Bad news for Louisiana’s imprisoned children: statewide Juvenile Life Without Parole work is on the Public Defender Board’s chopping block on April 17th.

Trying not to panic, but how exactly would this be justified? Public defense is already so horribly underfunded in this state and a cut would be a brazen maneuver that would likely spit in the face of Miller and Montgomery rulings, at the least.

In the meantime, I’m locking myself in my office to work as quickly and diligently as possible to ensure that Louisiana’s invisible children have a fighting chance before my time to help them runs out.

Despite the Supreme Court mandate that life without parole sentencing should be rare, Louisiana's District Attorneys have continued to pursue life sentences for at least one-third of all Miller-Montgomery cases. They've also

opposed legislation to end juvenile life without parole through lobbying efforts by the Louisiana District Attorney Association. Take a wild guess on which of the folks in the LDAA actively pursue JLWOP. If you guessed John DeRosier, you'd be right.

DeRosier, the DA who also opposed efforts to end racist Jim Crow era non-unanimous jury law because "It is what it is", has sought JLWOP sentences in many instances. By 2017,Derosier sought JLWOP sentences in SEVEN out of eight cases, according to @thenation's @jesspish

and ALL similar cases in the following year! This included five remanded sentencing Montgomery hearings, one trial-level Miller case, and one Montgomery case pending at that time. Statewide, at least 84 court-appointed Miller-Montgomery cases were pending as of January 2019.

Simple fact remains that there was already a critical need for additional funding for juvenile defendants to receive effective counsel as guaranteed by the 6th Amendment and affirmed by Gideon v. Wainwright. If the entire program is de-funded, the kids won't stand a chance.