C.A.: 23-Year-Old Sentenced to LWOP Might Be Eligible for Parole Review as Youthful Offender

The Third District Court of Appeal has held that a defendant convicted of a special circumstances murder that was committed when he was 23 years old was wrongly denied the opportunity to make a record of mitigating evidence related to his age for purposes of future parole proceedings under a Penal Code section applicable to “youthful offenders” that specifically excludes adult perpetrators who were sentenced to determinate life sentences.