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Kathleen Wach Quoted Regarding Juvenile Sentencing in the Associated Press

Subtitle
"Justices' DC Sniper Case Examines Teen Murderers' Sentences"

Associated Press

Kathleen Wach, the firm's Pro Bono Counsel, was quoted regarding a case the U.S. Supreme Court will hear this fall, Mathena v. Malvo, which challenges life-without-parole sentences for crimes committed by juveniles. The ruling is expected to impact other cases in which the defendants were sentenced to life without parole for crimes committed as teenagers. Referring to the series of cases in which the Supreme Court has increasingly recognized that adolescents should be treated differently from adults in criminal sentencing, Wach said, "I have no idea what they're going to do in Malvo, but I would hope that they wouldn’t do anything that pulls back from that progression." Miller & Chevalier currently represents Derek Ray Jackson Jr., who was 17 when he killed a man during a convenience store robbery, and who will likely be affected by the Malvo case's outcome.