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Larry W. Newton, Jr. v. Indiana

Paid petition · Court of Appeals of Indiana, Fifth District, No. 18A05-1612-PC-2817 · judgment September 6, 2017

Certiorari denied · May 3, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 3% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

Petitioner, in 1995, entered a plea agreement whereby, in exchange for pleading guilty and accepting a sentence of life without parole, the State agreed not to seek to execute him for his juvenile offense. After the sea change in this Court’s jurisprudence regarding non-parolable sentences for juveniles, Mr. Newton sought post-conviction review. However, the court below held that because the sentencing court had discretion to reject the plea agreement, Miller’s protections did not adhere and, therefore, he was not entitled to an evidentiary hearing regarding his eligibility for that punishment. This case presents the following questions: I. Whether Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012) applies to discretionary sentences of life without parole imposed for juvenile offenses, as sixteen states have held, or whether it is limited to mandatory sentences of life without parole, as ten others have found. II. Whether an evidentiary hearing is required to assess whether juveniles sentenced before Miller are irreparably corrupt.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
John Robert Mills
Phillips Black, Inc.

For respondent
Thomas M. Fisher
EdChoice, Inc.

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 13 conferences

Amicus briefs
2 cert-stage

Linked docket
17A952

Proceedings

  1. May 03 2021
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Apr 28 2021
    Supplemental brief of respondent State of Indiana filed. (Distributed)
  3. Apr 26 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/30/2021.
  4. Apr 22 2021
    Supplemental brief of petitioner Larry W. Newton filed. (Distributed)
  5. Mar 02 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/6/2020.
  6. Feb 27 2020
    Supplemental brief of respondent State of Indiana filed. (Distributed)
  7. Feb 26 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/28/2020.
  8. Feb 25 2020
    Supplemental brief of petitioner Larry W. Newton filed. (Distributed)
  9. Mar 11 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/15/2019.
  10. Feb 25 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/1/2019.
  11. Feb 19 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/22/2019.
  12. Feb 04 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/15/2019.
  13. Jan 14 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/18/2019.
  14. Jan 07 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/11/2019.
  15. Dec 20 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/4/2019.
  16. Dec 03 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/7/2018.
  17. Nov 29 2018
    Rescheduled.
  18. Nov 07 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/30/2018.
  19. Sep 11 2018
    Rescheduled.
  20. Aug 22 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/24/2018.
  21. Aug 17 2018
    Reply of petitioner Larry W. Newton filed.
  22. Aug 03 2018
    Brief of respondent State of Indiana in opposition filed.
  23. Jun 08 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including August 6, 2018.
  24. Jun 04 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from June 6, 2018 to August 5, 2018, submitted to The Clerk.
  25. May 22 2018
    Brief amicus curiae of Indiana Public Defender Council Juvenile Defense Project filed.
  26. May 21 2018
    Brief amici curiae of Juvenile Law Center, et al. filed.
  27. May 03 2018
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due June 6, 2018)
  28. Mar 08 2018
    Application (17A952) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until May 3, 2018.
  29. Mar 05 2018
    Application (17A952) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from March 19, 2018 to May 3, 2018, submitted to Justice Kagan.
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