INVESTIGATIONS

Arizona inmates sentenced to life with chance of parole — after parole was abolished

Michael Kiefer, and Jackee Coe
The Republic | azcentral.com
The maximum-security facility at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis, in Buckeye, is part of the complex's Rast Unit. The photo shows inmates in a recreational area at the Rast Unit on Nov. 7, 2014.

In 1993, the Arizona Legislature abolished parole as part of tough-on-crime legislation called "Truth in Sentencing." Previously, a prisoner who was sentenced to life with a chance of parole after 25 or 35 years was guaranteed a hearing before a parole board that had the authority to grant his or her release from prison.

But under Truth in Sentencing, parole was eliminated for crimes committed on or after Jan. 1, 1994.

Nonetheless, judges all over Arizona continued to sentence defendants to life with a chance of parole. Prosecutors continued to cut plea deals offering parole, and defense attorneys went along with them. Many prisoners still think they will someday get a parole hearing, and the first would come due starting in 2019.

READ: The myth of life sentences with parole in Arizona

Between January 1994 and January 2016, Arizona judges imposed sentences of life with a chance of parole 248 times out of 490 life sentences. The Arizona Republic created a database of those 490 sentences. Search it below.

(Scroll down for more about how we did this story.) 

Life sentences in Arizona: How we did this story

There are two kinds of life sentences in Arizona: "natural life," which in essence means the person must stay in prison until death, and "life," in which a sentence may specify a number of years after which a person can seek release. Chance of release is slim, because it can come only from a pardon or commutation by the governor. Before 1994, inmates sentenced to life could be eligible for parole after 25 or 35 years. Parole was abolished as of Jan. 1, 1994.

BUILDING THE LIST: In response to a request from The Arizona Republic under state open-records laws, the Arizona Department of Corrections provided a list of 495 prisoners who are currently serving "life" sentences imposed from January 1994, when tougher sentencing laws took effect, through the beginning of 2016. The Republic analyzed each of those cases.

It turned out not to be an exhaustive list. The analysis found some of those inmates' sentences were actually for natural life, or for a certain number of years rather than life. In a few cases, the person was dead.

The Republic then removed prisoners who were sentenced to multiple, consecutive sentences of life with chance of parole, because those are tantamount to a natural life sentence.

Other names were added to the list when additional court records of sentencing hearings became available, but only if the person could be verified as a current prisoner.

That analysis led to a final list of 490 names. The Republic obtained sentencing minute entries for all of them.

WHAT THE SENTENCES SAID: The sentences imposed were predominantly for first-degree murder, although some were for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder or sexual conduct with a minor younger than 12. A handful were for repeat major felonies.

Of the 490 cases:

  • 248, or 51 percent, were for life with chance of parole after 25 or 35 years, which is not statutorily allowed. Ninety of those were the results of plea agreements.
  • 84, or 17 percent, were imprecisely written as “life” or “lifetime” or “25 years to life,” language that technically meets the state statute because it does not call for parole.  
  • 158, or 32 percent, were precisely written to specify no chance of release for 25 or 35 years. (Thirty-five years applies to victims younger than 15.)

Of the 300 cases from Maricopa County, 175, or 58 percent, ended in sentences of life with chance of parole. Only one of them is possibly valid because it was imposed on a juvenile after 2014 (see below).

Pima County had a total of 119 cases, of which 46, or 39 percent, were for life with parole. Two for juveniles may be valid (see below).

As for other Arizona counties:

  • Cochise: Two of six cases were sentenced to life with parole.
  • Coconino: Four of nine.
  • Gila: Two of three.
  • Graham: Zero of two.
  • Greenlee: Zero of one.
  • La Paz: One of two.
  • Mohave: 11 of 16.
  • Navajo: Zero of five.
  • Pinal: Five of 10.
  • Santa Cruz: Two of two.
  • Yavapai: One of eight.
  • Yuma: Zero of nine.

MORE ERRONEOUS SENTENCES AS TIME WENT ON: In the first year after the law changed, there was only one sentence of life with chance of parole imposed in the entire state, and three the year after. But by 2001, it had climbed to 16, and between then and 2013, it averaged 15 per year, with a peak of 27 in 2008, mostly from Maricopa County.

CHALLENGES TO THE LAW: Because of a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that juveniles could not receive mandatory natural-life sentences, the Arizona Legislature reinstated parole for juvenile murderers, effective July 24, 2014. Although 17 "life with parole" sentences were imposed statewide between then and January 2016, only three were for juveniles, regardless of whether their age was cause for the parole-eligible sentence.

The 2014 law change for juveniles affected 73 defendants in the database. Of those, 38 had been sentenced to life with parole, mostly from Maricopa County, and three had been sentenced after the change. The other 32 defendants who got relief had originally been sentenced to life, 25 years to life, or life with chance of release.

That leaves 207 adult prisoners who still have invalid prison sentences of life with chance of parole.

Reach reporter Michael Kiefer at 602-444-8994 or michael.kiefer@arizonarepublic.com.