Counts v. State

In 2011, after a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of aggravated burglary and kidnapping and found to be a habitual criminal. The district court sentenced Defendant to two concurrent life sentences. The Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and sentences. In 2013, Defendant filed a motion to correct an illegal sentence, arguing that one of the convictions the district court relied upon for the habitual criminal determination and the life sentences occurred when he was only sixteen years old and that consideration of that offense to impose a life sentence was unconstitutional under Miller v. Alabama. The district court denied Defendant’s motion to correct an illegal sentence. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the sentencing scheme at issue here did not mandate a life sentence for a juvenile, and therefore, Miller did not apply. View "Counts v. State" on Justia Law