BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1084
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Date of Hearing: August 3, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
SB 1084
(Hancock) - As Amended May 11, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill makes technical clarifying changes to existing
provisions of law that authorize a prisoner who was under 18
years of age at the time of committing an offense for which the
prisoner was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole
(LWOP) to submit a petition for recall and resentencing.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Clarifies that, if the court finds by a preponderance of the
evidence that one or more of the statements in the petition is
true, the court must recall the sentence and commitment
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previously ordered and hold a hearing to resentence the
defendant.
2)States that the defendant may submit another petition if the
sentence is not recalled or the defendant is resentenced to
LWOP.
3)Clarifies that the exclusionary factors must have been pled
and proved.
4)Specifies that nothing in this bill is intended to diminish or
abrogate any rights or remedies otherwise available to the
defendant.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Minor absorbable annual GF costs to the state trial courts.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, "SB 1084 makes technical
non-substantive changes to the provisions allowing a person
who was under 18 years of age when sentenced to life without
parole to submit a petition for resentencing. The bill
clarifies language that has caused some confusion in the
courts.
2)Background. In 2010, the United States Supreme Court ruled
that it is unconstitutional to sentence a youth who did not
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commit homicide to LWOP. The Court discussed the fundamental
differences between a juvenile and adult offender and
reasserted its findings from a prior decision, that juveniles
have lessened culpability than adults due to those
differences. The Court stated that "life without parole is an
especially harsh punishment for a juvenile," noting that a
juvenile offender "will on average serve more years and a
greater percentage of his life in prison than an adult
offender."
In 2012, SB 9 (Yee), Chapter 828, Statutes of 2012, was signed
into law to address cases where a juvenile was sentenced to
LWOP by providing a mechanism for recall and resentencing.
Pursuant to SB 9, a person who was under 18 years of age at
the time of committing an offense for which the person was
sentenced to LWOP could, after serving at least 15 years in
prison, petition the court for re-sentencing. If a
re-sentencing hearing is granted, the court would have the
discretion whether to re-sentence the petitioner to a lower
sentence or let the life without parole sentence remain. If
granted a lower sentence, the petitioner must still serve the
minimum sentence and obtain approval of the parole board and
the Governor prior to parole.
3)Support: According to Human Rights Watch, the sponsor of this
bill, "We believe there are areas where the law is unclear as
written and leading to different interpretations in different
courtrooms. It is our hope that this bill will clarify the
language of the law and ensure consistency in practice across
the state."
Analysis Prepared by:Pedro Reyes / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
SB 1084
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