Supreme Court considers scope of Eighth Amendment, not the damage caused by unwise leaders

Baltimore Politics Arlington Law and Politics Examiner

May 6, 10:55 AMArlington Law and Politics ExaminerChristopher Leibig

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The United States Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case of Joe Harris Sullivan v. Florida will cause the Court to consider whether a life without parole sentence for a thirteen year old convicted of rape violates the 8^th Amendment’s prohibition of “cruel and unusual” punishments”. The 2005 case of Roper v. Simmons eliminated the death penalty for crimes committed by juveniles. In Roper, the Court noted the psychological differences between adults and juveniles which render juveniles less culpable for crimes.[1] Joe Sullivan’s case will turn, in part, on whether the rationales in Roper apply to non-death sentences.

But from a public policy standpoint the interesting question is not the legal one. Rather, people should wonder why trusted officials like prosecutors and judges could let this kind if sentence happen in the first place, or why the system has no routine method to correct sentencing decisions that, while possibly constitutional, are just unwise. Joe Sullivan was a mentally disabled boy who was subjected to regular physical and sexual abuse at home. On the day of the crime, he was persuaded by two older boys to burglarize a woman’s home while she was not there. Later that day, the woman was sexually assaulted in her home. Sullivan was convicted on the word of one of the other boys.[2] His trial lasted one day. His lawyer made no opening statement and a short closing argument. The prosecution used no forensic evidence.[3]

Once convicted, Sullivan did not face a mandatory life sentence. He could have received a long jail term, followed by years of probation. The Court had the power to order rehabilitative measures, like counseling or education, after a term of substantial punishment. Instead, the two pillars of the community bearing on the sentencing decision decided to toss the boy away forever. The prosecutor had discretion about what sentence to request. The Judge, sworn to deal evenly with the parties before him and consider all possible sentences, had discretion about what sentence to impose. In choosing the maximum sentence, the judge stated, “I’m going to send him away for as long as I can”. Joe Sullivan is now a 33 year old wheelchair-bound prisoner in Florida.

Obviously, our system cannot entirely exclude bad prosecutors or weak judges. The competitive process of achieving these positions produces some of the best, some of the worst, and a lot in the middle. But the interesting question is how the system can digest these anomalies so easily, and so permanently. Were it not for Sullivan’s current counsel, who took on the case out of a sense of justice, Sullivan would be just another inmate buried under decades and archived papers.

When the Supreme Court considers the case, it must rule on the consititional question, not on whether Joe Sullivan received a wise sentence. The State of Florida, however, whose Governor could commute Sullivan's sentence at any time, will still be advocating for Florida pay for him to live in prison until he dies. Only voters can consider that.

[1] The Court’s ruling in Roper was grounded on many other factors, including international law.

[2] “I absolutely believe he is innocent,” Bryan A. Stevenson, Sullivan's lawyer, and the executive director of Equal Justice Initiative has said of Sullivan. Stevenson has said he believes the older boy, who received a light sentence, and testified against Sullivan, committed the offense.

[3]http://sentencing.typepad.com/files/sullivan-cert-petition-from-eji.pdf . (Click for Sullivan’s Petition for Certiorari to the United States Supreme Court). Biological evidence existed from the rape, but it was not presented at Court. The evidence was destroyed in 1993, before Joe Sullivan’s current lawyers could obtain testing.

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