State v. Conner

Summary

The Supreme Court of North Carolina considered whether consecutive sentences imposed on a juvenile defendant—240 to 348 months for first-degree rape and life imprisonment with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder—constituted a de facto sentence of life without parole. The court held that juvenile offenders sentenced to life with the possibility of parole must have an opportunity to seek parole after no more than forty years of incarceration. The case involved constitutional challenges under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 27 of the North Carolina Constitution.

Holdings

1. North Carolina's Miller-fix statutes do not categorically prohibit consecutive sentences, and N.C.G.S. § 15A-1354(a) permits a trial court to determine whether multiple sentences run concurrently or consecutively.
2. A juvenile offender who has not been deemed incorrigible or irredeemable and who receives life imprisonment with the possibility of parole must have a realistic, meaningful, and achievable opportunity to seek parole. Consecutive sentences that delay that opportunity beyond forty years of incarceration constitute an unconstitutional de facto life-without-parole sentence.
3. Defendant's consecutive sentences, which required him to serve at least forty-five years before seeking parole, constituted an unconstitutional de facto life sentence because the trial court had determined that he was eligible for parole and had not deemed him incorrigible or irredeemable.

Questions Presented

1. Whether North Carolina's Miller-fix statutes prohibit consecutive sentences for a juvenile convicted of first-degree murder and another felony.
2. Whether consecutive sentences that permit parole but delay parole eligibility until after a lengthy period of incarceration may constitute a de facto sentence of life without parole for a juvenile offender who was not found to be incorrigible or irredeemable.
3. Whether defendant's aggregate minimum sentence of forty-five years before parole eligibility violated the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution or article I, section 27 of the North Carolina Constitution.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded