration of an offender’s youthful characteristics. Miller, 567 U.S.
at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2469, 183 L. Ed. 2d at 424 (“[T]he Eighth
Amendment forbids a sentencing scheme that mandates life in prison
without possibility of parole for juvenile offenders. . . . [W]e do not
consider [the] alternative argument that the Eighth Amendment requires
a categorical bar on [LWOP] for juveniles . . . .”). The Supreme Court left
open the possibility that a juvenile could, consistent with the Eighth
Amendment, be sentenced to LWOP, but noted “appropriate occasions for
sentencing juveniles to this harshest possible penalty will be
uncommon.” Id. I would reach a different conclusion under article I,
section 17 of the Iowa Constitution because I have no confidence that a
principled standard can be developed to distinguish an “uncommon
1Apetition for certiorari currently before the Supreme Court raises that question
in part; the question presented is whether “the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and
unusual punishment forbid[s] sentencing a child to [LWOP] when that child has been
convicted of felony murder despite not having killed or intended to kill.” Petition for
Writ of Certiorari at i, Davis v. Michigan, No. 14–8106 (U.S. Jan. 20, 2015). Although
Davis only involves a subcategory of homicide offenses, it nonetheless establishes that
this issue continues to arise.
27
occasion” justifying an irrevocable determination of LWOP from other
occasions in which a possibility of parole is required.
Other jurists have shared my lack of confidence in our ability to
conceive—or in sentencing courts’ ability to apply consistently—a
principled standard for identifying the uncommon or rare circumstances
justifying LWOP for a juvenile offender. See Graham, 560 U.S. at 77, 130
S. Ct. at 2032, 176 L. Ed. 2d at 847 (doubting “that courts taking a case-
by-case . . . approach could with sufficient accuracy distinguish the few
incorrigible juvenile offenders from the many that have the capacity for
change”); Roper, 543 U.S. at 573, 125 S. Ct. at 1197, 161 L. Ed. 2d at 24
(“It is difficult even for expert psychologists to differentiate between the
juvenile offender whose crime reflects unfortunate yet transient
immaturity, and the rare juvenile offender whose crime reflects
irreparable corruption.”); Diatchenko, 1 N.E.3d at 284 (noting that when
sentencing juveniles, “the judge cannot ascertain, with any reasonable
degree of certainty, whether imposition of th[e] most severe punishment
is warranted”). “[E]ven for juveniles who commit murder, their moral
culpability compared to adults remains diminished by their age . . . , and
they, therefore, are still less deserving, as a categorical matter, of the
most severe punishments.” Mary Berkheiser, Developmental Detour: How
the Minimalism of Miller v. Alabama Led the Court’s “Kids Are Different”
Eighth Amendment Jurisprudence Down a Blind Alley, 46 Akron L. Rev.
489, 501–02 (2013) [hereinafter Berkheiser]; see also Aryn Seiler, Note,
Buried Alive: The Constitutional Question of Life Without Parole for
Juvenile Offenders Convicted of Homicide, 17 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 293,
321 (2013) (“[T]he culpability of the juvenile offender is diminished in the
homicide case just as it is diminished in the non-homicide case.
Culpability belongs to the offender, not the offense.”).
28
Let us suppose that any standard for identifying an “uncommon”
case justifying LWOP might call for consideration of the heinous nature
of the juvenile offender’s crime. This factor is problematic for multiple
reasons. First, as the Supreme Court has noted, “[a]n unacceptable
likelihood exists that the brutality or cold-blooded nature of any
particular crime would overpower mitigating arguments based on youth
as a matter of course.” Roper, 543 U.S. at 573, 125 S. Ct. at 1197, 161
L. Ed. 2d at 24. But even more problematic in my view is the fact that
the heinousness of a juvenile’s crime is likely to be causally connected
with the very attributes and disabilities of youth which cause some folks
to cringe at the prospect of LWOP sentences for juvenile offenders. As
this court has previously noted, juveniles often fail to appreciate risks
and are susceptible to peer pressure; they tend to act impetuously
without contemplating the consequences of their behavior. See Null, 836
N.W.2d at 54–56. Thus, the very attributes and disabilities making
youth constitutionally different are causal factors increasing the
likelihood of heinous behavior. Accordingly, I think it cannot be sensible
to suggest that a principled standard for identifying the uncommon case
deserving an LWOP should include the heinousness of a juvenile
offender’s crime.
Other potential factors that might be considered in any standard
for identifying the uncommon case suitable for an LWOP sentence are
similarly problematic. Consider, for example, the juvenile offender’s age.
Do we really believe a sentencing court can make a principled distinction
between an offender who is fifteen years old and another who is
seventeen years old in assessing relative capacities for maturation and
rehabilitation? Given what we now know about the incompleteness of
brain development during adolescence, I believe the court’s ability to
29
predict such capacities of juvenile offenders is largely based on sheer
speculation at either age.
Another sentencing consideration commonly included in the
analysis of whether an LWOP might be appropriate for a juvenile offender
convicted of homicide is whether the offender experienced severe abuse
or neglect as a child. But should a juvenile offender’s history of horrific
abuse or neglect augur in favor of or against LWOP when he or she is
sentenced for a homicide? The juvenile offender with such a history of
deprivation might be viewed as less culpable than another who was
raised in a stable home with caring parents. Yet, the horrifically deprived
and abused juvenile offender might have been so deeply scarred by the
circumstances of his or her young life that rehabilitation might be a very
doubtful and distant prospect.
I suggest the picture is no clearer in the case of the juvenile
offender who was raised in a stable home with caring parents. Should
the sentencing court conclude this offender found guilty of homicide is
more culpable than the child whose family life was characterized by
chaos and deprivation? Perhaps; but even if the sentencing court views
him as morally more blameworthy, might he nonetheless have better
prospects for maturation and rehabilitation because he does not carry
the deep scars of deprivation—and might he therefore be a better
candidate for parole than our less fortunate hypothetical offender? No
matter how the sentencing court might answer these extremely
challenging questions, it cannot predict with reasonable certainty which
juvenile offender will in fact mature and develop the capacity to become a
contributing member of society. Only time will tell.
History shows us that some juvenile offenders convicted of
homicide make remarkable progress toward maturity and rehabilitation
30
over time during incarceration. To illustrate this phenomenon, one need
only look to State v. Louisell, ___ N.W.2d ___ (Iowa 2015), also decided
today. Louisell endured a difficult and chaotic childhood before
attending college in Iowa beginning in 1987. Id. at ___. She was
convicted of first-degree murder after befriending an older, physically
handicapped art student, stabbing him in his home, and stealing his
wallet. Id. at ___. A jury found she committed a premeditated and
deliberate crime. Id. at ___; see Iowa Code § 707.2(1) (1987). Yet, during
her time in prison, Louisell earned an associate’s degree and a bachelor’s
degree, learned a trade, became a published author, and became a
mentor and tutor for other incarcerated women. Louisell, ___ N.W.2d at
___. In 1988, when Louisell was sentenced to LWOP, few if any
participants in the proceedings would have predicted Louisell would shed
the disabilities of youth given the nature of her crime. Yet, her
accomplishments since then demonstrate that an LWOP determination
should not focus on missed opportunities to mature during childhood
and adolescence, but on the possibility that a juvenile offender convicted
of the most serious of offenses might capitalize on future ones while in
prison. Because an irrevocable LWOP determination by a sentencing
court is fraught with so much uncertainty attending the juvenile
offender’s potential for maturation and rehabilitation, I conclude article I,
section 17 mandates prohibition of LWOP sentences for all juveniles
convicted of homicide offenses.
Some have contended LWOP should remain available as a
sentencing option for juvenile offenders convicted of homicides
committed after thinking and planning. See People v. Carp, 852 N.W.2d
801, 843 (Mich. 2014) (“Because some juvenile offenders . . . form an
unequivocal premeditated intent to kill in the face of the consequences, it
31
is not categorically disproportionate to punish at least some juvenile
offenders the same as adults.”). To be sure, the circumstances of Seats’s
crime suggest he engaged in some deliberation before committing the
offense in this case. He knew his friend had a gun, arranged
transportation to the victim’s residence, and acted at night when the
victim would likely be sleeping. These facts are certainly chilling, just
like the facts in Roper. See Roper, 543 U.S. at 556–57, 125 S. Ct. at
1187–88, 161 L. Ed. 2d at 13 (noting the defendant instigated a plan to
commit burglary and murder, acted at night, and threw the victim off a
bridge after wrapping her face in duct tape). “But the Constitution does
not permit subjective gut reactions to define the sentencing of our
young.” Berkheiser, 46 Akron L. Rev. at 508.
Furthermore, the circumstances of Seats’s crime also highlight the
frailty of juvenile reasoning and the undeveloped juvenile capacity to
understand the horrible and permanent consequences of behavior. See
Steinberg, 5 Ann. Rev. Clinical Psychol. at 467 (“[D]espite the fact that in
many ways adolescents may appear to be as intelligent as adults . . . ,
their ability to regulate their behavior in accord with these advanced
intellectual abilities is more limited.”). Seats worried that he would be
reported for committing a crime, so he decided to commit another, more
serious crime. He acted so impetuously that he did not even verify he
had encountered his intended victim before firing multiple shots. He
contacted a police investigator because he “had heard” he was a suspect
in the murder and wanted to clear his name, apparently believing his
friendly outreach would remove any suspicion the police otherwise had.
I recognize there is no assurance that these traits will resolve as Seats
ages and matures. Nonetheless, I believe no sentencing court should be
able to deprive him of an opportunity, at some point in the future, to
32
demonstrate that they have. See Graham, 560 U.S. at 79, 130 S. Ct. at
2032, 176 L. Ed. 2d at 848 (“Maturity can lead to that considered
reflection which is the foundation for remorse, renewal, and
rehabilitation.”).
One other state—Massachusetts—has already determined that
juvenile LWOP sentences are categorically prohibited under its state
constitution. Diatchenko, 1 N.E.3d at 284–85 (“[W]e conclude that the
discretionary imposition of [LWOP] on juveniles who are under the age of
eighteen when they commit murder in the first degree violates the
[constitutional] prohibition against ‘cruel or unusual punishment’ . . . .”).
In doing so, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts relied on two
analytical pillars I would adopt here: first, that the “back end” parole
board mechanism better accommodates juveniles’ capacity for change
than a “front end” irrevocable LWOP determination; and second, that
juveniles have diminished culpability no matter the offense they commit.
See id. at 282–85. Iowa should join Massachusetts on the path it has
forged. 2
2Some other states have legislatively abolished LWOP for juveniles. See, e.g.,
Haw. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 706-656(1) (West, Westlaw through June 3, 2015) (“Persons
under the age of eighteen years at the time of the offense who are convicted of first
degree murder or first degree attempted murder shall be sentenced to life imprisonment
with the possibility of parole.”); W. Va. Code Ann. § 61-11-23(a)(2) (West, Westlaw
through 2015 Reg. Sess.) (“Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, a
sentence of [LWOP] may not be imposed on a person who . . . [w]as less than eighteen
years of age at the time the offense was committed.”); Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-2-101(b)
(West, Westlaw through 2014 Budget Sess.) (“A person convicted of murder in the first
degree shall be punished by death, life imprisonment without parole or life
imprisonment according to law, except that a person convicted of murder in the first
degree who was under the age of eighteen (18) years at the time of the offense shall be
punished by life imprisonment.”); see also Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 12.31(a) (West,
Westlaw through 84th Legis., ch. 46 of 2015 Reg. Sess.) (distinguishing between “life”
for juvenile offenders and “life without parole” for adult offenders).
33
Juvenile justice evolves in incremental steps. See State v. Pearson,
836 N.W.2d 88, 99 (Iowa 2013) (Cady, C.J., concurring specially). Given
the foundation of diminished juvenile culpability and the reasoning set
forth in Roper, Graham, Miller, Diatchenko, and our decisions based on
article I, section 17 of the Iowa Constitution, the categorical rule I
propose in this case is merely the final increment. Because children are
constitutionally different, I believe a sentence of life without parole “may
not be imposed on [them] . . . no matter how heinous the crime.” Roper,
543 U.S. at 568, 125 S. Ct. at 1195, 161 L. Ed. 2d at 21. Accordingly, I
concur in my colleagues’ determination that Seats must be resentenced.
34
#13–1960, State v. Seats
MANSFIELD, Justice (dissenting).
This is a difficult case presenting two important issues: First, are
life-without-parole sentences for juvenile murderers categorically
unconstitutional? Second, even if such sentences are not categorically
unconstitutional, do the facts of this case permit such a sentence?
Unfortunately, the court decides neither issue. Instead, it remands
the case for an unneeded procedural do-over in which the district court
is directed to reapply caselaw it has already applied. This remand not
only leaves the present case unresolved, but also provides no helpful
guidance to our district courts in other juvenile sentencing cases.
I would not avoid the hard issues this case presents. I would hold,
consistent with the decisions of federal appellate courts and all but one
state appellate court, that life-without-parole sentences in juvenile
homicide cases are not always unconstitutional. I would also hold that
under the facts of this case, the district court could constitutionally
exercise its discretion to impose a life-without-parole sentence.
Reasonable people can disagree on these matters. But whatever
our views may be, I think we ought to come to a decision. We should not
leave district courts, defendants, victims, prosecutors, defense attorneys,
legislators, and the public in the lurch.
Deciding the appellant’s categorical challenge takes on added
importance here because the legislature has recently passed a law that
retains life without parole as a sentencing option for juveniles who
commit first-degree murder. Is that law constitutional? We should say
yes or no today, in a case where the issue is squarely presented by the
parties.
35
The court justifies its failure to reach a decision by maintaining
that when there are alternative grounds raised on appeal, it only needs to
reach one of them. That position has a problem here, however. The
relief granted by the majority (a remand for a do-over) is less than the full
relief requested by the appellant (vacating the LWOP sentence with no
possibility of its being reinstated). Normally, appellate courts do not
decline to reach an argument on appeal just because they have reached
other arguments that grant lesser relief.
Otherwise stated, it would not be dictum for the court to decide
whether Seats can be sentenced to LWOP at all. Rather, it is an
abdication of our responsibility not to reach this issue.
I. Additional Relevant Facts.
I will try to avoid repeating facts stated in the majority opinion, but
will discuss some additional facts that are relevant to the appellant’s as-
applied challenge to his sentence.
Damion Seats was just a few months shy of eighteen years old on
August 23, 2008, when he went to a party at a friend’s trailer in Mason
City. Although other people at the party were drinking alcohol and
smoking marijuana, Seats was not under the influence of any
substances. At the party, Seats and his friend, Andre Wells, handled
Wells’s handgun and its bullets and discussed robbing “R[e]uben
[Ramirez] and the Mexicans.” Seats asked Wells for assurance that the
clip was not going to jam. Wells responded that it shouldn’t.
Before leaving the party, Seats and Wells convinced another friend,
Jamie McFarland, to give them a ride to Ramirez’s house. When
McFarland warned Seats the two of them would get caught, Seats
replied, “[D]ead people don’t talk.”
36
As explained by the majority, upon entering Ramirez’s house,
Seats mistook the sleeping victim, Isidoro Cervantes Erreguin, for
Ramirez. Seats shot Cervantes five times from a distance of a few feet.
Cervantes died as a result of his wounds.
Seats and Wells then returned to the waiting car. Seats stated he
had “just shot two Mexicans” and “emptied the whole clip.” Seats later
returned to the party and indicated that if the cops inquired, the guests
should say that Seats and Wells had been at the party all evening.
During his time at the police station on the evening of August 24,
where he ultimately confessed to the murder, Seats made the following
statements among others:
I let my emotions get the best of me. I let something
that happened a month and a half ago take over my mind
and make me do what I did. . . . At least I should’ve killed
the right one; I wish that was Reuben [Ramirez] that was on
my side of that couch.
....
. . . Some people was telling me that after me and
[Ramirez] got into that fight and stuff and he got injured real
bad that the police was going to try to get me for attempted
murder from beating him with a brick and all that and
breaking his arms and messing up his back or whatever.
And so that’s what I was real scared about, like, I don’t want
to go to prison for no attempted murder over a fight. . . . I
was hearing around town that, yeah, they was looking for me
for trying to kill him . . . so I just said f*** it and just went
over there.
....
. . . [Ramirez] was laying, like, I don’t know who was it,
he was laying on the couch like this. . . . There was a closer
couch and a farther couch and so me and Andre standing
over him and I tapped him with the gun, like, “Get up.” And
then he was saying something and then, I don’t know. . . .
I’m actually in there in front of this man and facing him, I
know I got to kill him now ’cause I’m already inside his
house. . . . I just emptied the whole clip and walked out.
37
The agents asked how the victim reacted after Seats shot him and
Seats said, “To tell you the truth, I just shot five times and turned my
back and walked off.”
By the time of trial a year later, Seats was eighteen years and
seven months old. McFarland was one of the State’s main witnesses,
having entered into a plea agreement with the State. McFarland had
agreed to plead guilty to aiding and abetting first-degree burglary and to
testify at Seats’s trial. See Iowa Code §§ 713.1, .3 (2009). 3
During the defense case, Seats took the stand. Seats testified he
had grown up in Chicago, Illinois, but moved to Charles City with his
mother and oldest brother when he was twelve. After a year, he moved
with his mother to Mason City. He lived there with his mother and sister
for two years, attending the Mason City schools. During Seats’s
freshman year, his mother moved back to Chicago, but Seats
accompanied her for less than a year, returning to Mason City where he
attended school through the eleventh grade and played sports. Seats
lived with his older brother in Mason City until the brother went to
prison. After that, Seats had no regular home; in August 2008 he was
“homeless” in his own words, with clothing scattered around several
houses, although he often stayed at the house of his best friend, whose
mother took care of him.
Seats also testified he had a good relationship with his own mother
who was sending him money from Chicago every week. He had just
begun to attend the alternative school in Mason City for twelfth grade at
3Wellssubsequently entered into a plea agreement under which he pled guilty to
involuntary manslaughter, see Iowa Code § 707.5, and first-degree robbery, see id.
§§ 711.1–.2.
 38
the time of the murder. Seats also claimed that he had been planning to
start a part-time job the Monday after the shooting.
At trial, Seats recanted his earlier confession. He testified that a
man several years older than him named Brandon Crawford had
committed the murder. Seats claimed his girlfriend had recently told
him she was pregnant. Seats, believing he was going to become a father,
testified he was concerned about supporting a child and therefore
contacted Crawford to ask if he (Seats) could sell drugs for Crawford to
make money. According to Seats, on the night of the shooting, he
planned to meet Crawford and pick up drugs. It so happened that the
meeting was to occur near Ramirez’s house.
Seats thus testified that McFarland was actually driving Seats and
Wells so they could meet Crawford, not so they could enter Ramirez’s
house. Seats testified that when they stopped, Wells got the gun out of
the trunk for protection, while Seats urged Wells to “leave the gun”
because “[t]here’s no reason for it.” Thereafter, according to Seats, he
entered Crawford’s SUV. While inside Crawford’s vehicle, Seats allegedly
received a bag from Crawford. Seats testified that after he exited
Crawford’s vehicle and while he was walking back to McFarland’s car,
Crawford, Wells, and a third person who had been in Crawford’s vehicle
began to huddle together and have a conversation that Seats could not
hear. Wells then supposedly asked for the shirt off Seats’s back and
proceeded to tie it on his head to cover his face. Seats allegedly
continued to walk toward McFarland’s car. Seats claimed he did not see
where the other three went, but gunshots rang out a short while later.
Upon hearing the shots, Seats claimed he ran the rest of the way to
McFarland’s car. Wells also allegedly reentered McFarland’s car soon
thereafter. Once they were both in McFarland’s car, Wells reportedly
39
handed Seats the gun, wrapped in the t-shirt Seats had previously given
him.
Seats denied ever entering Ramirez’s house that evening. He
admitted hiding the gun under the bushes. In short, Seats told a story
consistent with much of McFarland’s testimony that nonetheless would
have exonerated him of the murder.
Seats went on to testify that the story he had told police during his
initial afternoon interview was correct in that he had nothing to do with
the shooting. Seats admitted lying during that interview about not being
anywhere near the area when the shooting occurred. According to Seats,
after he left the first interview, he ran into Crawford. Crawford
supposedly slammed Seats to the ground and threatened to harm Seats’s
family if Seats did not lie to protect Crawford. Seats stated Crawford
instructed him to tell the police that only Seats and Wells had been in
the house and that one of them shot Ramirez. Seats testified he was
scared of Crawford and that was the reason he falsely confessed to the
murder during the evening interview. Seats explained he was able to
draw a diagram of the murder scene during the second interview because
he had previously seen the layout of the house during the night of the
fight involving the brick.
The State called Crawford as a rebuttal witness. Crawford testified
he was at home from approximately 11:30 p.m. onward on the night of
August 23. He denied speaking to Seats on the night of August 23 and
claimed he never met with Seats to deliver drugs to him near Ramirez’s
house. He also denied that he saw or threatened Seats on August 24.
Crawford’s girlfriend corroborated Crawford’s testimony about his being
at home on the night of the shooting.
40
A jury found Seats guilty of both first-degree murder and first-
degree burglary. As statutorily required, he was sentenced to life without
parole on the first-degree murder conviction.
Four years later, in November 2013, Seats received a resentencing
based on the United Supreme Court decision in Miller v. Alabama, 567
U.S. ___, 132 S. Ct. 2455, 183 L. Ed. 2d 407 (2012), and our decisions in
State v. Ragland, 836 N.W.2d 107 (Iowa 2013), State v. Null, 836 N.W.2d
41 (Iowa 2013), and State v. Pearson, 836 N.W.2d 88 (Iowa 2013).
As pointed out by the majority, the PSI that was prepared for
Seats’s resentencing covered not only the first eighteen years of Seats’s
life but also the subsequent four years he had spent in prison. Thus, the
PSI noted Seats’s difficult childhood, including a lack of adult
supervision and an early exposure to gang violence. It also reported
Seats had an extensive juvenile criminal history, including assault, going
armed with a knife, possession of a controlled substance, and third-
degree burglary. And it noted Seats—while imprisoned—had been
disciplined ten times. Seats had dropped out of a GED program and was
not permitted to hold a job in prison because of his disciplinary status.
The majority raises no question about the comprehensiveness of the PSI.
The State presented one witness at the resentencing hearing—a
relative of the victim. She testified that Cervantes’s fiancée had been
pregnant in Mexico with Cervantes’s child at the time of the murder and
was now raising the child in an impoverished area of Mexico.
Seats, now almost twenty-three years old, also testified at the
hearing. His direct testimony, covered in great detail by the majority,
described the very serious challenges Seats had to confront while
growing up. The State cross-examined Seats only briefly, ending with the
following exchange:
41
Q. Now in the pre-sentence investigation, they asked
you about what happened in the incident of this crime and
you denied any involvement in it. Is that fair? A. I didn’t
deny any involvement. I denied that I killed the man.
Q. Okay. And you continue to deny that today; is that
right? A. Absolutely, because it didn’t happen.
As the quotations recited in the majority opinion indicate, the
district court clearly understood its role in resentencing Seats. In
particular, its job was to follow Miller, Ragland, Null, and Pearson. This
meant, as the court put it, that it “must take into account how children
are different, and how those differences counsel against irrevocably
sentencing them to a lifetime in prison.” (Internal quotation marks
omitted.) The court said on the record that this was one of the “unusual”
cases in which life without parole was warranted, and then explained
why. The court specifically acknowledged Seats’s troubled youth, but
explained that other circumstances carried greater weight. Although the
majority has quoted from the district court’s explanations and reasoning,
the following statement also bears quotation:
As to the crime, Mr. Seats shot a man asleep on a
couch. Mr. Seats was not provoked, it was not a situation of
a conflict that got out of control, and there is no arguable
issue of self-defense. Mr. Seats was a primary actor in the
murder and not a bystander who got caught up in events.
He then took a series of proactive communications after his
arrest, and he was demonstrably able to assist in his own
defense at trial. Mr. Seats still does not acknowledge his
guilt, show remorse for the crime he committed or
demonstrate concern for the victim or the victim’s family.
I will now address Seats’s argument that the Eighth Amendment to
the United States Constitution and article I, section 17 of the Iowa
Constitution categorically prohibit the sentence of life without parole for
persons who commit first-degree murder when under the age of
42
eighteen. 4 I will then turn to Seats’s alternative, as-applied challenge to
his life-without-parole sentence. 5
II. Seats’s Categorical Challenge to Life-Without-Parole
Sentences for Juveniles Convicted of First-Degree Murder.
A. Recent United States Supreme Court Precedent. In Roper v.
Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, 575, 125 S. Ct. 1183, 1198, 161 L. Ed. 2d 1, 25,
(2005), the United States Supreme Court held that the Eighth
Amendment categorically prohibits the execution of juveniles who
commit murder. “[T]he death penalty is disproportionate punishment for
offenders under 18,” the Court stated. Id.
The Roper Court initially noted a “national consensus against the
death penalty for juveniles”—marked by “the rejection of the juvenile
death penalty in the majority of States; the infrequency of its use even
where it remains on the books; and the consistency in the trend toward
abolition of the practice.” Id. at 564, 567, 125 S. Ct. at 1192, 1194, 161
L. Ed. 2d at 18, 20. Also, the Court found that due to differences
between juveniles and adults, “juvenile offenders cannot with reliability
be classified among the worst offenders.” Id. at 569, 125 S. Ct. at 1195,
161 L. Ed. 2d at 21. “[A] greater possibility exists that a minor’s
character deficiencies will be reformed.” Id. at 570, 125 S. Ct. at 1195–
4The Eighth Amendment provides, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor
excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” U.S. Const.
amend. VIII. Article I, section 17 states, “Excessive bail shall not be required; excessive
fines shall not be imposed, and cruel and unusual punishment shall not be inflicted.”
Iowa Const. art. I, § 17.
5The majority states that Seats has raised three issues on appeal. Technically
that is true, but the second issue is simply a brief recapitulation of the argument we
have already accepted in Ragland, 836 N.W.2d at 122, namely, that even with the
benefit of the Governor’s commutation from life without parole to sixty years before
eligibility for parole, Seats has the functional equivalent of an LWOP sentence. The only
arguments that present previously unresolved issues are Seats’s categorical and his as-
applied challenges to his LWOP sentence.
43
96, 161 L. Ed. 2d at 22. Furthermore, the Roper Court observed that
juveniles, on the whole, have “diminished culpability,” and therefore “the
penological justifications for the death penalty apply to them with lesser
force than to adults.” Id. at 571, 125 S. Ct. at 1196, 161 L. Ed. 2d at 23.
“Retribution is not proportional if the law’s most severe penalty is
imposed on one whose culpability or blameworthiness is diminished, to a
substantial degree, by reason of youth and immaturity.” Id.
Five years later, in Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48, 82, 130 S. Ct.
2011, 2034, 176 L. Ed. 2d 825, 850 (2010), the Supreme Court held the
Eighth Amendment categorically prohibits a juvenile offender from being
sentenced to life without parole for a nonhomicide crime. The Court
relied on several considerations.
First, it noted that this sentencing practice is “exceedingly rare.”
Id. at 67, 130 S. Ct. at 2026, 176 L. Ed. 2d at 841. “[O]nly 11
jurisdictions nationwide in fact impose life without parole sentences on
juvenile nonhomicide offenders—and most of these do so quite rarely
. . . .” Id. at 64, 130 S. Ct. at 2024, 176 L. Ed. 2d at 839.
Second, the Graham Court considered culpability and severity. It
observed that persons, especially juveniles, “who do not kill, intend to
kill, or foresee that life will be taken are categorically less deserving of the
most serious forms of punishment than are murderers.” Id. at 69, 130
S. Ct. at 2027, 176 L. Ed. 2d at 842.
It follows that, when compared to an adult murderer, a
juvenile offender who did not kill or intend to kill has a twice
diminished moral culpability. The age of the offender and
the nature of the crime each bear on the analysis.
Id. The Court emphasized that LWOP is “the second most severe penalty
permitted by law.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).
44
After discussing the penological justifications, the Graham Court
held the Eighth Amendment requires states to give all juvenile
nonhomicide offenders “some meaningful opportunity to obtain release
based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation.” Id. at 75, 130
S. Ct. at 2030, 176 L. Ed. 2d at 846.
In Miller, 567 U.S. ___, ___, 132 S. Ct. 2455, 2467, 183 L. Ed. 2d
407, 422 (2012), the Supreme Court confronted the constitutionality of
LWOP sentences for juvenile offenders convicted of murder. It found that
a mandatory life-without-parole sentence was unconstitutional because
the Eighth Amendment required individualized sentencing accounting for
the offender’s youth. Id. As the Court put it,
Such mandatory penalties, by their nature, preclude a
sentencer from taking account of an offender’s age and the
wealth of characteristics and circumstances attendant to it.
Under these schemes, every juvenile will receive the same
sentence as every other—the 17-year-old and the 14-year-
old, the shooter and the accomplice, the child from a stable
household and the child from a chaotic and abusive one.
Id. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2467–68, 183 L. Ed. 2d at 422. The Miller
holding thus had two components. First, a mandatory—as opposed to a
discretionary—LWOP sentence for a juvenile murderer is impermissible.
Second, in exercising the required discretion, the sentencing authority
has to consider the offender’s youth and matters relevant to that youth.
Although the Miller Court did not foreclose an LWOP sentence for a
juvenile who commits murder, it did state as follows:
[G]iven all we have said . . . about children’s diminished
culpability and heightened capacity for change, we think
appropriate occasions for sentencing juveniles to this
harshest possible penalty will be uncommon. That is
especially so because of the great difficulty we noted in Roper
and Graham of distinguishing at this early age between the
juvenile offender whose crime reflects unfortunate yet
transient immaturity, and the rare juvenile offender whose
crime reflects irreparable corruption. Although we do not
45
foreclose a sentencer’s ability to make that judgment in
homicide cases, we require it to take into account how
children are different, and how those differences counsel
against irrevocably sentencing them to a lifetime in prison.
Id. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2469, 183 L. Ed. 2d at 424 (citation omitted)
(internal quotation marks omitted).
In short, Miller left open LWOP as a potential sentencing option.
Still, it did establish that no juvenile could be sentenced to LWOP unless
the sentencing court first conducted a hearing that considered the
characteristics of youth and their mitigating effects. And it indicated
that appropriate occasions for such sentences would be uncommon. As
the Court stated later in the opinion, “[A] judge or jury must have the
opportunity to consider mitigating circumstances before imposing the
harshest possible penalty for juveniles.” Id. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2475,
183 L. Ed. 2d at 430. The Miller Court condemned mandatory
sentencing laws because they “prohibit a sentencing authority from
assessing whether the law’s harshest term of imprisonment
proportionately punishes a juvenile offender.” Id. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at
2466, 183 L. Ed. 2d at 420–21 (emphasis added).
B. Our Recent Precedent. In the wake of Miller, we have decided
several cases on juvenile sentencing. See generally Elisabeth A. Archer,
Note, Establishing Principled Interpretation Standards in Iowa’s Cruel and
Unusual Punishment Jurisprudence, 100 Iowa L. Rev. 323, 337–44 (2014)
(discussing the Iowa Supreme Court’s recent caselaw under article I,
section 17 of the Iowa Constitution). Two years ago, in Ragland, 836
N.W.2d at 122, we held the Governor’s blanket commutation of LWOP
sentences to life without parole for sixty years resulted in sentencing that
did not comply with Miller. We said, “[T]he unconstitutional imposition of
a mandatory life-without-parole sentence is not fixed by substituting it
46
with a sentence with parole that is the practical equivalent of a life
sentence without parole.” Id. at 121. We also summarized five factors
that a court must consider at the individualized hearing required by
Miller:
In Miller, the Court described the factors that the
sentencing court must consider at the hearing, including:
(1) the “chronological age” of the youth and the features of
youth, including “immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to
appreciate risks and consequences”; (2) the “family and
home environment” that surrounded the youth; (3) “the
circumstances of the homicide offense, including the extent
of [the youth’s] participation in the conduct and the way
familial and peer pressures may have affected [the youth]”;
(4) the “incompetencies associated with youth—for example,
[the youth’s] inability to deal with police officers or
prosecutors (including on a plea agreement) or [the youth’s]
incapacity to assist [the youth’s] own attorneys”; and (5) “the
possibility of rehabilitation.”
Id. at 115 n.6 (alterations in original) (quoting Miller, 567 U.S. at ___, 132
S. Ct. at 2468, 183 L. Ed. 2d at 423).
At the same time, in State v. Null, 836 N.W.2d at 76, we held under
the Iowa Constitution that the Miller ruling applies to a mandatory
sentence of 52.5 years before parole eligibility. We stated that before
imposing this kind of sentence, the trial court must (1) “recognize that
because children are constitutionally different from adults, they
ordinarily cannot be held to the same standard of culpability as adults in
criminal sentencing”; (2) make findings to justify an exception to this
general rule; (3) “recognize that [j]uveniles are more capable of change
than are adults” and “most juveniles who engage in criminal activity are
not destined to become lifelong criminals”; and (4) “recognize that a
lengthy prison sentence without the possibility of parole . . . is
appropriate, if at all, only in rare or uncommon cases.” Id. at 74–75
(alteration in original) (internal quotation marks omitted).
47
Also on the same day, in State v. Pearson, 836 N.W.2d at 96–97,
we held under the Iowa Constitution that Miller applies to a sentence of
thirty-five years before parole eligibility, comprised of two consecutive
mandatory periods of incarceration. We condemned as insufficient a
sentencing hearing that “emphasized the nature of the crimes to the
exclusion of the mitigating features of youth, which are required to be
considered under Miller and Null.” Id. at 97. We therefore vacated
Pearson’s sentence and remanded for “application of the Miller standards
as described in Null and this opinion.” Id.
Finally, last year, in State v. Lyle, 854 N.W.2d 378, 400 (Iowa
2014), we found all mandatory minimum prison sentences for juveniles
unconstitutional under article I, section 17. We concluded that “the
sentencing of juveniles according to statutorily required mandatory
minimums does not adequately serve the legitimate penological
objectives in light of the child’s categorically diminished culpability.” Id.
at 398. We said that “juveniles can still be sentenced to long terms of
imprisonment, but not mandatorily.” Id. at 401. However, we reserved
and did not decide the question whether an LWOP sentence could be
imposed on any juvenile who commits murder. Id. n.7. That question
was not before us in Lyle, but is before us today, although the majority
declines to decide it.
C. Recent Legislative Action in Iowa and Elsewhere. Following
Graham, our general assembly eliminated life without parole as a
possible sentence for class “A” felonies committed by juveniles other than
first-degree murder. See 2011 Iowa Acts ch. 131, § 147 (codified at Iowa
Code § 902.1(2) (2013)). Additionally, during the 2015 legislative
session, the general assembly enacted a law that provides three
alternatives for juveniles convicted of first-degree murder:
48
[A] defendant convicted of murder in the first degree in
violation of section 707.2, and who was under the age of
eighteen at the time the offense was committed shall receive
one the following sentences:
(1) Commitment to the director of the department of
corrections for the rest of the defendant’s life with no
possibility of parole unless the governor commutes the
sentence to a term of years.
(2) Commitment to the custody of the director of the
department of corrections for the rest of the defendant’s life
with the possibility of parole after serving a minimum term of
confinement as determined by the court.
(3) Commitment to the custody of the director of the
department of corrections for the rest of the defendant’s life
with the possibility of parole.
2015 Iowa Legis. Serv. no. 76 (S.F. 448) (West 2015) (to be codified at
Iowa Code § 902.1).
This law by its terms applies to “a person who was convicted of a
class ‘A’ felony prior to, on, or after the effective date of this Act and who
was under the age of eighteen at the time the offense was committed.”
Id. § 5. It passed the senate by a vote of forty-seven to three, passed the
house by a vote of eighty to eighteen, and was signed by the Governor on
April 24, 2015. S. Journal, 86th G.A., 1st Reg. Sess., at 626, 932 (Iowa
2015); H. Journal 86th G.A., 1st Reg. Sess., at 803–04 (Iowa 2015).
Thus, the Iowa legislature has decided to provide sentencing discretion to
the district courts in juvenile homicide cases, as required by Miller, while
retaining life without parole as a sentencing option.
In contrast to Iowa, six state legislatures and the District of
Columbia have responded to Miller by eliminating LWOP for juveniles
convicted of first-degree murder. 6 These states join six jurisdictions that
6See D.C. Code § 22-2104 (West, Westlaw through June 1, 2015) (“[N]o person
who was less than 18 years of age at the time the murder was committed shall be
sentenced to life imprisonment without release.); Haw. Rev. Stat. § 706-656(1) (West,
Westlaw through June 3, 2015) (“Persons under the age of eighteen years at the time of
49
already prohibited life without parole for juveniles prior to the Miller
decision. 7
However, a total of twenty-four jurisdictions in addition to Iowa
have retained life without parole as a sentencing option for juveniles who
commit murder following Miller. 8
______________________________________
the offense who are convicted of first degree murder or first degree attempted murder
shall be sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole.”); Tex. Penal Code
Ann. § 12.31(a) (West, Westlaw through 84th Legis., ch. 46 of 2015 Reg. Sess.) (stating
only individuals eighteen years of age and older can be sentenced to life imprisonment
without parole for capital felonies); Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13, § 7045 (West, Westlaw through
No. 22 of 1st Sess. of 2015–2016 Gen. Assemb.) (“A court shall not sentence a person to
life imprisonment without the possibility of parole if the person was under 18 years of
age at the time of the commission of the offense.”); W. Va. Code Ann. § 61-11-23(a)(2)
(West, Westlaw through 2015 Reg. Sess.) (banning life-without-parole sentences for
persons under eighteen years of age who were convicted of an offense punishable by life
imprisonment); Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-10-301(b) (West, Westlaw through 2014 Budget
Sess.) (prohibiting life-without-parole sentences for persons under eighteen years of age
at the time of the offense, unless they have assaulted an officer or attempted to escape
since being incarcerated and reaching the age of majority); 2015 Nev. Stat. ch. 152, § 2
(to be codified at Nev. Rev. Stat. § 176.025) (“A sentence of death or life imprisonment
without the possibility of parole must not be imposed or inflicted upon any person
convicted of a crime . . . who at the time of the commission of the crime was less than
18 years of age.”).
7See Alaska Stat. Ann. § 12.55.125(a) (West, Westlaw current 2015 1st Reg.
Sess. of 29th Leg.) (applying term of years sentences in place of life sentences); Colo.
Rev. Stat. Ann. § 18-1.3-401(4)(b)(I) (West, Westlaw current through May 15, 2015 of
1st Reg. Sess. of 70th Gen. Assemb.); Kan. Stat. Ann. § 21-6618 (West, Westlaw
through 2014 Reg. and Spec. Sess.); Mont. Code Ann. § 46-18-222 (West, Westlaw
through chapters effective Feb. 27, 2015, 2015 Sess.); N.M. Stat. Ann. §§ 31-21-10, 31-
18-15.3 (West, Westlaw through 2014 Legis., and including chapters 5, 75, 79, 83, 88,
99, 136, 149, and 150 of 1st Reg. Sess. of 52d Leg. (2015)), Or. Rev. Stat. Ann.
§ 161.620 (West, Westlaw through chapter 275 of 2015 Reg. Sess.). Kentucky banned
life without parole for juveniles under the age of sixteen. See Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann.
§ 640.040 (West, Westlaw through immediately effective legis. from 2015 Reg. Sess.).
8See Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 13-751(A)(2) (West, Westlaw through legis. effective
Apr. 13, 2015 of 1st Reg. Sess. of 52d Leg.) (retaining the option of life without parole
for juveniles convicted of first-degree murder); Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-104(b) (West,
Westlaw 2015 Reg. Sess. laws effective through Apr. 8, 90th Ark. Gen. Assemb.)
(allowing the option of life imprisonment without parole for defendants convicted of
capital murder or treason while younger than eighteen years of age); Cal. Penal Code
§ 190.5 (West, Westlaw through urgency legis. through chapter 4 of 2015 Reg. Sess.)
(permitting life without parole for juveniles between sixteen and eighteen years of age at
the discretion of the court); Del. Code. Ann. tit. 11, § 4209A (West, Westlaw through 80
Laws 2015, chapter 29) (permitting life without parole for juveniles convicted of first-
degree murder and imposing a twenty-five year minimum prison term); Fla. Stat. Ann.
§ 775.082 (West, Westlaw through chapters from 2015 1st Reg. Sess. of 24th Leg. in
50
______________________________________
effect through June 2, 2015) (stating a juvenile can be sentenced to life imprisonment if
a judge determines it is the appropriate sentence); Ga. Code Ann. § 16-5-1 (West,
Westlaw through Acts 2 through 44, 200, 203, 207, 209, 211, 217, 225, 229, 236, 249,
252, 300, 304, 306, and 309 of 2015 Sess. of Ga. Gen. Assemb.) (allowing LWOP as an
option for persons convicted of murder); Idaho Code Ann. § 18-4004 (West, Westlaw
through chapter 212 of 2015 1st Reg. Sess. of 63d Idaho Leg.) (stating that the
punishment for murder where the death penalty is not sought shall be life with no
parole eligibility for at least ten years); Ind. Code Ann. § 35-50-2-3 (West, Westlaw
through 2015 1st Reg. Sess. of 119th Gen. Assemb. legis. effective through June 28,
2015) (allowing discretionary life without parole for persons between sixteen and
eighteen years of age); La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 15:574.4(E) (West, Westlaw through 2014
Reg. Sess.) (allowing juvenile life without parole for first- and second-degree murder);
Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 17-A, § 1251 (West, Westlaw through emergency legis. through
chapter 96 of 2015 1st Reg. Sess. of 127th Leg.) (allowing either life imprisonment or a
term of years sentence for murder); Md. Code Ann., Crim. Law § 2-201 (West, Westlaw
through June 1, 2015 legis. of 2015 Reg. Sess. of Gen. Assemb.) (setting the penalty for
first-degree murder as life imprisonment with or without parole); Mich. Comp. Laws
Ann. § 769.25 (West, Westlaw through P.A. 2015, No. 43, of 2015 Reg. Sess., 98th Leg.)
(permitting the prosecuting attorney to seek a sentence of imprisonment for life without
the possibility of parole and imposing a twenty-five year minimum term for juveniles not
sentenced to life); Neb. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 28-105.02 (West, Westlaw through end of 2014
Reg. Sess.) (stating a person under eighteen years convicted of a Class 1A felony shall
be sentenced to between forty years’ and life imprisonment and allowing the defendant
to submit mitigating factors to the court at sentencing); N.Y. Penal Law § 70.00
(McKinney, Westlaw through L. 2015, chapters 1 to 18, 50 to 61) (allowing life
imprisonment without parole for persons convicted of class A felonies); N.C. Gen. Stat.
Ann. § 15A-1340.19A–B (West, Westlaw through chapter 38 of 2015 Reg. Sess. of Gen.
Assemb.) (allowing a possible life-without-parole sentence for juveniles convicted of
first-degree murder and imposing a twenty-five year minimum sentence for juveniles
eligible for parole); N.D. Cent. Code Ann. § 12.1-32-01 (West, Westlaw through HB
1104, HB 1105, HB 1107, HB 1127, HB 1134, HB 1159, HB 1199, HB 1206, HB 1281,
HB 1358, HB 1370, HB 1390, HB 1407, SB 2052, SB 2079, SB 2082, SB 2100, SB
2176, SB 2188, SB 2237, SB 2271 and SB 2301 of 2015 Reg. Sess. of 64th Leg.)
(setting the maximum penalty for class AA felonies as life without parole); Okla. Stat.
Ann. tit. 21, § 701.9 (West, Westlaw through emergency effective provisions through
chapter 338 of 1st Reg. Sess. of 55th Leg. (2015)) (allowing life-without-parole sentences
for first-degree murder); 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 1102.1 (West, Westlaw through Act
2015-4) (stating a court has discretion to sentence a juvenile to life without parole and
imposing minimum sentences for juveniles sentenced to terms of imprisonment rather
than life); R.I. Gen. Laws Ann. § 11-23-2 (West, Westlaw through chapter 41 of Jan.
2015 Sess.) (allowing the court to impose life-without-parole sentences for persons
convicted of murder in the first degree); S.D. Codified Laws § 22-6-1 (West, Westlaw
current through 2014 Reg. Sess.) (“If the defendant is under the age of eighteen years at
the time of the offense and found guilty of a Class A or B felony, the maximum sentence
may be life imprisonment in the state penitentiary.”); Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-202
(West, Westlaw through laws from 2015 1st Reg. Sess., effective through Apr. 6. 2015)
(allowing discretionary life without parole for first-degree murder); Utah Code Ann. § 76-
3-207.7 (West, Westlaw through 2014 Gen. Sess.) (allowing a life-without-parole
sentence for juveniles convicted of aggravated murder); Wash. Rev. Code Ann.
51
Lastly, eleven states that had statutory schemes imposing
mandatory life without parole on certain juvenile homicide offenders have
yet to pass new legislation conforming their respective statutory schemes
to Miller. 9
D. Does the Eighth Amendment Categorically Prohibit Life
Without Parole for Juveniles Who Commit Murder? To my
knowledge, no appellate court has determined that the Eighth
Amendment, in light of Miller, categorically prohibits LWOP sentences for
juvenile homicide offenders. To the contrary, numerous appellate courts
have affirmed LWOP sentences for juvenile murderers post-Miller. 10
Miller itself said,
______________________________________
§ 10.95.030(3) (West, Westlaw through legis. effective through May 18, 2015) (stating
that juveniles can be sentenced to life without parole but the court must take into
account mitigating factors before handing down a life sentence); Wis. Stat. Ann.
§ 939.50 (West, Westlaw through 2015 Act 20) (setting life imprisonment as the penalty
for Class A felonies).
9See Ala. Code § 13A-5-45 (West, Westlaw through Act 2015-183 of 2015 Reg.
Sess.); Conn. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 54-125a (West, Westlaw through Pub. Acts 15-3
through 15-5 of 2015 Jan. Reg. Sess. of Conn. Gen. Assemb.); 730 Ill. Comp. Stat. Ann.
5/5-8-1 (West, Westlaw through P.A. 99-4 of 2015 Reg. Sess.); Minn. Stat. Ann.
§ 609.106 (West, Westlaw through chapters 1 to 15, 24, 43, 45, 46, 49, 51, and 53 of
2015 Reg. Sess.); Miss. Code. Ann. § 47-7-3 (West, Westlaw through laws in effect
through Apr. 23, 2015); Mo. Ann. Stat. § 565.020 (West, Westlaw through emergency
legislation approved through Apr. 8, 2015, of 2015 1st Reg. Sess. of 98th Gen.
Assemb.); N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 630:1-a (West, Westlaw through chapter 48 of 2015
Reg. Sess.); N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2C:11-3 (West, Westlaw through L. 2015, c. 60 and J.R.
No. 1); Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2929.03 (West, Westlaw through 2015 Files 1 to 6 of the
131st Gen. Assemb.); S.C. Code Ann. § 17-25-45 (West, Westlaw through Acts 1 and 3
of 2015 Sess.); Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-10 (West, Westlaw through end of 2014 Reg. Sess.
and end of 2014 Sp. S.I. and includes 2015 Reg. Sess. cc. 1, 7, 8, 39, 61, 67, and 89).
10See Evans–García v. United States, 744 F.3d 235, 240 (1st Cir. 2014) (finding a
habeas petitioner not entitled to relief because he received a discretionary life-without-
parole sentence); Pennington v. Hobbs, 451 S.W.3d 199, 202 (Ark. 2014) (holding that a
nonmandatory sentence of life without parole did not violate Miller); People v. Wilder, ___
P.3d ___, ___, 2015 WL 795834, at *5 (Colo. App. Feb. 26, 2015) (“Miller did not
categorically bar the imposition of a life without parole sentence for a juvenile
offender.”); People v. Gutierrez–Ruiz, ___ P.3d ___, ___, 2014 WL 4242887, at *4 (Colo.
App. Aug. 28, 2014) (“[T]he constitutional defect in defendant’s sentence for first degree
murder is not its length or the fact that he will not be eligible for parole. Instead,
52
Our decision does not categorically bar a penalty for a class
of offenders or type of crime—as, for example, we did in
Roper or Graham. Instead, it mandates only that a sentencer
follow a certain process—considering an offender’s youth and
attendant characteristics—before imposing a particular
penalty.
567 U.S. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2471, 183 L. Ed. 2d at 426.
I would read Miller as every other appellate court has. Miller allows
states to impose LWOP sentences on some juveniles who commit murder
______________________________________
defendant’s sentence of life without parole violates the Eighth Amendment because it
was imposed without any opportunity for the sentencing court to consider whether this
punishment is just and appropriate in light of defendant’s age, maturity, and the other
factors discussed in Miller.”); Washington v. State, 103 So. 3d 917, 920 (Fla. Dist. Ct.
App. 2012) (“Under Miller, a sentence of life without the possibility of parole remains a
constitutionally permissible sentencing option.”); Foster v. State, 754 S.E.2d 33, 37 (Ga.
2014) (finding no Eighth Amendment violation in a discretionary life-without-parole
sentence); People v. Baker, 28 N.E.3d 836, 848 (Ill. App. Ct. 2015) (“Under Miller, a
juvenile defendant can be sentenced to natural life in prison without parole, so long as
the natural life sentence is at the trial court’s discretion and not mandatory.”); Conley v.
State, 972 N.E.2d 864, 879 (Ind. 2012) (“Our holding that [Indiana’s discretionary] life-
without-parole sentence is not unconstitutional is not altered by Miller.”); State v.
Fletcher, 149 So. 3d 934, 941 (La. Ct. App. 2014) (“Miller did not preclude life without
parole for juveniles. It merely required that a sentencing court consider mitigating facts
related to the juvenile’s youth before imposing a sentence without benefit of parole.”);
People v. Carp, 852 N.W.2d 801, 841 (Mich. 2014), petitions for cert. filed sub nom. Carp
v. Michigan (U.S. Jan. 13, 2015) (No. 14-824), Davis v. Michigan (U.S. Jan. 23, 2015)
(No. 14-8106) (“[T]he proportionality review employed by the United States Supreme
Court in fashioning the rules in Roper, Graham, and Miller . . . does not support the
categorical rule sought by defendants.”); State v. Ali, 855 N.W.2d 235, 258 (Minn. 2014)
(“The Court specifically did not foreclose the punishment of [LWOP] for juveniles, but
required that such sentences not be imposed without taking the defendants’ youth into
consideration.”); State v. Hart, 404 S.W.3d 232, 238 (Mo. 2013) (“From these forceful
and repetitious statements, it is reasonable to infer that the Supreme Court did not
intend for Miller to be misused in precisely the way that Hart suggests, i.e., that the
Supreme Court was not holding that the Eighth Amendment categorically prohibits life
sentences without parole for juvenile offenders found guilty of first-degree murder.”);
Commonwealth v. Batts, 66 A.3d 286, 296 (Pa. 2013) (“Miller requires only that there be
judicial consideration of the appropriate age-related factors set forth in that decision
prior to the imposition of a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of
parole on a juvenile.”); Aiken v. Byars, 765 S.E.2d 572, 578 (S.C. 2014) (“Without
question, the judge may still determine that life without parole is the appropriate
sentence in some of these cases in light of other aggravating circumstances.”); State v.
Houston, ___ P.3d ___, ___, 2015 WL 773718, at *14 (Utah Mar. 13, 2015) (“[W]e
conclude that imposing LWOP on a juvenile convicted of homicide does not violate the
Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments.”).
53
without violating the Eighth Amendment. Seats would invert the
foregoing quotation from Miller (i.e., “does not categorically bar”). He
asks us to hold that Miller does categorically bar a penalty for a class of
offenders or type of crime. That is not what Miller says.
E. Does Article I, Section 17 of the Iowa Constitution
Categorically Prohibit Life-Without-Parole Sentences for Juveniles
Who Commit Murder? In considering Seats’s categorical challenge
under the Iowa Constitution, I believe it is valuable to draw on two
additional sources of authority—pre-2013 Iowa caselaw and decisions
from other states addressing categorical challenges to juvenile homicide
LWOP sentences under their state constitutions. After examining these
authorities, I turn to the question whether the Iowa Constitution
prohibits all LWOP sentences for juvenile murderers.
1. Additional Iowa caselaw. This court has been dealing with the
difficult questions raised by both juvenile sentencing and LWOP
sentences for some time. That effort did not begin with the
Ragland/Null/Pearson trilogy in 2013.
Thus, our court has held that a mandatory LWOP sentence for an
adult who commits first-degree kidnapping does not violate article I,
section 17. See State v. Nims, 357 N.W.2d 608, 610–11 (Iowa 1984). We
have also upheld against state constitutional challenge a mandatory
sentence of 42.5 years’ imprisonment before parole eligibility for an adult
who commits second-degree murder. See State v. Cronkhite, 613 N.W.2d
664, 669–70 (Iowa 2000).
More recently, we held an LWOP sentence for an adult who
committed third-degree sexual abuse for the second time did not violate
article I, section 17. See State v. Oliver, 812 N.W.2d 636, 649–53 (Iowa
2012). As a twenty-four-year-old, the defendant had sexual relations
54
with a girl who was fourteen or fifteen, and later as a thirty-three-year-
old, he had sexual relations with a girl who was thirteen. Id. at 651. We
concluded that no inference of gross disproportionality arose and ended
the analysis there. Id. at 653.
We have also said, “We seek to interpret our constitution
consistent with the object sought to be obtained at the time of adoption
as disclosed by the circumstances.” Chiodo v. Section 43.24 Panel, 846
N.W.2d 845, 851 (Iowa 2014); see also Homan v. Branstad, 812 N.W.2d
623, 629 (Iowa 2012) (indicating that in construing a provision of the
Iowa Constitution, “our mission ‘is to ascertain the intent of the
framers.’ ” (quoting Rants v. Vilsack, 684 N.W.2d 193, 199 (Iowa 2004))).
Yet when our present constitution was adopted, our laws mandated
capital punishment for first-degree murder. See Iowa Code § 2569
(1851). During that time period, juveniles over fourteen were presumed
to have the capacity to commit criminal acts, and when tried, were tried
as adults. See Lyle, 854 N.W.2d at 390.
In an early case, decided when our constitution was of relatively
recent vintage, we upheld the conviction and death sentence of juvenile
James Dooley for the murder of his aunt and cousin. See State v.
Dooley, 89 Iowa 584, 594, 57 N.W. 414, 417 (1894). Dooley was sixteen
when he committed his crimes, and at the time, our laws authorized the
jury to determine either death or imprisonment for life at hard labor as
the punishment for first-degree murder. Id. at 586–87, 57 N.W. at 415.
The jury chose death. Id. at 594, 57 N.W. at 417. We described the facts
of the case and also made a number of observations concerning the
defendant:
There can be no reasonable doubt that defendant is
guilty of the crime of which he was convicted. He
commenced to work for his uncle in September, 1891, and
55
worked for him continuously until the time of the murder,
excepting some time during the winter, when he attended
the Prescott school. In the morning of May 11, after his
uncle left home, his aunt scolded him for permitting the
cattle to get into a neighbor’s field, which made him angry.
At about 10 o’clock he went to Prescott, and while there
wrote an order on a merchant of the town, to which he
signed a name intended to be that of his uncle, and with it
went to a hardware store, where he inquired for revolvers.
He was shown one, which he agreed to take, if the merchant
would accept the order. The order was accepted, and the
defendant carried away with him the revolver and a box of
cartridges. He states that he purchased the revolver to
practice with, and at the time had no intention of shooting
any one; that he had half a pint of whisky with him, which
he and another person drank, and that he went home about
noon; that his aunt was usually kind to him; and that he
had not felt any improper desires towards her or his cousin,
but when he reached home the cattle were in a neighbor’s
field. Mrs. Coons scolded him at the dinner table for
neglecting the cattle, and they quarreled for some minutes.
After dinner, about half past 12 o’clock, she again began
scolding him. He had in his pocket a padlock, which he had
picked up in the yard for the purpose of unlocking it, but
when Mrs. Coons scolded him he became angry, and struck
her on the head twice with it. The blows knocked her down.
They struggled for a time, and he then shot her. The little
girl came running in from the barn, and as she came
through the door he struck her on the head with the
padlock, and knocked her down; then shot her in the
forehead. He placed the bodies on the bed, took a satchel,
with clothing, locked the house, harnessed the team to a
buggy, and drove away. He further says that he did not
recover from his passion sufficiently to realize the enormity
of what he had done until he had driven four or five
miles. . . . Counsel for appellant discuss at some length the
character of the defendant, as shown by his history. His
father died when he was but a few years old. His mother
remarried, and he left home when he was about thirteen
years of age, and worked at different places until he
commenced working for his uncle. He seems to have been a
quiet, well behaved boy, who was favorably regarded by
those who knew him. He attended school in Prescott a
portion of the winter preceding the murder, and during that
winter joined a church, and attended Sunday school. He
was not an apt pupil, and his mental development, from lack
of opportunity or of natural ability, seemed to be a little
inferior to the average development of boys of his age. He is
described as having the appearance of an easy going,
sluggish fellow, who did not have the perseverance boys of
his age and opportunities usually have. He had not drank
much intoxicating liquor, but was quite a reader of cheap,
56
sensational novels. . . . There is nothing in the record,
excepting the commission of the crimes which were proven,
to show that defendant is of a depraved nature. Certainly,
he cannot be regarded as a hardened criminal, although
guilty of a crime having few parallels in wanton atrocity in
the history of the state. In view of the youth of the
defendant, his lack of mental development, and his almost
uniformly good conduct before the crime was committed, we
should have been better satisfied had the jury designated
imprisonment in the penitentiary for life as his punishment;
but, in a legal sense, the evidence was sufficient to authorize
the punishment designated, and there is no sufficient
ground upon which we can prevent it.
Id. at 591–94, 57 N.W. at 416–17. Dooley was seventeen years old when
we affirmed his conviction and sentence and was executed on the
grounds of the Iowa State Penitentiary later the same year after he had
turned eighteen. See N.N. Jones, Biennial Report of the Warden of the
Penitentiary at Fort Madison to the Governor of Iowa 40–41 (1895).
Of course, originalism is not the only available tool in
constitutional interpretation. See, e.g., Lyle, 854 N.W.2d at 384
(referring to “evolving standards of decency” (internal quotation marks
omitted)); Chiodo, 846 N.W.2d at 854 (same). In this area of law in
particular, this court has said that “punishments once thought just and
constitutional may later come to be seen as fundamentally repugnant to
the core values contained in our State and Federal Constitutions as we
grow in our understanding over time.” Lyle, 854 N.W.2d at 385. My
point here is simply that originalism would not support a categorical ban
on the death penalty for juveniles who commit murder, let alone a ban
on life without parole.
Additionally, we have long recognized that discretion in sentencing
can alleviate possible constitutional problems under article I, section 17.
In State v. Teeters, 97 Iowa 458, 462–63, 66 N.W. 754, 756 (1896), we
rejected a constitutional challenge to a law permitting a sentence of up to
57
five years in prison or up to a $500 fine for obstructing a public highway,
emphasizing that this was simply a maximum. As we put it, “If the law
fixed arbitrarily the excessive punishment, the claim of the law being
unconstitutional because of it would be more tenable.” Id. at 463, 66
N.W. at 756.
2. State constitutional rulings in other jurisdictions. In the
aftermath of Miller, a number of state appellate courts have addressed
under their respective state constitutions categorical challenges to life-
without-parole sentences for juvenile murderers. In all but one instance,
they have overruled those challenges. See, e.g., People v. Palafox, 179
Cal. Rptr. 3d 789, 805 (Ct. App. 2014) (disagreeing with the proposition
that “an LWOP term cannot properly be imposed under California law or
the Eighth Amendment” (emphasis added)); Bun v. State, 769 S.E.2d
381, 383–84 (Ga. 2015) (rejecting the defendant’s argument that
imposition of an LWOP sentence violated the Georgia Constitution); State
v. Fletcher, 149 So. 3d 934, 944, 950 (La. Ct. App. 2014) (rejecting a
claim that the district court’s imposition of a life-without-parole sentence
following a post-Miller resentencing violated the Louisiana Constitution);
State v. Ali, 855 N.W.2d 235, 258–59 (Minn. 2014) (rejecting the
argument that the discretionary imposition of consecutive life sentences
that are the practical equivalent of life without parole violated the
Minnesota Constitution); State v. Houston, ___ P.3d ___, ___, 2015 WL
773718, at *14–15 (Utah Mar. 13, 2015) (rejecting the argument that
LWOP is a categorically impermissible sentence under the Utah
Constitution for a juvenile convicted of murder and noting that “a
majority of our sister states as well as the federal system permit LWOP
for juveniles convicted of the most heinous crimes”).
58
In one case, the Michigan Supreme Court took note that
Michigan’s constitution, unlike the United States Constitution and the
Iowa Constitution, contains disjunctive wording and prohibits
punishments that are either “cruel or unusual.” People v. Carp, 852
N.W.2d 801, 844 (Mich. 2014) (emphasis in original) (internal quotation
marks omitted), petitions for cert. filed sub nom. Carp v. Michigan (U.S.
Jan. 13, 2015) (No. 14-824), Davis v. Michigan (U.S. Jan. 23, 2015) (No.
14-8106). The court went on,
The textual difference between the federal constitutional
protection and the state constitutional protection is of
consequence and has led this Court to conclude that Article
1, § 16 [of the Michigan Constitution] provides greater
protection against certain punishments than its federal
counterpart in that if a punishment must be both “cruel”
and “unusual” for it to be proscribed by the Eighth
Amendment, a punishment that is unusual but not
necessarily cruel is also proscribed by Article 1, § 16.
Id. (emphasis in original) (internal quotation marks omitted). Yet despite
this textual difference, the court was unwilling to conclude that LWOP
was so disproportionate a punishment for a juvenile homicide offender as
to be unconstitutional in all cases. Id. at 845–46.
In another case, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court similarly denied
a categorical challenge to an LWOP sentence for a juvenile homicide
offender, even though Pennsylvania’s constitutional language differs from
the Eighth Amendment. See Commonwealth v. Batts, 66 A.3d 286, 299
(Pa. 2013). The Pennsylvania Constitution prohibits “cruel
punishment”—whether unusual or not. Id. at 298 (internal quotation
marks omitted). Nonetheless, the Batts court concluded,
We find the textual analysis provided by Appellant and
his amici to carry little force. The purport of the argument is
that this Court should expand upon the United States
Supreme Court’s proportionality approach, not that it should
59
derive new theoretical distinctions based on differences
between the conceptions of “cruel” and “unusual.”
....
We view Appellant’s policy arguments in essentially the
same light. These emphasize the trend of the United States
Supreme Court towards viewing juveniles as a category as
less culpable than adults, and, while we recognize this
progression, Appellant does not acknowledge that there has
been no concomitant movement in this Court or in the
Pennsylvania Legislature away from considering murder to
be a particularly heinous offense, even when committed by a
juvenile.
Id. at 298–99.
Lastly, the Indiana Supreme Court also upheld a post-Miller LWOP
sentence for a juvenile over a state constitutional challenge. Conley v.
State, 972 N.E.2d 864, 879–80 (Ind. 2012). Under Indiana law, an LWOP
sentence may be imposed only after the sentencing court identifies all
aggravating and mitigating circumstances, includes the facts and
reasons that support those findings, balances those circumstances, and
determines the sentence is appropriate. Id. at 873. The court must also
find at least one aggravating circumstance and that the aggravating
circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances. Id.
The Indiana Supreme Court acknowledged that the Indiana
Constitution “can provide more protections than the United States
Constitution provides” and its “language is not the same.” Id. at 879. In
particular, the Indiana Constitution states, “ ‘The penal code shall be
founded on the principles of reformation, and not of vindictive justice.’ ”
Id. (quoting Ind. Const. art. 1, § 18). Still, the court found no
constitutional violation, noting that the defendant was “only the fourth
juvenile sentenced to a life-without-parole sentence” in Indiana. Id. at
880. The court observed that in Indiana, “[l]ife without parole is reserved
60
for use in only the most heinous of crimes that so shock our conscience
as a community.” Id.
One state constitutional decision is to the contrary. In Diatchenko
v. District Attorney, 1 N.E.3d 270, 276, 282–85 (Mass. 2013), the
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court acknowledged that Miller
foreclosed only mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juvenile
homicide offenders under the Eighth Amendment, yet invalidated all life-
without-parole sentences for juveniles in Massachusetts under Article 26
of the declaration of rights in that state’s constitution. The relevant
provision of that article bars courts from inflicting “cruel or unusual
punishments.” Mass. Const., pt. 1, art. 26. 11
The Massachusetts court based its reasoning on two points—first,
the inability of courts to determine with a high degree of confidence
whether a juvenile offender can or cannot be rehabilitated, and second,
the similarity between life without parole and the death penalty (the
latter of which the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court had
previously found to be unconstitutional in all circumstances). See
Diatchenko, 1 N.E.3d at 283–84. Thus, the court explained,
Given current scientific research on adolescent brain
development, and the myriad significant ways that this
development impacts a juvenile’s personality and behavior, a
conclusive showing of traits such as an “irretrievably
depraved character” can never be made, with integrity, by
the Commonwealth at an individualized hearing to determine
whether a sentence of life without parole should be imposed
11Itis worth noting that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has declined
to hold that a mandatory sentence of life with parole eligibility after fifteen years (in
other words, fifteen years of mandatory incarceration) for a juvenile who committed
second-degree murder violates either the Eighth Amendment or Article 26 of the
Massachusetts Declaration of Rights. Commonwealth v. Okoro, 26 N.E.3d 1092, 1098–
1101 (Mass. 2015). The court observed that it would be “prudent” to allow the law to
develop further. Id. at 1101. The court referenced Lyle but decided not to follow it. Id.
at 1100–01 & n.17.
61
on a juvenile homicide offender. Simply put, because the
brain of a juvenile is not fully developed, either structurally
or functionally, by the age of eighteen, a judge cannot find
with confidence that a particular offender, at that point in
time, is irretrievably depraved. Therefore, it follows that the
judge cannot ascertain, with any reasonable degree of
certainty, whether imposition of this most severe
punishment is warranted.
Id. (footnote omitted) (citations omitted). The court then added,
When considered in the context of the offender’s age and the
wholesale forfeiture of all liberties, the imposition of a
sentence of life without parole on a juvenile homicide
offender is strikingly similar, in many respects, to the death
penalty, which this court has determined is unconstitutional
under art. 26.
Id. at 284. It further observed,
The penological justifications for imposing life in
prison without the possibility of parole—incapacitation,
retribution, and deterrence—reflect the ideas that certain
offenders should be imprisoned permanently because they
have committed the most serious crimes, and they pose an
ongoing and lasting danger to society. However, the
distinctive attributes of juvenile offenders render such
justifications suspect. More importantly, they cannot
override the fundamental imperative of art. 26 that criminal
punishment be proportionate to the offender and the offense.
Id. at 284 (citations omitted).
The views of the Diatchenko court need to be considered carefully
because they distill the case for a categorical ban on life-without-parole
sentences for juvenile homicide offenders. The first argument asserts
that with juveniles, a sentencer cannot confidently say whether or not a
juvenile can be rehabilitated, so the only constitutional outcome is
always to allow the possibility of parole. Id. at 283–84. The second
argument holds that life without parole is simply too harsh and
disproportionate a sentence to impose on any juvenile. Id. at 284. I will
examine these arguments in turn.
62
3. Does Iowa’s constitution categorically prohibit life without parole
for juvenile murderers? As noted, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial
Court gave two reasons in Diatchenko for imposing a categorical ban
under the Massachusetts Constitution on life-without-parole sentences
for juveniles who commit murder—the inability of courts to determine
with confidence whether a juvenile can be rehabilitated, and the overall
harshness of the life-without-parole sentence for juveniles. Id. at 283–
84.
One possible answer to the first argument is that the judicial
process is always subject to error. Predicting when or whether a person
can be rehabilitated is far from a science. Divining when or whether a
juvenile can be rehabilitated is even more difficult, as we have previously
noted. Yet we have made clear that sentencing courts may impose
lengthy periods of required incarceration on juveniles if they do so after
considering the mitigating attributes of youth. In Lyle, we expressed
confidence in our trial judges:
It is important to be mindful that the holding in this
case does not prohibit judges from sentencing juveniles to
prison for the length of time identified by the legislature for
the crime committed, nor does it prohibit the legislature from
imposing a minimum time that youthful offenders must
serve in prison before being eligible for parole. Article I,
section 17 only prohibits the one-size-fits-all mandatory
sentencing for juveniles.
....
On remand, judges will do what they have taken an
oath to do. They will apply the law fairly and impartially,
without fear. They will sentence those juvenile offenders to
the maximum sentence if warranted and to a lesser sentence
providing for parole if warranted.
854 N.W.2d at 403–04.
63
Also, Miller and its progeny rely heavily on parole boards as the
backstop to the process; yet a parole board’s determination that someone
has or has not been rehabilitated is likewise subject to error.
Furthermore, focusing exclusively on the difficulty of determining
at the time of sentencing whether a juvenile can be rehabilitated
overstates the scope of Miller and our cases. Rehabilitation is not the
only legitimate goal served by imprisonment, even for juveniles. Rather,
our criminal justice system takes into account retribution, deterrence,
and incapacitation as well. See Oliver, 812 N.W.2d at 646. If
rehabilitation were the sole proper goal, it would follow that all sentences
for juveniles should come with immediate parole eligibility. Miller does
not go that far and does not hold that rehabilitation is the only
consideration that may govern sentencing of juvenile homicide offenders.
It simply holds that because of the capacity of juveniles to reform, and
their diminished culpability, the factors of youth must be considered in a
discretionary sentencing process.
Nor does Lyle go that far. As we put it in Lyle,
The Supreme Court banned mandatory life-without-parole
sentences for juveniles in Miller, but it did not ban
nonmandatory life-without-parole sentences if the
sentencing court is given the opportunity to consider the
attributes of youth in mitigation of punishment. Thus,
juveniles can still be sentenced to long terms of
imprisonment, but not mandatorily. Accordingly, the heart
of the constitutional infirmity with the punishment imposed
in Miller was its mandatory imposition, not the length of the
sentence.
854 N.W.2d at 401 (footnote omitted) (citations omitted). We observed in
Lyle that “justice requires us to consider the culpability of the offender in
addition to [not exclusive of] the harm the offender caused.” Id. at 398
(emphasis added). Thus, both Miller and our cases allow the sentencing
64
court to consider the nature of the crime, so long as the court also
considers all relevant attributes of youth. 12
I therefore turn to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s
second point. This, I believe, is the heart of Seats’s categorical
argument—namely, that an LWOP sentence violates article I, section 17
because it is simply too harsh and disproportionate ever to be imposed
on a person who commits first-degree murder while under the age of
eighteen.
To be sure, in recent years, both the United States Supreme Court
and this court have recognized “a fundamental and virtually inexorable
difference between juveniles and adults for the purposes of punishment.”
Id. at 393. This difference is presently reflected in Iowa law, which
mandates LWOP for adults who commit first-degree murder but provides
no mandatory minimum period of incarceration at all for a juvenile who
commits the same crime. Compare Iowa Code § 902.1(1) (2009), with
2015 Iowa Legis. Serv. no. 76 (S.F. 448) (West 2015).
12Miller indicated that “the distinctive attributes of youth diminish the
penological justifications for imposing the harshest sentences on juvenile offenders,
even when they commit terrible crimes.” Miller, 567 U.S. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2465, 183
L. Ed. 2d at 419. It did not say those attributes eliminated the justifications for such
sentences. Hence, Miller condemned mandatory LWOP laws for juvenile homicide
offenders not only because they do not differentiate among juveniles but also because
they do not differentiate among homicides:
Under these schemes, every juvenile will receive the same sentence as
every other—the 17–year–old and the 14–year–old, the shooter and the
accomplice, the child from a stable household and the child from a
chaotic and abusive one.
Id. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2467–68, 183 L. Ed. 2d at 422. (emphasis added). In Lyle, we
made the same point: “The youth of this state will be better served when judges have
been permitted to carefully consider all of the circumstances of each case to craft an
appropriate sentence and give each juvenile the individual sentencing attention they
deserve and our constitution demands.” Lyle, 854 N.W.2d at 403 (emphasis added).
65
The question is whether this difference between adults and
juveniles is so vast that an LWOP sentence for a juvenile who commits
murder has become “off the charts” in all situations. See State v.
Bruegger, 773 N.W.2d 862, 867, 886 (Iowa 2009) (internal quotation
marks omitted) (holding that a mandatory sentence of 21.25 years for an
adult who committed statutory rape and had been previously adjudicated
a delinquent for two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree
was “off the charts” such that a hearing was required to determine the
constitutionality of the sentence (internal quotation marks omitted)). I
believe it is not.
To begin with, we do not have a situation as in Roper where there
is a “national consensus” against the punishment. 543 U.S. at 564, 125
S. Ct. at 1192, 161 L. Ed. 2d at 18; see also Oliver, 812 N.W.2d at 641–
46 (emphasizing the importance of a national consensus). The sentence
is not “exceedingly rare” as in Graham, 560 U.S. at 67, 130 S. Ct. at
2026, 176 L. Ed. 2d at 841. To the contrary, even in the wake of Miller,
LWOP remains a statutorily available sentence for juvenile homicide
offenders in thirty-six jurisdictions, including Iowa. Legislatively
speaking, “Iowa is not an outlier.” Oliver, 812 N.W.2d at 641.
Also, turning to judicial decisions in other states—another
consideration we deemed relevant in Oliver, see id. at 643—it is
noteworthy that almost all post-Miller state appellate courts to rule
(Massachusetts being the only exception) have upheld as constitutional
discretionary life-without-parole sentences for juvenile homicide
offenders.
Nor do we have a Roper/Graham scenario where the sentence may
exist more in theory than in practice. Miller was decided less than three
years ago, yet there at least fifteen cases in which juvenile homicide
66
offenders have already been sentenced or resentenced, post-Miller, to life
without parole and the sentences have been upheld on appeal. 13
13The Louisiana Court of Appeals recently upheld the imposition of a sentence of
life imprisonment without parole on a juvenile convicted of second-degree murder.
State v. Smoot, 134 So. 3d 1, 2 (La. Ct. App. 2014). The defendant was seventeen years
old when he shot a man in a dispute involving drugs and a boom box. Id. at 2–4 & n.3.
The defendant was sentenced on January 31, 2013, after Miller was decided. See id. at
5. At the sentencing hearing, defense counsel presented evidence that the defendant
came from a broken home, had lived in group homes between ages twelve and fifteen,
and was treated by counselors during that time. Id. at 6. Before imposing the
sentence, the trial court explained its reasoning on the record:
The trial court stated that it had taken into account the youth of
defendant as well as his upbringing and previous criminal activity.
Despite defendant’s youth, the court found that defendant preyed upon a
particularly vulnerable individual who was a homeless, HIV positive drug
addict. Further, the court also expressed astonishment that defendant
shot this victim multiple times over a stereo.
. . . The court found this conduct demonstrated that defendant
had “so little value [for] life” and exhibited a deliberate cruelty to the
victim.
Id. (alteration in original) (footnote omitted). The defendant challenged the adequacy of
the sentencing hearing under Miller. Id. at 4. The appellate court stated it was “clear
that the trial court complied with the principles set forth in Miller prior to imposing
sentence.” Id. at 6. Because the court had properly considered both the defendant’s
youth and any other potentially mitigating factors before imposing life without parole,
the court affirmed the defendant’s LWOP sentence. See id; see also United States v.
Bryant, ___ F. App’x ___, ___, 2015 WL 1884376, at *1–2 (9th Cir. Apr. 27, 2015)
(assuming that Miller applied to an eighty-year sentence but upholding the sentence
where “[t]he district court understood that it had discretion to depart from a life
sentence,” “performed an individualized assessment” of the defendant, and was “well
informed as to [the defendant]’s troubled upbringing and the mitigating characteristics
of youth”); United States v. Maldonado, No. 09 Cr. 339–02, 2012 WL 5878673, at *10
(S.D.N.Y. Nov. 21, 2012) (sentencing the juvenile defendant to life imprisonment after
considering the defendant was seventeen years old, committed a murder for hire in
furtherance of a drug business, had not expressed remorse for his crimes, and had not
shown himself to be rehabilitatable while incarcerated), aff’d sub nom. United States v.
Guerrero, 560 F. App’x 110, 112 (2d Cir. 2014); Palafox, 179 Cal. Rptr. 3d at 795–97,
805–06 (approving of LWOP sentence of juvenile offender who was resentenced under
Miller where the court weighed the defendant’s youth, but found it outweighed by the
brutality of the crimes); Lane v. State, 151 So. 3d 20, 20–21 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2014)
(affirming the juvenile defendant’s LWOP sentence for second-degree murder because
the trial court “conducted an individualized mitigation inquiry” (internal quotation
marks omitted)); Copeland v. State, 129 So. 3d 508, 510 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2014)
(upholding defendant’s sentence to LWOP after Miller where the defendant was only
months shy of being eighteen, had no drug or family problems, had a prior criminal
history, and murdered a fifteen-year-old victim); Bun, 769 S.E.2d at 383–84 & n.5
67
A statewide consensus against this punishment cannot be
discerned either. As I’ve mentioned above, during the recently adjourned
______________________________________
(rejecting the defendant’s facial challenge to his LWOP sentence and noting that even if
he had raised an as-applied challenge, “the trial court’s order and sentencing transcript
make clear that the trial court considered Bun’s youth and its accompanying attributes
in making its sentencing decision and whatever the significance attributed to Bun’s
youth, the trial court found it was outweighed by the severity of his crimes, his criminal
history, and his lack of remorse”); State v. Wilson, ___ So.3d ___, ___ 2015 WL 1955410,
at *9–10 (La. Ct. App. Apr. 29, 2015) (affirming the defendant’s sentencing to LWOP
despite the defendant’s “lack of parental guidance, his placement in special education
classes, and the impact of peer pressure on him” and stating that “Miller does not
require the sentencing court to articulate all mitigating factors on the record”); Fletcher,
149 So. 3d at 936, 949–50 (affirming the defendant’s resentencing to LWOP where the
fifteen-year-old offender “executed his own parents in cold blood” despite a good
upbringing, expressed no genuine remorse, threatened his sister, and was unlikely to
be rehabilitated); State v. Reese, No. 2013 KA 1905, 2014 WL 3843859, at *3–5 (La. Ct.
App. June 25, 2014) (upholding the juvenile defendant’s sentence of LWOP where the
court considered the defendant was almost seventeen, demonstrated little potential for
rehabilitation, had a favorable upbringing, and murdered an innocent, younger child);
State v. Brooks, 139 So. 3d 571, 575 (La. Ct. App. 2014) (approving of seventeen-year-
old defendant’s resentencing under Miller to LWOP where the trial court considered the
defendant’s age, that he lacked an explanation for the senseless murder, that he failed
to comprehend he had escalated the situation and endangered many lives, that he
lacked remorse, and the impact of the crime on the fifteen-year-old victim’s family);
State v. Lovette, 758 S.E.2d 399, 408 (N.C. Ct. App. 2014) (upholding the juvenile
defendant’s LWOP sentence following resentencing post-Miller because the trial court
properly weighed all the factors and, despite stating defendant was not irretrievably
corrupt, still determined a life sentence was appropriate); State v. Rafferty, No. 26724,
2015 WL 1932693, at *29–30 (Ohio Ct. App. Apr. 29, 2015) (upholding an LWOP
sentence for a sixteen-year-old boy who aided and abetted a man in his fifties in
robbing and murdering three persons, even though the boy “came from a broken home”
and he was “more susceptible to being influenced” by the man, where “there was
nothing reckless or impetuous” about the murders and the district court “separately
considered [the defendant]’s youth as a mitigating factor”); State v. Lane, No. 2013–G–
3144, 2014 WL 1900459, at *15–16 (Ohio Ct. App. May 12, 2014) (affirming the trial
court’s decision to sentence the juvenile defendant to life without parole where the
defendant killed three students in a school shooting without provocation, he was
seventeen and one-half years old, he was intelligent and knew what he did was wrong,
he had a tumultuous upbringing, he was not pressured into committing the crime, and
he demonstrated no remorse, but rather contempt for his victims’ families, at
sentencing); Commonwealth v. Seagraves, 103 A.3d 839, 847–49 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2014)
(affirming the defendant’s resentencing after the Miller decision where the court
considered his age, mental health, drug history, maturity, lack of capacity to be
rehabilitated, the brutality of the crime, his closeness to adulthood, his lengthy juvenile
record, his primary role in the premeditated crime, lack of peer pressure, and decent
upbringing and determined LWOP was warranted).
68
legislative session the general assembly by large bipartisan majorities
approved a Miller fix that leaves life without parole as a sentencing option
for juveniles who commit first-degree murder.
Of course, this court must also make an independent judgment
whether a sentence violates the constitution. Lyle, 854 N.W.2d at 398;
Oliver, 812 N.W.2d at 646. A fundamental consideration here is whether
the sentence serves legitimate penological goals. Lyle, 854 N.W.2d at
398; Oliver, 812 N.W.2d at 646. Clearly, an LWOP sentence serves no
rehabilitative goal. Oliver, 812 N.W.2d at 646. And while retribution is
certainly a permissible goal of punishment, there must be a relationship
between the punishment and the defendant’s culpability. Id.
Juveniles do not have “adult-like culpability.” Lyle, 854 N.W.2d at
398. Still, the intentional, premeditated taking of another person’s life is
the most serious offense a person can commit, and society is entitled to
recognize this point, even when the person committing the crime was
under the age of eighteen. I cannot say that life without parole falls so
far short of serving legitimate penological goals in all cases involving
juvenile homicide offenders as to be “cruel and unusual” within the
meaning of article I, section 17.
“[W]e owe substantial deference to the penalties the legislature has
established for various crimes.” Oliver, 812 N.W.2d at 650. The issue for
me is not whether I agree with this particular sentence, any more than
that was the issue when my predecessors decided Dooley over a century
ago. See 89 Iowa at 594, 57 N.W. at 417. The issue is whether the Iowa
Constitution imposes a total ban on life-without-parole sentences for
juvenile murderers. I am unable to say that LWOP is such a
disproportionate penalty in all instances for a person who commits a
69
murder before reaching the age of eighteen that it violates the Iowa
Constitution.
F. The Court’s Failure to Reach Seats’s Categorical Challenge.
Unfortunately, the court does not reach the question whether article I,
section 17 prohibits LWOP sentences for juvenile murderers in all cases.
That means the issue will have to continue to be litigated in Iowa. I do
not understand or agree with the court’s refusal to reach this issue.
For one thing, there is precedent for our upholding a law against a
facial challenge while at the same time finding the law unconstitutional
as applied. Glowacki v. State Bd. of Med. Exam’rs, 501 N.W.2d 539, 541–
42 (Iowa 1993); cf. State v. Hernandez-Lopez, 639 N.W.2d 226, 235, 242
(Iowa 2002) (upholding material witness law against facial challenge
because it raised “issues of public importance” even while dismissing the
as-applied challenge as moot).
Even more importantly, the categorical challenge and the as-
applied challenge do not afford Seats the same relief. If Seats prevailed
on his categorical challenge, he could not be sentenced to LWOP.
However, the court’s ruling leaves Seats subject to an LWOP sentence on
remand. Thus, it grants Seats less relief than a successful categorical
challenge to the Iowa statute would provide. It is not fair or logical for an
appellate court to say it is unnecessary to reach an appellant’s first
ground for appeal just because the court is reaching another ground that
provides more limited relief. This is like remanding a case for new trial
based on an instructional error while ignoring the appellant’s initial
argument that he or she should have received a directed verdict.
Texas has a well-developed and well-reasoned body of law on this
issue. “Generally, when a party presents multiple grounds for reversal of
a judgment on appeal, the appellate court should first address those
70
points that would afford the party the greatest relief.” Bradleys’ Elec.,
Inc. v. Cigna Lloyds Ins. Co., 995 S.W.2d 675, 677 (Tex. 1999); cf.
Boykins v. Shinseki, No. 13–0942, 2014 WL 840096, at *5 (Vet. App. Mar.
5, 2014) (“Given that the Court is remanding the appellant’s claim, and
because none of the appellant’s other allegations of error could result in
greater relief, the Court need not address the appellant’s remaining
arguments.”); Tischhauser v. Little, 296 P.2d 1118, 1119 (Kan. 1956)
(reversing and remanding for a new trial because of an evidentiary error,
finding that it was not error to overrule the appellant’s directed verdict
motion, and declining to reach the appellant’s other appellate arguments
because they were also arguments for a new trial and “could afford
appellant no greater relief than that already granted”). There is no
juridical or practical reason to avoid reaching the question whether the
Iowa Constitution categorically forbids the imposition of an LWOP
sentence on a juvenile who commits murder.
III. Seats’s As-Applied Challenge to His Life-Without-Parole
Sentence.
Seats’s other ground for appeal is his as-applied challenge to his
sentence. He maintains that even if LWOP (or its functional equivalent)
for juveniles who commit murder does not categorically violate the Iowa
Constitution, his particular LWOP sentence did not comply with the
requirements of Miller, Ragland, and Null. 14
A. The Majority’s Criticisms of the District Court. Although
the district court clearly tried to follow Miller and our caselaw, my
14Seats did not raise the type of as-applied challenge to his sentence recognized
in Bruegger, 773 N.W.2d at 884–85. He did not argue that the sentence of life without
parole is disproportionate as applied to him. Rather, he relied on the principles relating
specifically to juvenile sentencing set forth in Miller and our subsequent juvenile
sentencing cases.
71
colleagues fault the court for not doing the job well enough. They
therefore send the case back for more work—or, I would argue, the same
work. The majority identifies four Miller/Ragland/Null “factors” the court
allegedly did not consider: (1) “the presumption” in favor of a sentence
less than life without parole; (2) the juvenile offender’s “ ‘family and home
environment’ ”; (3) the “ ‘circumstances of the homicide offense’ ”; and (4)
the “consideration that ‘[j]uveniles are more capable of change than
adults.’ ” (Alteration in original.) (Internal quotation marks omitted.).
Additionally, the court offers three further criticisms of the district
court:
(5) The court should not have “emphasized that Seats was a
seventeen-year-old at the time the crime was committed.”
(6) The court needed to “make specific findings of fact discussing
why the record rebuts the presumption” against life without parole.
(7) The court “appeared to use Seats’s family and home
environment vulnerabilities together with his lack of maturity,
underveloped sense of responsibility, and vulnerability to peer pressure
as aggravating, not mitigating factors.”
I do not agree with any of these seven criticisms. In fact, I think
these criticisms are quite unfair. Let’s compare what the majority claims
the district court didn’t do and what the district court actually did:
1. Alleged failure to apply the presumption against LWOP. The
district court did not overlook this factor. To the contrary, the court
acknowledged that it must “take into account how children are different,
and how those differences counsel against irrevocably sentencing them
to a lifetime in prison.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.). The district
court also accepted that “only in the unusual case should a juvenile life
sentence without the possibility for parole be imposed.” It then expressly
72
determined that “this case is one of those unusual cases,” following this
determination with several paragraphs of findings.
2. Alleged failure to consider the juvenile offender’s family and
home environment. The district court did not disregard Seats’s family
and home environment. It said,
I have considered the defendant’s unfortunate
background and the difficulties he faced in his youth. I am
not unsympathetic to the bleakness and desperation of that
life. But I fail to find here the “attendant characteristics” of
youth that might outweigh the seriousness of the crime or
otherwise require a sentence less than one that would be
imposed on an adult.
3. Alleged failure to consider the circumstances of the offense.
Again, this criticism is misplaced. Here is what the district court stated:
As to the crime, Mr. Seats shot a man asleep on a
couch. Mr. Seats was not provoked, it was not a situation of
a conflict that got out of control, and there is no arguable
issue of self-defense. Mr. Seats was a primary actor in the
murder and not a bystander who got caught up in events.
He then took a series of proactive communications after his
arrest, and he was demonstrably able to assist in his own
defense at trial. Mr. Seats still does not acknowledge his
guilt, show remorse for the crime he committed or
demonstrate concern for the victim or the victim’s family.
4. Alleged failure to consider that juveniles are more capable of
change than adults. The district court did not miss this factor, either.
As noted above, it acknowledged Miller’s teaching regarding “the
‘attendant characteristics’ of youth.” Yet it also observed that Seats had
not changed in over four years as an adult, had incurred ten major
disciplinary reports in prison, and continued to deny his guilt and
showed no remorse for the crime committed.
5. Alleged emphasis on Seats being nearly eighteen years old when
the crime was committed. It is true that a single sentence of the district
court’s order said, “When he killed [Cervantes], Mr. Seats was only
73
months away from being an adult.” I would not consider one sentence to
be emphasis. Furthermore, Miller and Ragland instruct sentencing
courts that they should consider the juvenile’s “chronological age.”
Miller, 567 U.S. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2468, 183 L. Ed. 2d at 423;
Ragland, 836 N.W.2d at 115 n.6 (internal quotation marks omitted).
Miller even characterized its holding as “requir[ing] factfinders . . . to take
into account the differences among defendants and crimes,” including
the distinction between seventeen year olds and fourteen year olds.
Miller, 567 U.S. at ___ n.8, 132 S. Ct. at 2469 n.8, 183 L. Ed. 2d at 424
n.8. So it was entirely appropriate for the district court to make
reference to Seats’s age at the time of the murder.
6. Alleged failure to make specific findings to overcome the
presumption against LWOP. I do not understand this criticism. The
district court made a specific finding that this was “one of those unusual
cases [where LWOP could be imposed],” and then gave several
paragraphs’ worth of findings and reasons.
7. Alleged use of Seats’s family and home environment
vulnerabilities together with his lack of maturity, underdeveloped sense of
responsibility, and vulnerability to peer pressure against him. I do not
follow this criticism either. The district court expressly found that this
murder did not arise out of peer pressure; rather, Seats was “a primary
actor.” The district court also acknowledged Seats’s “unfortunate
background,” “the difficulties he faced in his youth,” and “the bleakness
and desperation of [Seats’s] life” as mitigating factors, but found them
outweighed by other considerations it identified.
Miller does not require that we take the general characteristics of
hardened criminals—such as their inability to acknowledge wrongdoing,
their lack of remorse, their continuing illegal activity, and their failure to
74
respond to interventions and attempts at rehabilitation—and treat them
as items to be placed on the defendant’s side of the ledger.
For all these reasons, in contrast to the majority, I do not believe a
remand is necessary for more fact-finding.
B. Seats’s Argument that His Case Was Not Heinous Enough.
Seats’s as-applied challenge also has a substantive dimension not
addressed by the majority. Thus, apart from the question whether the
district court followed the proper procedure in resentencing him, Seats
maintains that “his case does not rise to the heinous level” where Miller
permits an LWOP sentence.
To date, other jurisdictions have been divided on whether Miller’s
sentencing requirements are basically procedural or whether there is also
a substantive component. Under the former approach, the appellate
court’s duty is to determine whether the sentencing court took the youth-
related factors into account, not to analyze whether the court’s findings
and ultimate conclusion are actually supported by the evidence. See,
e.g., United States v. Guerrero, 560 F. App’x 110, 112 (2d Cir. 2014)
(affirming the defendant’s resentencing to life without parole because
“[t]he district court properly considered all of the Miller factors”);
Copeland v. State, 129 So. 3d 508, 511 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2014) (“[T]he
sentencing court conducted an individualized mitigation inquiry,
considering several potential mitigating factors before finding that life
without the possibility of parole was, nevertheless, appropriate in this
case. Accordingly, we AFFIRM Copeland’s judgment and sentence.”);
Commonwealth v. Seagraves, 103 A.3d 839, 850 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2014)
(“Because our review of the record readily reveals that the trial court
considered these factors before re-imposing the sentence, we affirm
Appellant’s life sentence without the possibility of parole.”).
75
But another group of appellate courts have undertaken to review
the record to determine not only whether the sentencing court
considered the correct factors, but also whether its findings are
supported by the evidence such that the case is truly an “uncommon”
one. Hence, in Palafox, the California Court of Appeal performed its own
“independent review.” 179 Cal. Rptr. 3d at 806. The court elaborated,
[W]e have subjected the constitutionality of the sentence to
our independent review, taking into consideration
defendant’s age and its hallmark features, record
information regarding defendant’s family and home
environment, and record evidence and information regarding
the circumstances of the murders, including whether
substance abuse played a role. We have considered whether
defendant’s youth had any effect on how he was charged or
whether he was somehow disadvantaged in the criminal
proceedings, but find no evidence or information suggesting
this factor is applicable to defendant’s case. Finally, we have
examined the record for any evidence or other information
bearing on the possibility of rehabilitation. Other than
defendant’s age and lack of past criminal history, we find
none—only speculation. Speculation is insufficient to render
unconstitutional a sentence that otherwise passes
constitutional muster.
Id. (footnote omitted) (citations omitted). In a footnote, the court referred
to the defendant’s “chaotic and unfortunate upbringing and
environment,” but noted the same report “did not address any potential
for rehabilitation.” Id. n.17.
Likewise, the North Carolina Court of Appeals examined for itself
whether the trial court’s findings of fact were supported by substantial
evidence and whether they supported the trial court’s ultimate
conclusion. See State v. Lovette, 758 S.E.2d 399, 407–10 (N.C. Ct. App.
2014). Upon its review, the court found the facts did support an LWOP
sentence: “[T]his case is uncommon.” Id. at 410. In its opinion, the
appellate court recited some of the pertinent facts, including the
“defendant’s active planning and participation in a particularly senseless
76
murder,” the fact that the defendant was seventeen years old and “of a
typical maturity level for his age,” the fact that the defendant had a
stable upbringing, and his extensive juvenile record despite the
rehabilitative programs offered by the juvenile court. Id.
Similarly, in Fletcher, the Louisiana court conducted its own
“complete and thorough review of the entire record of all of the
proceedings, including all of the testimony and evidence adduced at the
trial and the Miller hearing, and all of the exhibits introduced in these
proceedings.” 149 So. 3d at 944. Convinced that the trial court had
considered “the relevant factors,” and fortified by its own “careful review
of the entire record,” the court upheld the trial court’s resentencing of
the defendant to life without parole. Id. at 950; see also State v. Brooks,
139 So. 3d 571, 576 (La. Ct. App. 2014) (sharing the trial court’s
conclusion “that the facts of this case should preclude parole eligibility
for this remorseless killer”).
I agree with the approach taken by the latter group of courts.
Miller—especially as amplified by our holdings under the Iowa
Constitution—requires us to perform a substantive as well as a
procedural review of any juvenile LWOP sentence. Thus, when reviewing
any such sentence, I would consider whether the district court’s findings
on the Miller/Ragland/Null factors are supported by substantial
evidence, and also independently decide whether the record supports a
determination that the case is sufficiently uncommon—based on those
same factors—that an LWOP sentence can be constitutionally imposed.
This leads to the question of what the standard of review should
be. The State urges abuse of discretion—our traditional deferential
standard for reviewing criminal sentences. I disagree. Abuse of
discretion might be the right standard if the only question were whether
77
the district court considered the appropriate factors—the typical inquiry
in sentencing appeals. See State v. Valin, 724 N.W.2d 440, 444 (Iowa
2006) (stating that the standard of review for sentencing appeals is abuse
of discretion when a sentence falls within statutory limits). However, if
the review is to go beyond procedure, a less deferential standard of
review is required.
Accordingly, I think this court should examine whether the district
court’s findings on any Miller/Ragland/Null factors are supported by
substantial evidence, and perform a de novo review to determine whether
a case is sufficiently uncommon, based upon consideration of those
factors, that a sentencer could constitutionally impose a life-without-
parole sentence. The issue, again, would not be whether the appellate
court would have imposed the same sentence, but whether there are
sufficient indicia the case is out of the mainstream of juvenile homicide
cases that an LWOP sentence is a constitutional option. 15
I believe the district court’s findings of fact at the resentencing are
supported by substantial evidence; indeed, Seats does not challenge any
of them on appeal. I would also conclude from an independent review
that this is the kind of rare case where a district court, exercising its
discretion and after considering all the circumstances of youth
presented, could constitutionally impose an LWOP sentence.
First, the defendant’s chronological age was just a few months
short of eighteen. He did not act impetuously. A murder—really an
15I do not believe the determination of whether the case is “uncommon” requires
a particular factual finding, as opposed to a balancing of factors. If a particular factual
threshold had to be met, a serious question would be raised whether the life-without-
parole sentence must be imposed by a jury rather than a judge. See Fletcher, 149 So.
3d at 942–43; see also Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 303–04, 124 S. Ct. 2531,
2537, 159 L. Ed. 2d 403, 412–13 (2004); Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 490,
120 S. Ct. 2348, 2362–63, 147 L. Ed. 2d 435, 455 (2000).
78
execution—was planned; Seats’s purpose was to kill someone he was
worried would go to the police and report him.
Second, as to the circumstances of the murder, Seats was the
gunman, and he “emptied the whole clip” into a man who was sleeping a
few feet away. Seats was not under the influence of any substances. He
was not provoked; he did not act in self-defense or the heat of passion;
he planned the killing under his own initiative without any peer
pressure.
Third, there is no indication Seats’s youth had any bearing on his
ability to defend himself in the legal system. In fact, Seats was no longer
a juvenile at the time of trial. Nothing in the record suggests that any
plea offer was made to Seats before trial, let alone turned down by him
because of his youth. At trial, Seats took the stand and testified for most
of a day, presenting a detailed, if ultimately unconvincing, defense that
was designed to conveniently explain away a good deal of the
prosecution’s evidence.
Fourth, while most young people change and mature as they get
older, the district court accurately summarized this record as not
showing any discernible prospects for rehabilitation. All rehabilitation
efforts failed when Seats was a juvenile. 16 In prison, Seats had only
made what the district court accurately termed a “half-hearted effort at
obtaining his GED.” 17 Further, as noted by the district court, Seats
16The record reveals, for example, that Seats was placed in a highly structured,
ninety-day boot camp program in Davenport from October 2006 through January 2007.
17The district court expressly acknowledged that there exist “few opportunities”
to “ma[k]e significant rehabilitative efforts in prison,” but was skeptical of Seats’s claim
that he had to put aside any efforts toward getting a GED because of other priorities.
The PSI indicates that Seats was accepted into a GED program in 2010 but left the
program two years later without a GED because of “[n]oncompliant/[b]ehavioral
[i]ssues.”
79
failed to show remorse up to the day of his resentencing. Four years
after the crime, at the age of twenty-two, Seats continued to deny that he
killed Cervantes. Even when he briefly admitted the crime to police, his
only regret was that he had shot Cervantes rather than Ramirez.
It is true that one factor weighs quite significantly in Seats’s
favor—his seriously troubled family and home environment. The district
court acknowledged and considered this point, as it had to. I believe this
factor alone, though, does not render an LWOP sentence
unconstitutional under the circumstances of this case. Other courts
have reached similar conclusions. 18
The present case stands a considerable distance from the botched
robberies committed by fourteen year olds that were involved in Miller,
567 U.S. at ___, 132 S. Ct. at 2465, 183 L. Ed. at 420, the impulsive
stabbing of a client committed by a teenage model who later became an
exemplary inmate, State v. Louisell, ___ N.W.2d ___, ___ (Iowa 2015), and
the fatal blow with the tire iron that was struck in a fight by someone
other than the defendant, Ragland, 836 N.W.2d at 110.
18Anumber of courts applying the principles of Miller have agreed that life
without parole can be an appropriate sentence for some juvenile defendants despite
their troubled family and home life. See Palafox, 179 Cal. Rptr. 3d at 793–94 (affirming
life without parole for murders committed by the defendant when he was sixteen,
despite “the family’s issues with drugs, alcohol, gangs, domestic violence, and
delinquent activities”); Brooks, 139 So. 3d at 573–74 (affirming life without parole
despite the very difficult family history of the defendant who dropped out of school at
fourteen and whose parents dealt and used drugs); Smoot, 134 So. 3d at 5–6 (upholding
a juvenile defendant’s life-without-parole sentence despite defense counsel’s
presentation of evidence that the defendant “came from a broken home” and lived in a
group home for a period of his youth); Lane, 2014 WL 1900459, at *15–16 (considering
the juvenile defendant’s “tumultuous upbringing” but affirming the life-without-parole
sentence for a school shooter who planned the attack and showed a complete lack of
remorse at sentencing); Rafferty, 2015 WL 1932693, at *29 (affirming the defendant’s
LWOP sentence despite the fact that he “came from a broken home” and was sixteen
years old at the time of the murders, he was not the gunman, and he was under the
influence of a much older man who was the gunman).
80
Given the deference we must afford on the one hand to the
legislature’s determination of sentencing options and on the other hand
to the trial court’s exercise of sentencing discretion, I would not find this
sentence violates either the Eighth Amendment or article I, section 17 of
the Iowa Constitution.
IV. Conclusion.
For the foregoing reasons, I respectfully dissent and would affirm
the resentencing below. 19
Waterman and Zager, JJ., join this dissent.
19One final note: Seats has not raised a supplemental argument that he is
entitled to resentencing because of the 2015 legislation, which was enacted before his
2013 sentence became final. Nevertheless, if this case is to be remanded anyway for
another resentencing, as the majority concludes, I believe the district court should
apply the 2015 law for the reasons stated in my concurrence in part, dissent in part in
Louisell, ___ N.W.2d at ___.