Motion for relief from judgment; Whether defendant’s mandatory life-without-parole (LWOP) sentence for first-degree murder committed at age 19 violated the state constitutional prohibition against cruel or unusual punishment; People v Czarnecki (On Remand, On Reconsideration); People v Parks; People v Hall; People v Adamowicz (On Second Remand); Retroactivity of Miller v Alabama; Montgomery v Louisiana

The court held that defendant’s mandatory LWOP sentence for first-degree murder committed at age 19 did not violate the state constitutional prohibition against cruel or unusual punishment. He was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder and felony-firearm for a murder he committed when he was 19. In a prior appeal, the court affirmed his convictions and sentence. The Supreme Court denied leave. He then filed a motion for relief from judgment following the decision in Montgomery, which held that Miller applies retroactively to cases on collateral review. The trial court denied his motion, finding Miller did not apply to him because he was 19 years old when he committed the crimes. On appeal, the court rejected his argument that that his mandatory LWOP sentence for first-degree murder committed at age 19 violated the state constitutional prohibition against cruel or unusual punishment. “The holding of Parks does not permit this Court to ignore Hall, as a panel of this Court recognized in Czarnecki (On Remand, On Reconsideration) and another recent published opinion,” Adamowicz, which held “that Hall compelled the conclusion that subjecting a 21-year-old defendant to a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of parole did not constitute cruel or unusual punishment under” Michigan’s Constitution. Although defendant urged the court “to read the analysis of Parks to reach defendants who were 19 years of age or older when they committed murder or another serious offense and, as a result, received a mandatory [LWOP] sentence, we are bound to follow the holdings of the Supreme Court and cannot ‘anticipatorily ignore’ binding precedent. Without further extension of Parks by the Supreme Court, this Court is bound by Hall and Czarnecki (On Remand, On Reconsideration), and must conclude that defendant’s mandatory [LWOP] sentence for a first-degree murder committed at the age of 19 continues to not be cruel or unusual punishment under Const 1963, art 1, § 16.” Affirmed.