Moore v. State

Because the State could not seek the death penalty against the defendant due to his age and authority to seek the death penalty was a prerequisite for imposition of a life sentence without parole, the defendant's sentence was void as a sentence not allowed by law.

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In December 2000, at age 17, appellant Marcus Moore was indicted for two counts of malice murder and other crimes related to the fatal shootings of Neiteka Wesbey and Corey McMillan. In January 2001, the State gave Moore notice of its intent to seek the death penalty and of the aggravating circumstance supporting the death penalty on which it intended to rely.1 Moore was found guilty by a jury of all charges after a bifurcated trial, and rather than proceed to the sentencing phase, he entered into a negotiated plea agreement in which he agreed, inter alia, to waive his rights to appeal and all post-conviction review of his convictions and sentences. In exchange, the State recommended and the trial court imposed a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole on the first malice murder count and consecutive sentences on the remaining counts.2

Four years after Moore was sentenced, the United States Supreme Court held in Roper v. Simmons, 543 U. S. 551, 568 125 SCt 1183, 161 LE2d 1 2005, that the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibited the imposition of the death penalty against offenders who were under the age of 18 at the time their crimes were committed. Based on this holding, in 2010 Moore filed a motion to correct void sentence, claiming that at the time he committed the crimes, Georgia’s sentencing scheme authorized a sentence of life without parole only where the State could legally seek imposition of the death penalty, and because Roper removed the death penalty as a sentencing option in Moore’s prosecution due to his age, he became ineligible to receive a sentence of life without parole. After a hearing, the trial court denied the motion, finding both that Moore waived his right to challenge his sentence and even if he had not waived the right, Roper did not apply so as to retroactively invalidate his sentence of life without parole.

Moore v. State

Because the State could not seek the death penalty against the defendant due to his age and authority to seek the death penalty was a prerequisite for imposition of a life sentence without parole, the defendant's sentence was void as a sentence not allowed by law.

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