Arkansas Supreme Court; Josephine Linker Hart

“ Determining whether the infirmities are fatal to the entire legislation requires that we look to whether a single purpose is meant to be accomplished by the act and whether the sections of the act are interrelated and dependent upon each other. ”

“ While the State suggests that Jackson, through severance of language from various statutes, may be sentenced by this court to a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole, the imposition of that sentence by this court would not allow for consideration of Miller evidence. Furthermore, given the constitutional infirmities of our capital-murder statute as it pertains to juveniles, we must also determine whether the portions of the statute giving rise to the infirmities can be severed without defeating the entirety of the statute. ”

“ There are no provisions in the capital-murder statute providing a lesser sentence for persons under the age of eighteen.
In Miller, the United States Supreme Court stated that " [b] y removing youth from the balance," Arkansas's mandatory sentencing scheme for capital murder "prohibit [s] a sentencing authority from assessing whether the law's harshest term of imprisonment proportionally punishes a juvenile offender." ”

“ A person commits capital murder if:
(1) Acting alone or with one (1) or more other persons, he commits or attempts to commit rape, kidnapping, vehicular piracy, robbery, burglary, a felony violation of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, §§ 5-64-101 — 5-64-608, involving an actual delivery of a controlled substance, or escape in the first degree, and in the course of and in furtherance of the felony, or in immediate flight therefrom, he or an accomplice causes the death of any person under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life ”

“ With the premeditated and deliberated purpose of causing the death of the holder of any public office filled by election or appointment or a candidate for public office, he causes the death of any person ”