In the Montgomery case, the court clarified that its decision in the Miller case can be applied retroactively, and ârequires a sentencer to consider a juvenile offenderâs youth and attendant characteristics before determining that life without parole is a proportionate sentence,â according to the opinion.
Lusbyâs 130-year sentence for the 1996 rape and murder of elementary school teacher, Jennifer Happ, in Joliet was not a mandatory sentence, but it is a de facto life sentence because it amounts to a lifetime in prison.
In October, Lusby exhausted his legal avenues in Illinois when the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in a 6-1 decision that his 2002 sentencing hearing did not violate U.S. Supreme Court case law because the sentencing judge sufficiently considered his age and factors related to his youth.