People v. Caballero

In 2007, sixteen-year-old Defendant opened fire on three teenage boys who were members of a rival gang. A jury convicted Defendant of three counts of attempted murder. The jury found true that Defendant personally and intentionally discharged a firearm and inflicted great bodily harm on one victim and that Defendant committed the crimes for the benefit of a criminal street gang. Defendant's total sentence was 110 years to life. The court of appeal affirmed. At issue before the Supreme Court was whether the sentence contravened the mandate in Graham v. Florida against cruel and unusual punishment of juveniles convicted of nonhomicide offenses and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The Court reversed, holding that consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court's holding in Graham, sentencing a juvenile offender for a nonhomicide offense to a term of years with a parole eligibility date that falls outside the juvenile offender's natural life expectancy constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. View "People v. Caballero" on Justia Law