A man convicted of fatally shooting a 52-year-old clerk and another involved in a robbery that left a 20-year-old student dead could eventually get a chance at freedom after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life sentences without parole for juvenile offenders are unconstitutional.
Julis Edward Perales of Arlington and Scottie Louis Forcey of Alvarado are among 27 Texas prisoners who received mandatory life sentences for murders committed when they were younger than 18, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.Perales, now 24, was sentenced in 2007 for the fatal shooting of North Lake College student Shekhar Regmi during a robbery at a Fina Mart near Six Flags over Texas in Arlington. Perales was 17 at the time. Police said the former Sam Houston High School student was not the shooter.Forcey, who turned 20 on Wednesday, was sentenced in 2009 for shooting clerk Karen Burke at close range as she mopped the floor at the Shell Travel Center in Alvarado.Police said Forcey, who was 16 at the time, committed a coldblooded slaying when he shot Burke, perhaps without even speaking to her.In a 5-4 decision Monday, the court ruled that mandatory life without parole for defendants under 18 violates the Constitution's ban against cruel and unusual punishment. The court said judges and juries should be allowed to consider a juvenile's age during sentencing.What happens nextThe fate of the 27 Texas prisoners is unclear.Riley Shaw, chief of the juvenile unit for the Tarrant County district attorney's office, said prosecutors were awaiting guidance from the state."We don't know if it is something that the governor's office would take care of. We don't know if it is going to be new punishment hearings. We don't know if it's going to take legislative action," Shaw said. "It's just too early to tell."Josh Havens, a spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry, said in a statement that state officials were reviewing options."We have been working with the Attorney General, TDCJ, prosecutors and the Board of Pardons and Paroles to determine what the appropriate steps will be for the state moving forward," he said.Kathryn Kase, executive director of Texas Defense Services, praised the court's decision, saying that the majority of justices recognized what science has shown."The brains of juveniles are different," she said. "No matter how old someone may look, we know now that if they are below their early 20s that their brains are not mature."The decision indicated that juveniles are entitled to sentencing hearings, Kase said. The hearings should take into account "juvenility, what led the person to this moment in their life and their state of development."Kase said she has heard suggestions that Perry could commute the life sentences so they include parole, such as life with the possibility of parole after 40 years."That, in my judgment, does not comply with the court's decision," she said. "In a parole proceeding, there is no advocate for the juvenile, no lawyer to go in and pull school records, to get medical records, to consult with expert witnesses."Because there are only 27 cases in question, sentencing hearings would not overly burden the criminal justice system, she added.Nationally, more than 2,000 people are in prisons under such a sentence, according to facts presented during arguments in the Supreme Court case.Legislative fix neededIn September 2009, Texas abolished mandatory life sentences for juveniles ages 16 and under.But it came too late for Forcey, said his trial lawyer, Bill Mason.He was sentenced to life without parole the week before the law took effect, Mason said.The law was not retroactive, so it applied only to juveniles who committed their crimes on or after Sept. 1, 2009.The Cleburne attorney said that he argued that Forcey should be sentenced under the law that was about to take effect but that the court chose to follow the sentencing law in effect at the time.Mason said that he did not represent Forcey during his appeal but that a lawyer for Forcey could now seek a sentencing hearing.Johnson County District Attorney Dale Hanna said the appellate lawyer in his office was reviewing the Supreme Court ruling and how it will affect Forcey's sentence. He described the office as being "in a wait-and-see mode."The court's ruling means that the Legislature will likely have to rewrite the sentencing law, said Shannon Edmonds, staff attorney with the Texas District and County Attorneys Association. Texas considers a 17-year-old an adult, but the Supreme Court considers anyone under 18 a juvenile.For a 17-year-old convicted of capital murder in Texas, life without parole has been the only available sentence since 2005, when the Supreme Court banned death sentences for defendants 17 and younger.But the ruling this week invalidated that remaining sentence, he said."So, right now, we don't really have anything to sentence them to," Edmonds said. "Ultimately, the Legislature will have to remedy that."Alex Branch, 817-390-7689Twitter: @albranch1
List of the 27 Texas inmates affected by the ruling
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