MA Judge Rules Life Sentences Without Parole Under 21 Unconstitutional

MASSACHUSETTS — A Massachusetts Superior Court judge ruled that it is unconstitutional to sentence people under the age of 21 to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Wednesday.

In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life without parole sentences for those under the age of 18 are unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishments. Since then, Judge Robert Ullmann wrote that additional research has shown that "the brains of 18 through 20-year-olds are not as fully developed as the brains of older individuals."

The state Supreme Judicial Court asked Judge Robert Ullmann to review the latest neuroscience on how the brain develops before the age of 21. Ullmann's ruling says a life sentence without parole should only be imposed at the discretion of a judge, while some attorneys argue that life sentences should never be allowed for defendants under 21.

In Massachusetts, over 1,000 people are currently serving life sentences without the possibility of parole, including 205 people who were sentenced for crimes committed before they turned 21, according to the Massachusetts Department of Correction.

Judge Ullmann was asked to revisit two cases involving teenagers sentenced to life in prison without parole for first-degree murders. Jason Robinson - who was convicted in 2002 when he was 19 years old, and Sheldon Mattis, who was convicted in 2013 when he was 18 years old.

Robinson has pursued multiple direct appeals of his 2002 convictions on charges of first-degree murder and related offenses on a robbery and fatal shooting committed in March 2000. Prosecutors say Robinson was 19 years old when he and Tanzerius Anderson agreed to rob a victim. During the robbery, Anderson fatally shot the victim, and his conviction was affirmed by the SJC in 2005.

Robinson filed a timely notice of appeal, but the appeal was stayed in 2007 so that Robinson could move for a new trial. Eight years later, in 2015, Robinson filed his new trial motion, seeking a new trial on six grounds, including the closure of the courtroom violated his rights to a fair trial and that his mandatory life without parole sentence constituted cruel or unusual punishment based on his age at the time of the crime.

Mattis was involved in a gang feud in Boston with another teen Nyasani Watt. Prosecutors say Watt pulled the trigger, killing a different teenager. Watt - who was 17 years old at the time, will be able to fight for his release on parole after 15 years. Mattis, on the other hand, was denied that right because he was a few months older but did not pull the trigger. Watt turned 18 ten days after the murder.

U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins has long fought for a challenge on the issue, agreeing that mandatory life sentences without parole should not be imposed on those under 21. "I will no longer be legally right and morally wrong," Rollins, the first woman of color to serve as district attorney in Massachusetts, said in an interview in 2018.

If the Massachusetts high court affirms Ullmann's ruling, those affected could either be re-sentenced or become eligible for parole and both Robinson and Mattis could be entitled to a new sentencing hearing.