@KennethLeeAlle1 Florida used the appearance of a trial to send Joe to prison to die. His later-disbarred lawyer didn't present a defense. That's why the trial lasted less than 1 business day start to finish. Police threw away the evidence. Another lawyer gave up Joe's right to appeal.
@KennethLeeAlle1 Jurors never knew the older teen who testified that Joe had "confessed" was the initial suspect & had a record. They didn't know Joe has a 62 IQ, no record & no family to protect his rights. Defense atty never questioned fact that police failed to present DNA they collected. 
@KennethLeeAlle1 Joe was saved by FL prisoners who contacted EJI in his behalf. But because a public defender waived Joe's right to appeal & because police destroyed the evidence, Bryan's only hope of relief was to have Joe's punishment deemed a 4th amendment violation. slate.com/news-and-polit…
@KennethLeeAlle1 Bryan used Roper, which found juvenile executions unconstitutional, as precedent to argue that no parole is a death-in-prison sentence & should be banned for juveniles. He started w/ kids sentenced to no parole for non-homicides. #SCOTUS agreed to hear Joe & Kuntrell Jackson.
@KennethLeeAlle1 #SCOTUS ruled no parole sentences for people under 18 convicted as adults of non-homicides are unconstitutional. The landmark ruling, known as Jackson, was later made retroactive. eji.org/news/eji-wins-…
@KennethLeeAlle1 EJI then used Jackson as precedent to argue that it should be unconstitutional for states to mandate that juveniles convicted of homicide be sentenced to death in prison thru no parole. Trouble here was that tho this is pretty self-evidently cruel, it's shockingly not "unusual."
@KennethLeeAlle1 Bryan said justices ought to at least protect 13 & 14 yr olds, but, w/ Miller, won what he wanted: a ban on states forbidding judges from considering age as a mitigating factor when sentencing juvs for homicide. Landmark ruling was later ruled retroactive.
@KennethLeeAlle1 States immediately began passing "Miller fix" laws: setting high mandatory minimums that juveniles must serve before becoming parole eligible. These minimums are equal to Canada's stiffest no-parole-eligibility period for adults.
@KennethLeeAlle1 4 of my students were sentenced to no parole at ages 13-15. 8 years after Miller, 1 was released after 20 years, 1 was resentenced to "life w/" but has a long mandatory min, & 2 haven't yet had hearings. One of those 2 was wrongly convicted at 13.
@KennethLeeAlle1 A 1-day trial w/ no defense for a developmentally disabled black 13 yr old, no parole for an "incorrigible" defendant who'd never been in trouble, denial of the right to appeal & police destruction of evidence, imprisonment for yrs after SCOTUS ordered release=legal #lynching.
@KennethLeeAlle1 @threadreaderapp unroll
