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[4/15/19] Juvenile Lifer at Center of U.S. Supreme Court Case Denied Parole Again

Louisiana inmate, Henry Montgomery, was convicted in the 1963 killing of a sheriff deputy. He was a juvenile at the time. Montgomery was convicted and sentenced to death, but the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that he did not get a fair trial and the initial sentence was thrown out. He was subsequently retired, convicted, and sentenced to life without parole at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that mandatory sentencing of life without parole for juvenile offenders constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, but the question regarding the retroactive application of the ruling had not been in answered. In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court once again took Montgomerys case and decided to retroactively apply the 2012 decision to inmates already in prison.  Since the ruling, Montgomery, now 72 years old, has been denied parole twice. The most recent parole decision was made on April 11, 2019.

In a discussion post answer the following questions:

• Why was Henry Montgomery denied parole for a second time?
• The 2016 landmark Supreme Court ruling should not be retroactively applied to inmates already in prison.
• Should the Louisiana parole board should have granted Henry Montgomery parole.
• What is the purpose of a parole board?

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