Supreme Court said juvenile lifers could be resentenced. In Missouri, only 7 released
Daryll McNair admits he was involved in a December 1991 gun fight at a Kansas City house that killed two men.
He was 17 years old at the time and sentenced to life without parole.
“Everybody lost that night,” said McNair, now 46.
He spent more than two decades in prison believing that’s where he would die.
Then in January 2016, the United States Supreme Court said that sentencing youth to mandatory life was cruel and unusual punishment, and violated the constitution.
The Montgomery v. Louisiana decision gave about 2,000 prisoners the opportunity to be re-sentenced or even released.
“It’s had a very significant impact,” said Marsha Levick, chief legal officer at the Juvenile Law Center, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit.
But not in Missouri.
The state has more than 100 juvenile lifers, but only seven have been released, according to a check through the Missouri Department of Corrections’ website.
“The number should be higher,” Levick said.
“The parole process is not fulfilling the Supreme Court’s mandate.”
Prison releases
Behavioral science research in the early 2000s and subsequent neuroscience research have changed the way the high court thinks about juveniles.
Studies found that youth aren’t able to fully consider future consequences and are more susceptible to peer pressure. But as they mature, they have a greater capacity for change.
“The science was pivotal in making the court rethink how we sentence children under the constitution and specifically under the Eighth Amendment, and by persuading the court through scientific research that kids were less culpable than adults,” said Levick.
Juvenile life sentences without parole have been abolished in 18 states, including Kansas, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Prisoners in Missouri and five other states made up more than 70% of the nation’s juvenile lifers, court documents said.
Since Montgomery v. Louisiana, about 500 people across the country have been released, according to the Juvenile Law Center.
Missouri accounts for about 1% of those releases.
A brief filed in the Supreme Court case listed 113 Missouri offenders who could have been impacted by the case.
In 2016, the state passed a requirement that juvenile lifers serve at least 25 years before requesting parole.
Of the 113, more than 60 were sentenced before 1996.
Seven have been released.
“It’s a disturbing number, a dismaying number,” Levick said.
Three of the seven were freed just last month.
Steven Mueller, board operations manager for the Missouri Parole Board, said another 13 inmates have release dates scheduled. Those are set to occur in 2021, 2022 and 2024. One inmate had a hearing and a decision is pending. Another 37 have upcoming hearings.
Levick pointed to Pennsylvania as one state that has made “striking” changes. It once led the country with the highest number of juveniles serving life.
It has since released about 250 people back into their communities with a parole release rate around 70%.
KC double homicide
As a teenager, McNair dropped out of school and ran the streets. On Dec. 13, 1991, he was hanging out at a house in the 3200 block of East 60th Street where he sold drugs. An argument broke out over $100 and gunfire erupted.
James Booker, 22, and Andrew Osborn, 62, were killed. McNair and a 20-year-old were charged.
McNair was offered a plea deal of 20 years, a length of time he “couldn’t even wrap my mind around.”
“I was 17 so I didn’t know how to like rationalize the information,” he said earlier this week during a call from the Jefferson City Correctional Center.
McNair declined the deal, was convicted and sentenced to life without parole.
“I know it might seem crazy to say that I didn’t really understand what that meant, but I really didn’t,” he said.
Over the years in prison, he took as many classes as he could. He discovered he enjoyed learning. At the same time, it was “really hard to sit in here year after year and grow and try to learn” knowing he would not be getting out.
When McNair heard of the Supreme Court decision, he said he was overwhelmed and happy.
“I think it makes sense for people to realize that if you did something 30, 40 years ago, there’s a good probability that you’re not the same person that committed that act,” he said.
McNair said he is remorseful about the shooting, noting the way it hurt the victims’ families and his own.
“I feel terrible about it for a number of reasons,” he said. “I’ve held myself accountable for it.”
The victims’ families hold different views on McNair’s future.
A family member of Osborn’s said McNair should have a chance to make his case.
But a relative of Booker’s said McNair should not be able to get out of prison.
Denied in 2017, McNair will go before the parole review board for a second time on Oct. 15.
“The majority of juvenile lifers that (initially) went before the board were denied,” said his attorney Arimeta DuPree. “Recently the juvenile lifers who were going before the board, they have been successful, so we’re hopeful that Mr. McNair with the plan and the team that we have prepared for him, we’re hopeful that he’ll be successful.”
That plan includes housing, mental health counseling and vocational training.
McNair said the prospect of next week’s hearing is “nerve wracking,” but he is grateful for the opportunity.
“At 46 years old, I think he has seen the errors in his way and he’s ready to make this change and get out,” DuPree said.
