SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Supreme Court has ordered a new sentencing for a man convicted in the murder of a Richfield woman back in 2001.
In a 3-2 decision, the state's top court said Morris Mullins should be resentenced for the murder of Amy Davis, in light of U.S. Supreme Court rulings regarding juveniles and life without parole.
"After Mullins was sentenced, the United States Supreme Court decided a series of cases concluding that it is unconstitutional to sentence juvenile offenders who are not permanently incorrigible to JLWOP [Juvenile Life Without Parole]. Here, we conclude that the record contains ambiguity that undermines our confidence that this standard was met. Accordingly, we vacate Mullins’s sentence and remand his case to the district court for resentencing," Utah Supreme Court Chief Justice Matthew Durrant wrote in the majority opinion.
At age 17, Mullins was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the death of Davis, 78, inside her Richfield home. Now at age 40, Mullins filed legal challenges surrounding his sentencing.
Crime
Utah court takes up controversial sentencing in juvenile murder case
The Utah Supreme Court either refused to consider or rejected most of his claims, except one. It surrounded national court rulings on juveniles and life without parole sentences and comments made by the Richfield judge who sentenced him initally.
"Mullins argues that the judge’s comments show that “the judge was not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Mullins could never change.” On that basis, he requests that his sentence be modified to make him eligible for parole," Chief Justice Durrant wrote. "We cannot say that we agree. The record does not show an affirmative factual finding that Mullins was capable of change—the showing necessary for us to declare Mullins’s sentence unconstitutional as a matter of law and immediately modify his sentence to permit the possibility of parole."
But there's enough ambiguity that the Court decided to order a new sentence for Mullins.
"Accordingly, we can only speculate as to whether Mullins is one of the rare individuals 'whose crimes reflect irreparable corruption.' We leave it to the sentencing court on remand to determine the appropriate sentence here, considering Mullins’s youth as required by the Eighth Amendment...," Chief Justice Durrant wrote.
In a dissenting opinion, Justices Diana Hagen and Jill Pohlman said they disagreed with the interpretation of U.S. Supreme Court cases and would have upheld Mullins' original life without parole sentence.
Read the Utah Supreme Court ruling here:
