Ric Speaks… 2

Hello again world!

My name is Ric Webb. I’m serving life without parole (lwop) for taking someone’s life when I was only 18 years old.

I’d now like to introduce something to many of you for the first time

about the adolescent brain. In layman’s terms, the human brains frontal lobe doesn’t fully develop until the early to mid-twenties.

What does that mean? well in most countries, youths are held to a

different and more appropriate and less disproportionate sentencing

guidelines than adults. Their ages making them less culpable for their crimes

than adults.

Please read the following information and come to your own conclusion. My research takes us first, to a document that can be found on this site: https:// Nancy Uberti. com /5 -stages-of- human-brain development.

Please pay close attention to her information on stage 3. 7 to 22 years.

Next there’s Dr Lawrence Steinberg, who wrote the amicus briefs for the Landmark cases Graham, Miller, and Roper. All of which changed

the landscape of juvenile justice. Dr Steinberg is the US courts leading authority and expert witness concerning adolescents' behavior as is related to the adolescent brain.

On 3/29/2018 in a case where convicted murderer Luis Noel Cruz, petitioner, versus United States ,respondent. Cruz, cites the Miller case, using national consensus and scientific evidence as his claims of an Eighth Amendment violation.

Dr Lawrence Steinberg, testified that he is absolutely confident that

development is still ongoing in late adolescence….To that end Dr Steinberg testified that “he was not aware of any statistically significant difference between 17- and 18-year-olds on issues relevant to the differences identified by the court in the cases Roper, Miller, and Graham.”

Dr Steinberg also testified that “late adolescents still show problems

wit impulse control and self-regulation and heightened sensation -seeking which would take them in these respects more similar to somewhat younger people than to older people.”

According to Dr Steinberg,” risk – seeking behavior peaks around ages 17 to 19 and then declines in adulthood. The scientific evidence therefore reveals that 18-year-olds display similar characteristics of immaturity and impulsivity as juveniles under the age of 18.”

When asked whether Dr Steinberg could state to a reasonable degree of certainty that findings that underpinned his conclusions as to the defendants in Graham and Miller, who were under the age of 18 also applied to an 18-year-old? Dr Steinberg answered that he was “absolutely certain.”

Before finishing his testimony, Dr Steinberg testified that in the mid to late 2000′ s,” virtually no research …. looked to brain development during late adolescence or young adulthood. “The court rendered the following conclusion: Thus, relying on both the scientific evidence and the societal evidence of national consensus, the court concludes that the hallmark characteristics of juveniles that make them less culpable also apply to 18-year-olds.

As such, the penological rationales for imposing mandatory life imprisonment without the possibility of parole cannot be used

as justification when applied to an 18-year-old.

The court therefore holds(agrees) that Miller applies to 18-year-olds and thus that “the Eighth Amendment forbids a sentencing scheme

that mandates life in prison without the possibility of parole” for the offenders who were 18 years old at the time of their crimes….

As applied to 18-year-olds as well as to juveniles by making youth

(and all that accompanies it) irrelevant to imposition of that harshest prison sentence, such a scheme poses to quite a risk of disproportionate punishment.

In conclusion, the court stated, for the reasons stated above, Cruz’s

Petition to vacate, set aside, or correct sentence is GRANTED! Gotta be honest, when I read that for the first time, I teared up! From joy for him as well as for the hope that those of us in here who were 18 when we committed our crimes.

Then six years after the Cruz case “IT” finally occurred! The first domino fell on January 18, 2024. The high court in the state of Massachusetts ruled that it is unconstitutional to sentence a person under the age of 21 to life without the possibility of parole!! Making over 200 prisoners in Massachusetts D.o.c. eligible for resentencing

hearings!

Please see https://www.sentencingproject.org/ newsletter/ Massachusetts -first-state-to-ban-life-without-parole-for-people-

under-21/

And THEN the very next day the state of Michigan followed suit.

Michigan then ruled that it was unconstitutional to sentence 18 years

olds to life without the possibility of parole. Making 264 people eligible for a resentencing hearing.

Please see Michigan info at https:// www.wemu.org/ Michigan news/

2024-01-19/ appeals-court-says-18-year-olds-sentenced-to-life-without

-parole-will-get -new- hearings.

We need someone out there to please help us. This has to be done with proper litigation by challenging the Commonwealth that they are violating peoples eighth amendment rights. with the life without the possibility of parole for eighteen-year-olds.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this most important issue.

Should you have any comments, please contact me on Jpay.com

and set up an account then use my name and number and we can email. Richard Webb # 1174188

sincerely

Ric Webb