A 30-year-to-life sentence imposed on a 16-year-old boy for murder and related crimes neither violates the Eighth Amendment right against cruel or unusual punishment nor offends “contemporary standards of decency,” a Bronx judge has held.
Supreme Court Justice Fernando Tapia (See Profile) noted that the punishment inflicted on Phillip Nieves was discretionary, meaning the trial judge had options, and also that the defendant will eventually become eligible for parole. With those critical elements, Tapia said, the sentence satisfies concerns raised by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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