Hobbs v. Gordon

After a jury trial in 1995, Appellee was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to mandatory life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. In 2013, Appellee filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, asserting that his sentence to life imprisonment was illegal pursuant to Miller v. Alabama because he was a juvenile at the time of the offense. The circuit court granted Appellee’s petition and vacated Appellee’s sentence. The State appealed. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that because the circuit court did not make a finding of probable cause before it issued the writ, the case must be remanded for a determination of whether probable cause was shown to issue the writ. View "Hobbs v. Gordon" on Justia Law