Equal Justice Initiative

Update: EJI lawyers argued the case of Demarious Banyard in the Mississippi Supreme Court on Monday, June 14, 2010. Demarious has been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in Mississippi for an offense when he was just 13 years old. EJI is continuing to challenge death-in-prison sentences imposed on children in cases across the country.

Following the United States Supreme Court's ruling on May 17 banning life imprisonment without parole sentences for children convicted of non-homicides, editorials and op-eds supporting the ban have appeared in newspapers across the United States.

Decision Called “A Significant Victory for Children”

(Montgomery, AL) The U.S. Supreme Court today issued an historic ruling in Graham v. Florida that holds life without parole sentences for juveniles convicted of non-homicide offenses unconstitutional. Terrance Graham, sentenced to life without parole at 17, is now entitled to a resentencing hearing. Dozens of other juveniles sentenced to life without parole are now entitled to relief, including Joe Sullivan, whose case also was argued on this issue.

Today, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution does not permit a juvenile offender to be sentenced to life in prison without parole for a nonhomicide crime. The ruling creates a new categorical rule that invalidates Joe Sullivan's sentence to life in prison without parole for a nonhomicide crime at age 13.

EJI lawyers have filed a brief in the Mississippi Court of Appeals challenging the conviction and life sentence imposed on Dante Evans, who had just turned 14 years old when he was accused of murder. EJI argues that serious constitutional errors at Dante's trial, including the removal from his jury of people who would consider Dante's young age, require that his conviction and mandatory life sentence be overturned.

The Mississippi Supreme Court granted review to determine whether it is unconstitutional to sentence a 13-year-old child to life in prison without possibility of parole, and to address claims that Demarious Banyard's conviction was tainted by racial bias and illegal jury instructions. EJI represents Demarious and, in December, EJI attorneys asked the state's highest court to review the case, which raises serious constitutional questions about the reliability of Demarious's conviction and sentence.

EJI staff with honoree Diane Jones, second from left.

On March 23, 2010, EJI honored George Kendall, Director of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey's Public Service Initiative, and Thomas Sager, general counsel of the DuPont Company and DuPont's legal department, with its Equal Justice Award. The second annual award event celebrated the triumph of Diane Jones, the first woman in Alabama to be released from Tutwiler Prison after being sentenced to life in prison without parole.

EJI is seeking to overturn the conviction and sentence of life imprisonment without parole imposed on 13-year-old Demarious Banyard through an appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court. EJI argues that Demarious's trial was infected by racial bias and illegal jury instructions that required him to prove his innocence, and that his mandatory sentence to die in prison is unconstitutional.

The Iowa Supreme Court today reversed a lower court judgment which had barred a challenge to the constitutionality of life imprisonment without parole imposed on a child of 14. The court granted review of EJI client Ruthann Veal’s case and today ruled that she is entitled to merits review.