State v. Myers

Citations

• 343 Conn. 447

Syllabus

Pursuant to statute (§ 54-91g), when sentencing a child whose case has been transferred from the docket for juvenile matters to the regular criminal docket of the Superior Court and the child has been convicted of a class A or B felony pursuant to such transfer, the sentencing court is required to consider certain factors, including the defendant's age at the time of the offense and the hallmark features of adolescence. Pursuant further to statute (§ 54-125a (f) (1)), a person convicted of a crime or crimes committed while such person was under eighteen years of age and serving a sentence for that crime or crimes of fifty years of imprisonment or less shall be eligible for parole after serving 60 percent of the sentence or twelve years, whichever is greater. The defendant, who, in two separate cases, had been convicted of numerous crimes that he committed when he was fifteen years old, appealed from the trial court's denial in part and dismissal in part of his motions to correct an illegal sentence. In 2009, the defendant was sentenced in the first case to a total effective sentence of eighteen years of imprisonment, followed by twenty-two years of special parole. In 2011, the defendant entered a guilty plea in the second case and received a sentence of fourteen years of imprisonment, followed by six years of special parole, to run concurrently with the sentence that he already was serving in 448 MAY, 2022 343 Conn. 447 State v. Myers connection with the 2009 case. In light of the United States Supreme Court's decision in Miller v. Alabama (567 U.S 460) and its progeny, as well as legislation (P.A. 15-84) enacted in response thereto concerning sentencing procedures for juvenile offenders, the defendant filed one motion to correct an illegal sentence in each criminal case. He claimed that the trial court had failed to consider the hallmark features of adoles- cence as mitigating factors in sentencing him, in violation of Miller and its progeny, and in violation of §