Summary
holding that Miller was inapplicable to habeas petitioner who was already eighteen years old on the date of his offense
Summary of this case from Adkins v. WetzelOpinion
CIVIL ACTION NO. 13-3947
12-11-2013
RONALD G. WEAVER, Petitioner, v. JOHN KERESTES; THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF THE COUNTY OF PHILADELPHIA; and, THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA, Respondents.
ORDER
AND NOW, this 11th day of December, 2013, upon consideration of Petition Under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 for Writ of Habeas Corpus by a Person in State Custody filed by pro se petitioner Ronald G. Weaver, the record in this case, the Report and Recommendation of United States Magistrate Judge Carol Sandra Moore Wells dated October 18, 2013, and Object [sic] to Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation Pursuant to Fed. Rule Civ. P. 72,1 [sic], the Magistrate Judge having recommended that the Petition Under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 for Writ of Habeas Corpus by a Person in State Custody filed by pro se petitioner Ronald G. Weaver be dismissed as untimely filed, and pro se petitioner, in his Objections, having argued that the Magistrate Judge erred in her analysis of the applicability of Miller v. Alabama, 132 S.Ct. 2455 (2012) to this case, IT IS ORDERED as follows:
1. The Report and Recommendation of United States Magistrate Judge Carol Sandra Moore Wells dated October 18, 2013, is APPROVED AND ADOPTED;
2. Pro se petitioner's Object [sic] to Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation Pursuant to Fed. Rule Civ. P. 72,1 [sic] are OVERRULED for the reasons stated in the Report and Recommendation. Specifically, pro se petitioner was an adult at the time of the crime at issue and cannot claim entitlement to relief under Miller v. Alabama which prohibited the issuance of mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juvenile offenders;
The Court also notes that the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania recently ruled that the United States Supreme Court decision in Miller v. Alabama did not apply retroactively. See Commonwealth v. Cunningham, 2013 WL 5814388 (Pa.).
3. The Petition Under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 for Writ of Habeas Corpus by a Person in State Custody filed by pro se petitioner Ronald G. Weaver, is DISMISSED as untimely filed for the reasons set forth in the Report and Recommendation, without an evidentiary hearing;
4. A certificate of appealability will not issue because reasonable jurists would not debate (a) this Court's decision that the petition does not state a valid claim of the denial of a constitutional right, or (b) the propriety of this Court's procedural rulings with respect to petitioner's claims. See 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2); Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000); and,
5. The Clerk of Court shall MARK this case CLOSED.
BY THE COURT:
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DuBOIS, JAN E., J.