Miller v. Alabama Does Not Apply To Juvenile’s Life With Possibility of Release Sentence

Ouk v. State, Minn.S.Ct., 6/11/2014.  Mr. Ouk is serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole for crimes that he committed as a juvenile.  Mr. Ouk and seven other teenagers pulled a daring double armed robbery of two gas stations that were across the street from each other.  During the robbery that Mr. Ouk committed, two clerks were killed and two customers were shot.  The trial court imposed four consecutive sentences:  two life sentences and two fifteen year sentences.  He must serve eighty years at a minimum before he will be eligible for parole.  He will then be ninety-five years old, assuming he’s still alive.

In this post conviction petition, Mr. Ouk argues that Miller v. Alabama should be applied retroactively.  Justice Anderson reminds Mr. Ouk that the court has now twice rejected that argument, first in Chambers v. State, 831 N.W.2d 311 (Minn. 2013), and just a couple of weeks ago in Roman Nose v. State, 845 N.W.2d 193 (Minn. 2014).  More importantly, and on point, the rule in Miller does not apply to a life sentence with the possibility of release.

Mr. Ouk argued to the post conviction court that his aggregated sentence was the functional equivalent of life without the possibility of release and thus violated Miller which, by the way, should be applied retroactively.  On appeal, however, he abandoned this argument and so the court did not consider it.  Just as well, given this court’s attitude on the retroactivity of Miller.