Cite as 2018 Ark. 179
SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS
No. CR-17-533
| DERRICK LYNELL HARRIS
APPELLANT
V. STATE OF ARKANSAS
APPELLEE
|
Opinion Delivered: May 24, 2018
APPEAL FROM THE DREW COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, [NO. 22CR-96-34-1B] HONORABLE SAM POPE, JUDGE REVERSED AND REMANDED. |
JOHN DAN KEMP, Chief Justice
Appellant Derrick Lynell Harris appeals from the Drew County Circuit Court's order denying him a resentencing hearing and imposing a sentence of life with parole eligibility pursuant to the Fair Sentencing of Minors Act of 2017 (FSMA).[1] We reverse and remand.
In 1996, Harris was found guilty by a Drew County jury of capital murder. The capital-murder statute in effect at the time of Harris's offense provided for a sentence of either death or life imprisonment without parole. See Ark. Code Ann. § 5-10-101(c) (Supp. 1995).[2] Because Harris was fifteen years old[3] when he committed the crime, he was
- ↑ See Act of Mar. 20, 2017, No. 539, 2017 Ark. Acts 2615.
- ↑ See also Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-104(b) (Supp. 1995) (stating that "[a] defendant convicted of capital murder . . . shall be sentenced to death or life imprisonment without parole"); Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-615 (Repl. 1993) (stating that "[a] person convicted of a capital offense shall be punished by death by lethal injection or by life imprisonment without parole").
- ↑ Harris was born on May 2, 1980. The crime occurred on February 19, 1996.
