Supreme Court Rejects Appeal in Case of Boy Serving 30-Year Sentence

U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court Rejects Appeal in Case of Boy Serving 30-Year Sentence

Posted Apr 14, 2008, 11:51 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to accept an appeal that contends a 30-year sentence given to a 12-year-old boy amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

Christopher Pittman was convicted of killing his grandparents as they were sleeping. The South Carolina judge who sentenced him was barred by law from taking his age into account, the Associated Press reports.

Pittman is the only inmate serving such a long sentence for a crime committed when so young, his lawyers say. They had also contended his actions were influenced by the antidepressant he was taking, but that issue was not before the Supreme Court.

South Carolina is one of only nine states that permit 12-year-old youths to be sentenced to at least 30 years in prison without parole, Reuters reports.

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