Mahoning juvenile's 112-year sentenced ruled unconstitutional

COLUMBUS — A Mahoning County juvenile’s 112-year sentence for rape, kidnapping, and multiple other felonies with eligibility for judicial release when he turns 92 is unconstitutional, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled today.

The state’s top court ruling said the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision barring life sentences of imprisonment without parole for juvenile non-homicide offenders also prohibits “term-of-years” prison sentences that exceed the juvenile offender’s life expectancy.

Five of the seven Ohio Supreme Court justices issued written opinions in the case of Brandon Moore’s 2002 conviction for a series of crimes in Mahoning County. Moore was sentenced by Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

In the majority opinion, Justice Paul E. Pfeifer wrote that Moore, who was 15 years old at the time of the crimes, must be provided some chance earlier in his incarceration to “demonstrate maturity and rehabilitation,” but did not specify when that should be.The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Graham v. Florida ruling declared that a life without parole sentence for a juvenile who did not commit homicide violated the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.