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Alabama juvenile lifer who set precedent sentenced to life again

In this Oct. 20, 2006 photo, Evan Miller, right, is escorted to the Lawrence County Courthouse in Moulton, Ala. A judge is set to decide the punishment for the Alabama man, sentenced to life in prison for a murder he committed at age 14, and whose case later led to a ban on mandatory life sentences for juveniles. The judge will decide Tuesday, April 27, 2021 if Evan Miller should be given an opportunity at parole one day or if he should die in prison because of a crime he committed as a teenager. (The Decatur Daily via AP, file)
In this Oct. 20, 2006 photo, Evan Miller, right, is escorted to the Lawrence County Courthouse in Moulton, Ala. A judge is set to decide the punishment for the Alabama man, sentenced to life in prison for a murder he committed at age 14, and whose case later led to a ban on mandatory life sentences for juveniles. The judge will decide Tuesday, April 27, 2021 if Evan Miller should be given an opportunity at parole one day or if he should die in prison because of a crime he committed as a teenager. (The Decatur Daily via AP, file) In this Oct. 20, 2006 photo, Evan Miller, right, is escorted to the Lawrence County Courthouse in Moulton, Ala. A judge is set to decide the punishment for the Alabama man, sentenced to life in prison for a murder he committed at age 14, and whose case later led to a ban on mandatory life sentences for juveniles. The judge will decide Tuesday, April 27, 2021 if Evan Miller should be given an opportunity at parole one day or if he should die in prison because of a crime he committed as a teenager. (The Decatur Daily via AP, file)

By KIM CHANDLER / Associated Press 4 min read

MOULTON, Ala. (AP) – Evan Miller was just 14 when he committed the slaying that sent him to prison.

In reviewing his case, the U.S. Supreme Court banned mandatory life without parole sentences for juveniles – saying judges and juries should consider the special factors of youth – a decision that eventually led to inmates across the country getting a chance at release.

But Miller will not get that chance. A judge on Tuesday handed down a second life sentence without possibility of parole.

Lawrence Circuit Judge Mark Craig ruled that Evan Miller, despite being a young teen when he committed his crime, met the legal criteria to be sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole. Craig said the severity of Miller’s crime outweighed the mitigating factors of Miller’s age and his abuse-filled childhood that the defense argued made him deserving of an opportunity of a chance to get out of prison some day.

Craig said a sentence of life without the possibility of parole was the “only just sentence” over the lesser punishment of life with a chance of parole after 30 years.