Whiteside v. State

2013 Ark. 176, 426 S.W.3d 917, 2013 WL 1773572, 2013 Ark. LEXIS 208
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedApril 25, 2013
DocketNo. CR 10-1200
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 2013 Ark. 176 (Whiteside v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Whiteside v. State, 2013 Ark. 176, 426 S.W.3d 917, 2013 WL 1773572, 2013 Ark. LEXIS 208 (Ark. 2013).

Opinion

CLIFF HOOFMAN, Justice.

11 This case, which involves the mandatory imposition of a life sentence without parole on a juvenile defendant convicted of capital murder, comes to us on remand from the United States Supreme Court. In Whiteside v. State, 2011 Ark. 371, 383 S.W.3d 859, vacated, — U.S. -, 133 S.Ct. 65, 183 L.Ed.2d 708 (2012) (White-side I), this court affirmed Lemuel White-side’s convictions for capital murder and aggravated robbery. Therein, we also rejected Whiteside’s arguments that his sentence of life without parole violated his rights under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article 2, section 9 of the Arkansas Constitution because he was a juvenile at the time of the offense; that the imposition of a mandatory life-without-parole sentence is void and illegal because it violated his statutory and constitutional right to a jury trial; and that the violation of his right to jury sentencing under Arkansas law also violated his due-process rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Whiteside filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the 1 ^United States Supreme Court, which was granted.1 The Supreme Court vacated this court’s original judgment and has remanded the case for further consideration in light of its recent decision in Miller v. Alabama, — U.S. -, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 183 L.Ed.2d 407 (2012). This procedure is commonly referred to as a “GVR,” which stands for “grant certiorari, vacate the judgment below, and remand the case.” Lawrence ex. rel. Lawrence v. Chater, 516 U.S. 163, 165, 116 S.Ct. 604, 133 L.Ed.2d 545 (1996) (per curiam).2 Pursuant to the mandate from the Supreme Court, we now reconsider our decision in Whiteside I in light of Miller v. Alabama, supra.3

The following is a brief recitation of the relevant facts presented in Whiteside I. Whiteside was charged with capital murder and aggravated robbery in connection with the robbery and death of James London on January 28, 2009. According to the evidence presented at trial, Whiteside, who was seventeen years old at the time of the offense, planned the robbery after learning that London was visiting his mother at the Whiteside family residence and had a significant amount of money in his possession from a tax refund. Whiteside gave another juvenile, Cambrin Barnes, a handgun, and the two juveniles |sattempted to rob London outside the residence. When London refused to give up his money and lunged toward Barnes, Barnes fired a single shot and killed London. Both juveniles were charged with capital-felony murder, although Barnes pleaded guilty to a lesser offense in return for a negotiated-sentence recommendation of forty years.

Whiteside proceeded to a jury trial and was convicted of both charges. He received a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without parole for his capital-murder conviction pursuant to Ark.Code Ann. § 5-10-101(c) (Supp.2007)4 and a thirty-five-year sentence for his aggravated-robbery conviction. Whiteside’s sentence was also enhanced by fifteen years due to his use of a firearm during the robbery.

The relevant question in the current case is whether Whiteside’s mandatory sentence of life without parole under Ark. Code Ann. § 5-10-101 (c) is prohibited by the Supreme Court’s decision in Miller v. Alabama, supra. In Miller, the majority held that the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits a sentencing scheme that mandates life in prison without the possibility of parole for juvenile offenders in homicide eases. Basing its decision on precedent reflecting its concern with proportionate punishment and with the distinctive attributes of youth offenders, the Supreme Court held that “a judge or jury must have the opportunity to consider mitigating circumstances before imposing the |4harshest possible penalty for juveniles.” Id. at 2475.

Both Whiteside and the State agree that the holding in Miller prohibits the mandatory life sentence without parole that Whiteside received in this case as a result of his capital-murder conviction. However, the State contends that any claim that Whiteside has pursuant to Miller is proee-durally barred because he did not raise the precise argument at issue here either at trial or on appeal, which is that his sentence violated the Eighth Amendment by virtue of its being mandatory.

We disagree that Whiteside failed to properly preserve this issue, as he argued, both at trial and in Whiteside I, that a life sentence without parole under the circumstances of his case was unusual, excessive, and in violation of his rights under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. However, regardless of whether Whiteside properly preserved his Miller claim, we agree with his assertion that the imposition of a void or illegal sentence is subject to challenge at any time. Thomas v. State, 349 Ark. 447, 79 S.W.3d 347 (2002). Sentencing in Arkansas is entirely a matter of statute, and where the law does not authorize the particular sentence imposed by a trial court, the sentence is unauthorized and illegal. State v. Joslin, 364 Ark. 545, 222 S.W.3d 168 (2006). According to the Supreme Court’s decision in Miller, the mandatory life-without-parole sentence that Whiteside received pursuant to Ark.Code Ann. § 5-10-101(c) is illegal under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Thus, because the issue in this case involves a void or illegal sentence, it can be addressed for the first time on appeal. Thomas, supra.

Furthermore, by its argument that we should not address Whiteside’s Miller claim, the [5State ignores precedent holding that when a Supreme Court decision results in a “new rule,” that rule applies to all criminal cases still pending on direct review. Schriro v. Summerlin, 542 U.S. 348, 351, 124 S.Ct. 2519, 159 L.Ed.2d 442 (2004) (citing Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314, 328, 107 S.Ct. 708, 93 L.Ed.2d 649 (1987)). Because our decision in Whiteside I was vacated and remanded by the Supreme Court, Whiteside’s case is still in the direct-review process, and this court is thus required to apply the holding in Miller to his case.

Because both parties agree that there is currently no authorized sentence for a juvenile convicted of capital murder under Arkansas law subsequent to Roper and Miller, the next issue is how this court should proceed in correcting Whiteside’s sentence. Whiteside contends that we should modify his conviction to first-degree murder, sentencing him to the statutory minimum of ten years for that lesser offense, and cites multiple cases in which we have modified the judgment of the trial court on appeal. However, as the State contends, in all these cases, the modification was specifically directed at curing the error that this court concluded existed in that case. See, e.g., Hudgens v. State, 324 Ark. 169, 919 S.W.2d 939 (1996) (modifying sentence and reinstating original punishment when no new facts overcame presumption of vindictiveness in trial court’s increased sentencing following reversal); Midgett v. State, 292 Ark.

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Bluebook (online)
2013 Ark. 176, 426 S.W.3d 917, 2013 WL 1773572, 2013 Ark. LEXIS 208, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/whiteside-v-state-ark-2013.